William Hou is a recent UC Irvine graduate who earned his bachelor’s degree in data science while contributing to clinical pharmacy research on the team of the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences’ Founding Associate Dean of Pharmacy Assessment and Quality, Dr. Jonathan Watanabe.
“I got my start in data science through my high school robotics team. I was in charge of analyzing the data we collected at competitions to help our team win more of our matches,” said Hou. “When I got to college, I wanted to explore the many different fields that data science skills can be applied to. Finding insights that improve the health of others around me is one of the most impactful ways that data can be used to make a difference, so I started working with Dr. Watanabe during my freshman year.”
Hou’s most recent research with Dr. Watanabe involves evaluating medication usage in patients with chronic illness. He was selected as an oral presentation finalist during the 2024 UCI Undergraduate Research Symposium. Previously, he studied the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine among pregnant women who are underrepresented in clinical trials, presenting related research at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium.
As one of the many students who was enrolled in college during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (requiring a completely remote classroom experience), Hou turned to student organizations in order to stay connected to the UCI community and participated in clubs such as ICS Student Council and Hack at UCI. However, Hou identified some limitations in what these and similar clubs were offering.
“The computer science clubs primarily serve students interested in software engineering as a career, and none of them cater to students interested in a career in data,” he explained. “This led me and a few other friends to found Data@UCI.”
Data@UCI hosts workshops and other events that provide educational and professional opportunities for students who are interested in data science. Hou served as president of the organization from 2022-2023.
“In the years since our founding, our club has grown to reach thousands of students and has been established as the premier club for all things data at UCI. I even leveraged my experience planning software hackathons with Hack at UCI to organize UCI’s very first data hackathon, bringing together hundreds of data enthusiasts from around Southern California to learn together in a competitive setting,” he said.
Hou is emerging from his time at UCI as a student who has been highly recognized for his academic excellence, research pursuits, and commitment to bettering the UCI community. A poster of Hou’s was selected at the 2024 UC Health Conference, and he has received the 2024 Chancellor’s Award of Distinction from the UCI Alumni Association, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research from the Office of the Chancellor, Orange County/Long Beach Chapter of the American Statistical Association Student Award, and Richard and Patricia Utts Endowed Data Science for Social Good Award.
Now a UCI alumnus, Hou has moved to Bellevue, WA and joined the software company Atlassian to begin his career as a data scientist.
