Carson Eelman ’24, a graduate student at Florida Polytechnic University, won second place in the statewide 2025 Florida Blue Healthcare Pitch Competition on Friday, April 25. His innovative concept for a smart asthma monitoring device has the potential to transform the way patients live with the condition.
Florida Polytechnic University graduate student Carson Eelman’s entrepreneurial pitch for a high-tech asthma monitoring device earned him second place at the 2025 Florida Blue Healthcare Pitch Competition on Friday, April 25, at the University of South Florida.
Eelman was among only 13 finalists from across Florida to pitch their business ideas at the highly competitive event, which tasked participants with developing innovative solutions for real-world health care problems.
The student from Orlando, Florida, created AirCue to help people monitor their asthma and use their medication more effectively. If successful, the device can help patients monitor symptoms, reduce emergency visits, and save money on medication.
“With so many other amazing innovations, I was surprised to hear AirCue called for second place,” said Eelman ’24, who has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. “I felt proud that even among the other excellent finalists, it was still able to stand out as a solution for better respiratory health.”
Eelman, who will earn his master’s degree in mechanical engineering this summer, hopes his innovative solution can revolutionize asthma care – and his $2,000 competition prize can help make that happen. He said personal experience helped drive his ambitions for AirCue.
“This resonates deeply with me because I grew up with asthma and was in and out of the hospital a lot when I was young,” said Eelman, recalling a time when an asthma attack at age 5 sent him to the emergency room. “I thought back and wondered what it would have been like if there was a way to know that my asthma medication wasn't working, or that I was about to have that flare-up.”
AirCue is intended to detect asthma flare-ups and assess whether the person needs to use their inhaler, has effectively received their medication, or needs medical attention. Doctors can also receive the data and monitor how well the asthma is being controlled.
Eelman’s entrepreneurial idea stemmed from his team’s senior capstone project: an inhaler spacer that produces auditory and visual feedback to help patients properly use their inhaler. He said typical use results in only about 15% of the medication reaching a person’s lungs, which climbs to about 25% with a spacer and up to 40% with their solution. That success inspired Eelman to explore more ways to improve asthma care.
As a product and manufacturing engineer at Nexyan Technologies, Eelman began working with Andres Martinez, an entrepreneur at Catapult conducting research with tiny, gas-detecting sensors.
“Training the sensor to pick up on a particular gas produced when asthma flare-ups are starting and placing it inside the inhaler-spacer device can measure whether the person needs a dose of their inhaler or if it’s beyond inhaler use and they should seek medical attention,” Eelman said.
A cost analysis showed each unit could be produced for up to $40, with a projected retail price of $100 to $120. However, Eelman said he is confident it would be a money saver, particularly for those without health insurance.
“If patients use less medication more effectively, they can save a lot of money,” he said.
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