By Maria Larson 
Copy Editor

After Metro State students earned first place in an EY-sponsored national artificial intelligence competition last spring, the university’s Association for Information Systems Student Chapter is using that momentum to expand workshops, employer connections and student technology competitions.

Maria Larson and Pheng Vang, competing as Insight Agents, won the Artificial Intelligence: AI Driven Talent Optimization competition at the 2026 AIS Student Chapter Leadership Conference. The conference was held March 26-27 at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

 
Maria Larson and Pheng Vang represent Metro State University at the 2026 AIS Student Chapter Leadership Conference at James Madison University. Photo courtesy of Dr. Sena Okuboyejo. 

Building Insight Talent AI

The EY-sponsored challenge asked teams to develop an AI-driven talent strategy agent that could match employees’ skills with open roles, generate personalized plans to address skill gaps and explain the reasoning behind its recommendations. Teams also had to consider explainability, bias and privacy protections involving sensitive human-resources data. 

The team’s prototype, Insight Talent AI, was designed to move beyond keyword-based hiring filters by using semantic skill matching to identify candidates’ transferable experience and potential role matches. The platform also generated personalized skill-development paths for candidates whose experience did not fully align with an opening. 

The team separated the calculation of a candidate’s match from the explanation of that match. A structured scoring component calculated the recommendation, while a separate explanatory feature helped users understand why the system suggested a role and which skills could strengthen a candidate’s fit. 

Insight Talent AI also included governance features intended to support responsible AI use in hiring, including bias and fairness checks, privacy redaction, audit logs and human-review tools. The team demonstrated the platform using five synthetic candidate profiles. Readers can view the team’s Insight Talent AI demonstration. 

The first-place plaque awarded to Insight Agents identifies the 2026 Artificial Intelligence: AI Driven Talent Optimization competition, sponsored by EY. Photo courtesy of Dr. Foluso Ayeni. 

For Vang, the challenge was deciding how to provide useful feedback without making the system’s results difficult to understand or verify. 

“One of the hardest parts to me about developing Insight Talent AI Agent was to determine how I would make it deterministic with insightful feedback versus actually having the agent do its own calculations,” Vang said. 

The project required more than technical development. Teams had to make a business case for their prototypes, explain the information they used and consider how users could track or understand the system’s outputs. 

“One of the requirements is to take a view from the business aspect to why it is important and how we want to be able to track how the agent outputs information, how it was provided and what was used,” Vang said. 

According to the competition description, teams created an LLM-based prototype using synthetic employee profiles and submitted a governance packet that included a decision log, bias checks and privacy safeguards. Judges evaluated business value, technical architecture, explainability and governance, presentation quality, usability and scalability. 

Vang said the project also required the team to consider data flow, security and how to present technical material clearly to judges. 

“One thing I can think of not learning from a typical class project is presenting it to the judges and learning how to communicate it towards others to where it is easy to understand,” Vang said. 

He said the first-place result was unexpected. 

“I was happy and surprised because I felt like there was way more to improve and I felt that there was a lot of gaps,” Vang said. “I understand that it is a competition where sometimes even a prototype is plentiful. But definitely was more shocked that we won.” 

Metro State students and faculty members celebrate Insight Agents’ first-place finish at the 2026 AIS Student Chapter Leadership Conference. Pictured from left: Dr. Foluso Ayeni, Pheng Vang, Maria Larson, keynote speaker Russell P. Reeder, founder and CEO of KeyDelta, and Dr. Sena Okuboyejo. Photo courtesy of Dr. Foluso Ayeni. 

From Competition To Career Skills

Foluso Ayeni, faculty co-adviser for Metro State’s AIS Student Chapter, said competitions help students connect classroom learning with professional expectations. 

“The challenge is valuable because students aren’t just building a technology project; they have to take an idea from problem identification through solution design, business justification, prototype development, and presentation,” Ayeni said. 

Ayeni said AIS can help students build professional networks, gain experience beyond the classroom, develop leadership and career-readiness skills, explore industries and stay current in a rapidly changing field. Last spring, the chapter organized a guest-speaker panel featuring information-technology professionals from Boston Consulting Group, Aon Affinity and Medtronic, he said. 

Beyond the competition, Vang was selected for a cybersecurity internship at ALTER TECHNOLOGY US through the Minnesota SCALE program. He is expected to begin this fall and support the company’s cybersecurity readiness work. Vang said developing and presenting Insight Talent AI helped him secure the internship.

Maria Larson, Pheng Vang and Dr. Sena Okuboyejo speak with Quan Nguyen, an EY AID&E manager and judge for the EY-sponsored Artificial Intelligence: AI Driven Talent Optimization competition, during the 2026 AIS Student Chapter Leadership Conference. Photo courtesy of Dr. Foluso Ayeni. 

The chapter is open to students in a range of majors, not only information systems or business. Louis Niying, the chapter president, said that openness is central to the organization’s purpose. 

“We’re open to any major, not just IS or business; students studying tech, data, cybersecurity, or anything adjacent will find real value here,” Niying said. “It’s a low-pressure way to build practical skills, meet people already working in the field, and figure out what you actually want to do after graduation.” 

Niying said he chose to return as chapter president because the organization was still building a foundation after its first full year. 

“This past year was really our first full year finding our footing,” Niying said. “I came back because I felt like we were just getting started: we had some real wins, but there’s so much more we can build now that we have a foundation and know what works.” 

What’s Next

Members of Metro State’s AIS Student Chapter gather at the organization’s Sept. 10 fall kickoff meeting. The chapter plans professional-development events, workshops and competition opportunities during the 2026–27 academic year. Photo courtesy of Dr. Foluso Ayeni. 

The chapter began its fall semester with a Sept. 10 kickoff meeting featuring networking, information about upcoming activities and elections for its 2026–27 officers. Looking ahead, Ayeni and Niying said students can expect opportunities to build professional connections, develop career skills and gain experience outside the classroom through workshops, guest speakers, competitions and other chapter activities. The chapter also hopes to strengthen connections with local employers and create more opportunities for students to learn directly from professionals working in technology-related fields. 

Students connect during Metro State’s AIS Student Chapter fall kickoff meeting Sept. 10. The event included networking, information about chapter activities and officer elections, with an option to attend virtually. Photo courtesy of Dr. Foluso Ayeni. 

One upcoming opportunity is the Online AIS Software Innovation Challenge, which asks teams to design an information-systems solution addressing a real-world problem or opportunity connected to one of the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Teams may use any platform, coding language or device environment, and early-stage, alpha and pre-beta projects are permitted. 

The challenge is open to teams of two to five students from active AIS Student Chapters, with at least one undergraduate student on each team. Entries are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 14. Teams must submit a PDF report and a video no longer than five minutes explaining the problem, solution, innovation, business plan and, if applicable, an alpha prototype. 

The challenge offers $2,000 for first place, $1,000 for second and $500 for third. Finalists are scheduled to be announced Oct. 21, followed by final judging from Oct. 26–30 and a Nov. 6 online showcase where winners will be announced. 

Students can learn more about AIS Student Chapters through the AIS Student Chapters website, Metro State’s Engage page or chapter leadership. The chapter has said it is open to new members, and meetings are open to students across majors.

Ayeni said students should not wait until they feel fully qualified before joining AIS or pursuing a competition. 

“No one is expected to know everything before getting involved,” Ayeni said. “AIS student chapters and competitions are great opportunities to learn by doing, meet other students, and build confidence.” 

Vang offered similar advice based on his own experience. 

“Just take the chance and do it,” he said.