10/29/2022

Dear Admission Committee,

I am writing this letter to enthusiastically support Alex Wang’s admission for your school. I am
an Assistant Professor in the College of Computing and Informatics at Drexel University. I lead
the Health and Happiness Design Lab. My research areas include human-computer interaction
(HCI), computer supported collaborative work (CSCW), and health informatics. My most current
research projects include understanding ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence
(AI) in human research and using conversational AI systems and other mobile and web-based
technologies to improve health management in everyday settings. I have been PI of National
Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health funded projects in developing new
ethical frameworks for conducting human research using digital technology, understanding the
role of AI in supporting caregiving, improving information quality of online health communities,
and designing and evaluating acoustic-sensor based awareness system for family health. I
published 50+ full publications in ACM conference venues as well as journals in health
informatics, HCI, and CSCW. Over the years I have been at Drexel University as well as prior
institutions as a faculty, including the University of California San Diego and Michigan State
University, I mentored over 40 students, including undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral
fellows.

I have known Alex starting in the Spring Quarter 2021-2022 when he enrolled in my class, INFO
615 Designing with Data. The class is about using data to inform design decisions. Essentially
the class helps the students to understand how A/B testing works and the concepts behind this
design method. We cover the step by step of the methodology process and also students perform
some hands-on projects, such as creating an interactive prototype, collecting data from users on
those prototypes, and analyzing the significance of the results. The results then will guide the
students to make decisions. In this class, as a class project, Alex conducted a study to better
understand the technologies users have adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study,
he conducted quantitative analysis, using tools such as Jupyter notebook and Python data
visualization libraries like seaborn. He also led a team of three other students in which they
created user surveys, conducted qualitative analysis, and engaged with users directly through
interviews. In the end, he discovered that there is a correlation between the amount of effort an

3675 Market Street, Ste. 1000, Philadelphia, PA 19104 | Tel: 215.895.2474 | Fax: 215.895.2494 | drexel.edu/cci
 individual puts into their professional image and the amount of money spent on home office
equipment, such as webcams and microphones.

Alex was one of the most actively participating, proactive student in the class. He contributed to
peer learning by helping other students who might be confused about the concepts. This has been
helpful because the class differs from other classes, in that it involves relatively more
mathematical concepts and some basic statistics knowledge than other classes. Alex was
definitely one of the few students who understood class materials faster and better. I can see how
he found his talent in data science through this class and wanting to pursue more in that
direction. I would also encourage him to go to that route, given his talents and interests.

He also reached out to me after the class regarding his “project,” which was developing music
education related prototype. He wanted my children to try them out, given that my children are
young musicians. I was impressed that developing such ideas was his hobby and that he was
actively attempting to get feedback from others.

If he were to join your program, I have no doubt that he will do very well in the classes. With the
right direction, he will develop a unique career with your program combined with his
background and trainings.

I highly recommend Alex Wang for your program. If you have any questions, or would like more
information, please feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to elaborate on my high opinion of him
as a candidate student for your program.

Yours sincerely,

Jina Huh-Yoo, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
College of Computing and Informatics

Drexel University

3675 Market Street, Ste. 1000, Philadelphia, PA 19104 | Tel: 215.895.2474 | Fax: 215.895.2494 | drexel.edu/cci