Jeongyeon Choi, Class of 2026
Jeongyeon Choi (‘26MS) is a current dual degree Library and Information Science (LIS) student from Yonsei University of Seoul, Korea. Simmons University has a partnership with Yonsei University that gives LIS students from either school the opportunity to study at the other school. Jeongyeon graduated from Yonsei February 2025 with a degree in Library and Information Science. She then enrolled into Yonsei’s LIS Master’s program in March 2025 and applied to study at Simmons University. Currently she has one more semester to complete at Simmons before transferring back to Yonsei to finish the other half of her dual degree program, earning an LIS degree from both Simmons University and Yonsei University. After that Jeongyeon is planning on applying to programs to pursue a PhD. in Library and Information Science as well.
Originally from Seoul herself, Jeongyeon has found acclimating to Boston a unique experience. For starters she loves how open, friendly, and helpful people can be here in Boston, which has helped her tremendously in her time here. However, she is looking forward to being back home soon with her family and friends.
The first thing that piqued Jeongyeon’s interest with Simmons University was actually a part of the partnership with Yonsei. Every summer of her undergraduate academic career at Yonsei she would meet and work with Simmons LIS students that were studying at Yonsei in Seoul for the summer. After doing research on the dual degree program, how strong the Simmons School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) is, and how Boston as a city could help her develop in the field, she decided to apply.
Jeongyeon has been volunteering and working at libraries ever since elementary school, she currently works as a Reference Student Worker at the Simmons University Library, and is interning at the Boston University Library as well. Jeongyeon also worked on creating and developing the SLIS Information Science and Technology website. She was also awarded and named a recipient of the 2025-2026 Graduate Student Research Award. Jeongyeon is doing research on affordances in mental health apps for depression. After developing a feature framework for these apps, she analyzes user reviews using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to identify which app features are associated with user (dis)satisfaction and how these features support users in managing symptoms of depression. Maybe one day every major mental health app that focuses on depression will look to Jeongyeon’s research when designing their apps