It was a pleasure to meet Professor Youngki Lee and his students during their visit to our lab. We discussed our work in augmented reality and computer vision as well as their new approaches to edge computing and ML. Thank you for the visit!

The Project Sidewalk team led a session at the 2023 PacTrans-WSDOT Summer High School Transportation Camp talking about urban design, human mobility, and disability. Students also participated in interactive activities related to sidewalk accessibility and discussed their own experiences with inaccessible transit and urban design.

We had a fun visit from Josh Myers-Dean, a PhD student from the University of Colorado Boulder interested in computer vision and accessibility. Thank you Josh for visiting!  

It was so wonderful to finally meet our collaborator and Utah State University Professor Brent Chamberlain. Thank you Brent for stopping by with your family to Seattle. Such a joy to meet you and soak up some of your infectious energy and positivity. Professor Chamberlain is PI on our NSF Convergence grant and seemingly has infinite overlapping personal and professional interests with me! The picture below is from my "famous" green screen in my home teaching studio that shows up often in my Zoom calls (or does it?!).

Congrats to Makeability Lab alum Dhruv Jain (now a professor at the University of Michigan) for being honored with the SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award. The Award "recognizes the most outstanding research contributions from recently graduated PhD students within the HCI community, showcasing the quality and impact of HCI research."

Congratulations as well to the two other winners: Megan Hofmann and Kai Lukoff. Impressively, all three winners have UW affiliation: Kai was advised by Professors Alexis Hiniker and Sean Munson; Megan by Professor Jen Mankoff and Scott Hudson (CMU); and Dhruv by me and Professor Leah Findlater.

The award recognition blurb for Dhruv reads:

Dhruv “DJ” Jain is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, also affiliated with the School of Information and Department of Family Medicine. His research focuses on accessibility, and investigates the full cycle of identifying user needs, developing novel assistive technology systems, and studying these systems in the field. He got his Ph.D. from University of Washington and Masters from the MIT Media Lab.

DJ’s dissertation advances the design and evaluation of interactive systems to improve sound awareness for people who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). This research, drawing on his own experience as a person who is hard of hearing, has two goals: first, to better understand how DHH people feel about technology-mediated sound awareness and how these feelings manifest across contexts; and second, to design, build, and study new technical solutions for sound using iterative, human-centered design. 

DJ’s dissertation makes contributions across the human-centered design pipeline, including new research methods for disability and technology design, advancing understanding of preferences for sound classification and real-time captioning, designing and implementing new interactive sound awareness systems on IoT devices, smartwatches, and augmented reality glasses, and evaluating these systems in lab studies and field deployments. 

The work was honored with an ACM ASSETS Best Artifact award, selected for a CACM Research Highlights article, covered by popular press venues including CNN, New Scientist, and Forbes, directly impacted real-time captioning work at Google, and yielded a released app called SoundWatch in the Google Play store that is being used by DHH people across the world for real-time sound recognition. 

DJ’s dissertation exemplifies the use of end-to-end human-centered research to define and advance methods and tools for real-time sound recognition, fundamentally advancing our understanding of DHH people’s needs around sound recognition and providing technical solutions to support those needs.

Huge congratulations to recently graduated Makeability Lab PhD student—now Michigan professor—Dhruv Jain on being recognized with the William Chan Dissertation Award. The Allen School has a lovely writeup, which quotes some of my thoughts worth repeating here.

“Dhruv’s dissertation research makes fundamental advances in the design of sound sensing and feedback systems for people who are deaf or hard of hearing,” Froehlich said. “Throughout his dissertation work, Dhruv has worked closely with the DHH community to understand diverse needs and evaluate his systems, including through large online surveys, interviews and field deployments.”

Jain’s own experiences as a DHH individual informed his research and helped shape his focus on the user experience. 

“Dhruv’s dissertation not only exemplifies the human-centered design process in the creation of accessible technologies but also makes transformative technical innovations in integrating AI and HCI to improve information access,” Froehlich added. “As a testament to its impact, his work has received multiple paper awards and a Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant, and SoundWatch has been released and downloaded by over 2,000 Android watch users worldwide.”

