Along with my personal positive experiences with him , I believe that he will be an asset to your lab as his record shows that he has been productive during the last couple of years . After the initial transition period since he came from overseas and electrical engineering , he finally has published four papers in major venues such as ****, ****, and ****. The number of publications is of course not in the highest class in the department but above the average , and I believe that he is accelerating now so will keep producing more papers as he has demonstrated . On the other side , he has been a self - motivated volunteer for the organizations that he belongs to ( grad student association , etc . ). I believe that those experiences will make him contribute to your lab and institution in useful ways .