AUA Completes First Collaborative Project With ServiceTitan

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YEREVAN, Armenia — In September 2023, the American University of Armenia (AUA) completed its first research collaboration project with ServiceTitan, the world’s leading and fastest-growing software technology platform for the trades and the first Armenian-founded tech unicorn. The project was the result of a research collaboration agreement signed between both parties in March 2023.

Within the scope of the agreement, engineering students from AUA’s Zaven P. and Sonia Akian College of Science and Engineering (CSE) conduct research for the company. Titled Deduplication, this first research project, which recruited students Gagik Khalafyan (MSCIS ’23), Hermine Grigoryan (MEIESM ’23), and Celine Hovannesian (MSCIS ’23), aimed to develop novel algorithms based on machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to find duplicates in the large datasets of product descriptions. 

“Research creates a bridge between academia and industry,” shared Aram Butavyan, CSE lecturer. “It is a unique opportunity for students to work on a real project by generating and applying new ideas. In the field of ML and AI, many state-of-the-art models are created by exactly these kinds of collaborations. More projects such as these can boost research at AUA and enhance our capacity as a research University.”

Deduplication was inspired by an acute issue faced by ServiceTitan, as each customer uploads the catalog of items they sell to homeowners. This catalog of items includes services (e.g. drain cleaning), materials (e.g. pipes, sockets), and equipment (e.g. full HVAC system). For the purposes of this project, the team focused only on materials. With over 10,000 catalogs and 15,000,000 materials in the ServiceTitan database, duplicates between the catalogs are inevitable. Complicating the task of identifying duplicates is the fact that two different catalogs can contain the same item, but under two different names.

“The project was a fantastic opportunity for us to dive deep into the latest ML technologies, particularly in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP),” commented Khalafyan, Grigoryan, and Hovannesian. “We developed a complete ML pipeline, starting from data collection and cleaning to modeling. This allowed us to hone our skills in operating and developing models with limited initial information and to overcome various obstacles related to the task. Successfully completing such a challenging project over the span of six months was a significant achievement for all of us. It provided invaluable experience and prepared us for future endeavors in data science. We gained valuable skills in deep learning, NLP, and other modern tools in the field of data science.”

ServiceTitan Senior Engineering Manager Arman Zakaryan (MSCIS ’20, BSCS ’18) is one of the more than 50 AUA alumni employed at the company’s Yerevan office, which opened in 2019. He served as the lead and point of contact for the project from the ServiceTitan side. 

“I worked closely with Butavyan and the team to ensure the project was moving in the right direction, while at the same time answering any questions they might have had about the data, algorithms, and business context of the problem. We successfully wrapped up the project in September 2023, with the team delivering outstanding results.”

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.