As rather surreal twist, I was honored with the same award a decade ago. It is both humbling and even more fulfilling to have one of my own students receive the award. Congrats Dhruv!

Congratulations to Dhruv Jain who was selected for the prestigious Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant for his work on “Sound Sensing and Feedback Techniques for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users.” The MSR Dissertationg Grant aims to "increase the pipeline of diverse talent receiving advanced degrees in computing-related fields by providing a research funding opportunity for doctoral students who are underrepresented in the field of computing."

Read more on the Allen School news page.

It's my pleasure to announce that Dhruv Jain passed his General Exam entitled Sound Sensing & Feedback Techniques for d/Deaf & Hard of Hearing Users: A Dissertation Proposal. His dissertation work was thoughtfully presented, well rehearsed, and even included two live demos (of HomeSound and of SoundWatch). Congrats DJ!

Thanks also to the wonderful committee, including co-chair Professor Findlater and fellow committee members Professors Mankoff, Ladner, Wobbrock, and Bigham—literally an all-star cast of HCI+accessibility experts.

You can download the slides here or watch the whole thing on YouTube!

A few screenshots of the talk (all but the presenter + interpreters had video off):

Congratulations to Dhruv Jain who was selected for the prestigious Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant for his work on “Sound Sensing and Feedback Techniques for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users.” The MSR Dissertationg Grant aims to "increase the pipeline of diverse talent receiving advanced degrees in computing-related fields by providing a research funding opportunity for doctoral students who are underrepresented in the field of computing."

Read more on the Allen School news page.

Dhruv Jain's Deaf Travel Autoethnography was covered by the UW Daily. Read the article here.

Both of our ASSETS'19 papers were nominated for 'Best Paper' at ASSETS'19:

1. Weld, G., Jang, E., Li, A., Zeng, A., Heimerl, K., Froehlich, J. E. (2019). Deep Learning for Automatically Detecting Sidewalk Accessibility Problems Using Streetscape Imagery. Proceedings of ASSETS 2019.
2. Jain, D., Desjardins, A., Findlater, L., Froehlich, J. E. (2019). Autoethnography of a Hard of Hearing Traveler. Proceedings of ASSETS 2019.

We were honored that both of our papers submitted to ASSETS'19 were accepted for publication:

• Autoethnography of a Hard of Hearing Traveler led by UW CSE PhD student, Dhruv Jain, and co-authored by Jain, Audrey Desjardins (School of Art + Art History + Design), Leah Findlater (HCDE), and Jon Froehlich
• Deep Learning for Automatically Detecting Sidewalk Accessibility Problems Using Streetscape Imagery led by UW CSE PhD students, Galen Weld and Esther Jang, and co-authored by Weld, Jang, Anthony Li (UMD ugrad), Aileen Zeng (UW CSE ugrad), Kurtis Heimerl (UW CSE prof), and Jon Froehlich.

Congrats to Makeability Lab alum Dhruv Jain (now a professor at the University of Michigan) for being honored with the SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award. The Award "recognizes the most outstanding research contributions from recently graduated PhD students within the HCI community, showcasing the quality and impact of HCI research."

Congratulations as well to the two other winners: Megan Hofmann and Kai Lukoff. Impressively, all three winners have UW affiliation: Kai was advised by Professors Alexis Hiniker and Sean Munson; Megan by Professor Jen Mankoff and Scott Hudson (CMU); and Dhruv by me and Professor Leah Findlater.

The award recognition blurb for Dhruv reads:

Dhruv “DJ” Jain is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, also affiliated with the School of Information and Department of Family Medicine. His research focuses on accessibility, and investigates the full cycle of identifying user needs, developing novel assistive technology systems, and studying these systems in the field. He got his Ph.D. from University of Washington and Masters from the MIT Media Lab.

