CSUSB student Lusine Hayrapetyan, a computer science major, earned third place in the undergraduate division of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Student Research Competition at the 2026 ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) Technical Symposium. As part of the honor, Hayrapetyan received a monetary prize, award medal and a one-year complimentary ACM student membership.

Hayrapetyan’s award-winning project, “Label-Free Evaluation of Retrieval-Augmented Generation in a University Policy Chatbot,” was selected through a competitive, multi-round process that included a research paper submission, poster presentation and formal presentation before ACM judges. The student research competition is recognized as one of the top international undergraduate research competitions in computer science.

CSUSB leaders highlighted the significance of Hayrapetyan’s achievement and its broader impact on the university’s growing presence in artificial intelligence research.

“We are incredibly proud of our student, Lusine Hayrapetyan, for earning this outstanding recognition at the ACM SIGCSE 2026 Student Research Competition,” said Khalil Dajani, chair of the School of Computer Science and Engineering. “Being honored at one of the top international undergraduate research competitions in computer science highlights our school’s strong representation on the global stage and reflects our proud leadership in AI research across both our faculty and students in computer science and engineering.”

Sastry Pantula, dean of the College of Natural Sciences, echoed this sentiment, highlighting the importance of student research and the role of faculty mentorship in driving innovation.

“As we discover new frontiers in AI, our students like Lusine are defining the future, and we are proud of her and our faculty who mentor our students,” said Pantula.

Hayrapetyan’s work introduces a multi-dimensional, automated evaluation framework designed to determine whether AI-generated responses truly reflect user intent and are supported by relevant evidence. Her research focuses on retrieval-augmented generation systems — AI models that combine document retrieval with large language models — and explores how these systems can be evaluated without relying on manually labeled data.

She applied this approach to a chatbot designed to answer questions about CSUSB’s university policies, a complex and high-stakes task that requires precise interpretation and domain-specific input from faculty, staff and students. This setting provided an ideal test case for evaluating the reliability and trustworthiness of AI-driven systems.

For Hayrapetyan, the project reflects her passion for research and the responsible development of artificial intelligence.

“I’ve always been fascinated by how AI systems make decisions and how we can ensure they are reliable and trustworthy,” she said. “I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunities that CSUSB and my mentor, Dr. (Yunfei) Hou, have provided, which have allowed me to grow as a researcher.”

The project is part of the Promoting Regional Opportunities for Practical and Engaged Learning (PROPEL) AI initiative, a National Science Foundation-funded program led by Hou, principal investigator of PROPEL AI and professor of computer science; Kimberly Collins, co-principal investigator and professor of public administration; and Xiangyu Li, co-principal investigator and assistant professor of computer science.

The initiative expands access to artificial intelligence education and research opportunities in the Inland Empire by creating flexible pathways for undergraduate research and community engagement. Through hands-on research and community-engaged AI projects, PROPEL AI supports students in developing advanced technical skills while addressing real-world challenges.

As AI-powered systems continue to expand across education, government and industry, ensuring their reliability and accountability remains essential. Hayrapetyan’s recognition at the ACM Student Research Competition, held Feb. 18-21, highlights both her individual achievement and the growing impact of undergraduate research at CSUSB.