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improving music mood classification using lyrics, audio and social tags

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS<br />

I would have never made it to this stage of Ph.D. study without the help <strong>and</strong> support from<br />

many people. First <strong>and</strong> foremost, I am greatly in debt to my academic advisor <strong>and</strong> mentor, Dr.<br />

Linda C. Smith. I am blessed with an advisor <strong>and</strong> mentor who is supportive <strong>and</strong> encouraging,<br />

sincerely cares about students professionally <strong>and</strong> personally, provides detailed guidance while at<br />

the same time respecting one’s initiatives <strong>and</strong> academic creativity, <strong>and</strong> treats her advisees as<br />

future fellow scholars. The impact which Linda has had on me will keep motivating <strong>and</strong> guiding<br />

me as I step beyond my dissertation.<br />

I also cannot say thank you enough to my research director, Dr. J. Stephen Downie. I am<br />

grateful that Stephen introduced me to the general topic of Music Information Retrieval <strong>and</strong> then<br />

gave me the freedom to identify a project which fit my interests. He also set me up with research<br />

funding <strong>and</strong> the opportunity to gain h<strong>and</strong>s-on experience on real-world research projects. In<br />

addition, Stephen offered incredible guidance on writing research articles as well as completing<br />

this manuscript of my dissertation. Through interactions with Stephen, I also learned the benefits<br />

of efficiency <strong>and</strong> the active pursuit of research opportunities.<br />

Many thanks go to Dr. ChengXiang Zhai. An early experience working with Cheng opened<br />

my eyes to information retrieval <strong>and</strong> text analytics. Besides helping me make progress on<br />

research by giving me invaluable feedback, advice <strong>and</strong> encouragement, Cheng also inspires me<br />

to mature as an academic <strong>and</strong> consider the big picture of research in information science.<br />

Moreover, I am also very grateful to Dr. P. Bryan Heidorn. Bryan was my research<br />

supervisor when I first joined the Ph.D. program <strong>and</strong> has since served on every committee of<br />

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