DJ’s dissertation advances the design and evaluation of interactive systems to improve sound awareness for people who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). This research, drawing on his own experience as a person who is hard of hearing, has two goals: first, to better understand how DHH people feel about technology-mediated sound awareness and how these feelings manifest across contexts; and second, to design, build, and study new technical solutions for sound using iterative, human-centered design. 

DJ’s dissertation makes contributions across the human-centered design pipeline, including new research methods for disability and technology design, advancing understanding of preferences for sound classification and real-time captioning, designing and implementing new interactive sound awareness systems on IoT devices, smartwatches, and augmented reality glasses, and evaluating these systems in lab studies and field deployments. 

The work was honored with an ACM ASSETS Best Artifact award, selected for a CACM Research Highlights article, covered by popular press venues including CNN, New Scientist, and Forbes, directly impacted real-time captioning work at Google, and yielded a released app called SoundWatch in the Google Play store that is being used by DHH people across the world for real-time sound recognition. 

DJ’s dissertation exemplifies the use of end-to-end human-centered research to define and advance methods and tools for real-time sound recognition, fundamentally advancing our understanding of DHH people’s needs around sound recognition and providing technical solutions to support those needs.

Huge congratulations to recently graduated Makeability Lab PhD student—now Michigan professor—Dhruv Jain on being recognized with the William Chan Dissertation Award. The Allen School has a lovely writeup, which quotes some of my thoughts worth repeating here.

“Dhruv’s dissertation research makes fundamental advances in the design of sound sensing and feedback systems for people who are deaf or hard of hearing,” Froehlich said. “Throughout his dissertation work, Dhruv has worked closely with the DHH community to understand diverse needs and evaluate his systems, including through large online surveys, interviews and field deployments.”

Jain’s own experiences as a DHH individual informed his research and helped shape his focus on the user experience. 

“Dhruv’s dissertation not only exemplifies the human-centered design process in the creation of accessible technologies but also makes transformative technical innovations in integrating AI and HCI to improve information access,” Froehlich added. “As a testament to its impact, his work has received multiple paper awards and a Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant, and SoundWatch has been released and downloaded by over 2,000 Android watch users worldwide.”

As rather surreal twist, I was honored with the same award a decade ago. It is both humbling and even more fulfilling to have one of my own students receive the award. Congrats Dhruv!

Congratulations to Dhruv Jain who was selected for the prestigious Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant for his work on “Sound Sensing and Feedback Techniques for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users.” The MSR Dissertationg Grant aims to "increase the pipeline of diverse talent receiving advanced degrees in computing-related fields by providing a research funding opportunity for doctoral students who are underrepresented in the field of computing."

Read more on the Allen School news page.

It's my pleasure to announce that Dhruv Jain passed his General Exam entitled Sound Sensing & Feedback Techniques for d/Deaf & Hard of Hearing Users: A Dissertation Proposal. His dissertation work was thoughtfully presented, well rehearsed, and even included two live demos (of HomeSound and of SoundWatch). Congrats DJ!

Thanks also to the wonderful committee, including co-chair Professor Findlater and fellow committee members Professors Mankoff, Ladner, Wobbrock, and Bigham—literally an all-star cast of HCI+accessibility experts.

You can download the slides here or watch the whole thing on YouTube!

A few screenshots of the talk (all but the presenter + interpreters had video off):

Congrats to Makeability Lab alum Dhruv Jain (now a professor at the University of Michigan) for being honored with the SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award. The Award "recognizes the most outstanding research contributions from recently graduated PhD students within the HCI community, showcasing the quality and impact of HCI research."

Congratulations as well to the two other winners: Megan Hofmann and Kai Lukoff. Impressively, all three winners have UW affiliation: Kai was advised by Professors Alexis Hiniker and Sean Munson; Megan by Professor Jen Mankoff and Scott Hudson (CMU); and Dhruv by me and Professor Leah Findlater.

The award recognition blurb for Dhruv reads:

Dhruv “DJ” Jain is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, also affiliated with the School of Information and Department of Family Medicine. His research focuses on accessibility, and investigates the full cycle of identifying user needs, developing novel assistive technology systems, and studying these systems in the field. He got his Ph.D. from University of Washington and Masters from the MIT Media Lab.

DJ’s dissertation advances the design and evaluation of interactive systems to improve sound awareness for people who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). This research, drawing on his own experience as a person who is hard of hearing, has two goals: first, to better understand how DHH people feel about technology-mediated sound awareness and how these feelings manifest across contexts; and second, to design, build, and study new technical solutions for sound using iterative, human-centered design. 

DJ’s dissertation makes contributions across the human-centered design pipeline, including new research methods for disability and technology design, advancing understanding of preferences for sound classification and real-time captioning, designing and implementing new interactive sound awareness systems on IoT devices, smartwatches, and augmented reality glasses, and evaluating these systems in lab studies and field deployments. 

The work was honored with an ACM ASSETS Best Artifact award, selected for a CACM Research Highlights article, covered by popular press venues including CNN, New Scientist, and Forbes, directly impacted real-time captioning work at Google, and yielded a released app called SoundWatch in the Google Play store that is being used by DHH people across the world for real-time sound recognition. 

DJ’s dissertation exemplifies the use of end-to-end human-centered research to define and advance methods and tools for real-time sound recognition, fundamentally advancing our understanding of DHH people’s needs around sound recognition and providing technical solutions to support those needs.

Huge congratulations to recently graduated Makeability Lab PhD student—now Michigan professor—Dhruv Jain on being recognized with the William Chan Dissertation Award. The Allen School has a lovely writeup, which quotes some of my thoughts worth repeating here.

“Dhruv’s dissertation research makes fundamental advances in the design of sound sensing and feedback systems for people who are deaf or hard of hearing,” Froehlich said. “Throughout his dissertation work, Dhruv has worked closely with the DHH community to understand diverse needs and evaluate his systems, including through large online surveys, interviews and field deployments.”

Jain’s own experiences as a DHH individual informed his research and helped shape his focus on the user experience. 

“Dhruv’s dissertation not only exemplifies the human-centered design process in the creation of accessible technologies but also makes transformative technical innovations in integrating AI and HCI to improve information access,” Froehlich added. “As a testament to its impact, his work has received multiple paper awards and a Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant, and SoundWatch has been released and downloaded by over 2,000 Android watch users worldwide.”

As rather surreal twist, I was honored with the same award a decade ago. It is both humbling and even more fulfilling to have one of my own students receive the award. Congrats Dhruv!

Congratulations to Dhruv Jain who was selected for the prestigious Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant for his work on “Sound Sensing and Feedback Techniques for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users.” The MSR Dissertationg Grant aims to "increase the pipeline of diverse talent receiving advanced degrees in computing-related fields by providing a research funding opportunity for doctoral students who are underrepresented in the field of computing."

Read more on the Allen School news page.

It's my pleasure to announce that Dhruv Jain passed his General Exam entitled Sound Sensing & Feedback Techniques for d/Deaf & Hard of Hearing Users: A Dissertation Proposal. His dissertation work was thoughtfully presented, well rehearsed, and even included two live demos (of HomeSound and of SoundWatch). Congrats DJ!

Thanks also to the wonderful committee, including co-chair Professor Findlater and fellow committee members Professors Mankoff, Ladner, Wobbrock, and Bigham—literally an all-star cast of HCI+accessibility experts.

You can download the slides here or watch the whole thing on YouTube!

A few screenshots of the talk (all but the presenter + interpreters had video off):

Congratulations to Dhruv Jain who was selected for the prestigious Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant for his work on “Sound Sensing and Feedback Techniques for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users.” The MSR Dissertationg Grant aims to "increase the pipeline of diverse talent receiving advanced degrees in computing-related fields by providing a research funding opportunity for doctoral students who are underrepresented in the field of computing."

Read more on the Allen School news page.