We study and design human–AI systems that address accessibility at multiple levels: supporting communication with and among people with disabilities (e.g., sign language technologies and captioning systems); enabling access to digital information in educational and workplace contexts (e.g., reading support tools and accessible visualizations); and advancing accessibility compliance in the public sector (e.g., dashboards for tracking accessibility-barrier data). My work centers the experiences of people with disabilities and the needs of connected communities (e.g., hearing sign-language users and accessibility auditors).
Short Bio. Saad Hassan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Science and Engineering at Tulane University. He directs the NOLA A11y Lab and is affiliated with the Tulane Center for Community-Engaged AI. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Louisiana Board of Regents, and competitive internal awards from Tulane University. His work spans accessible computing, human-computer interaction (HCI), and computational social science, with a focus on AI-driven technologies that support communication, learning, and creative expression for people with disabilities. Saad has published over 30 research articles in premier HCI and accessibility venues, including CHI, ASSETS, TACCESS, and MobileHCI, as well as leading AI venues such as CVPR, NeurIPS, and EMNLP Findings. He has also received four Honorable Mention and Best Paper nominations at CHI and ASSETS. He earned his Ph.D. in Computing and Information Sciences from the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he was advised by Matt Huenerfauth, and received the Duolingo Dissertation Research Grant. He currently serves on the program committees for ASSETS and CHI.
News
🎉 We received a new collaborative research award from the National Science Foundation: Designing Civic AI to Connect Residents, Communities, and Local Governments . I serve as PI, with Aron Culotta and Nicholas Mattei as Co-PIs. This $899,868 collaborative project is led by Tulane University in partnership with John Zimmerman and Motahhare Eslami at Carnegie Mellon University.
📃 Two technical papers were accepted to
ASSETS 2026
:
1. A Scoping Review of Human–Computer Interaction Research on the Accessibility
of Data Visualizations: New Technologies, Procedures, and Designs
With Areen Khalaila, Dylan Cashman, Ather Sharif, and Rebecca Faust.
2. Design and Evaluation of an AI-Based American Sign Language Video
Comprehension Tool: Exploring the Benefits and Use of Automatic Segmentation
and Sign Lookup
Led by
Chaelin Kim
, with Denise Crochet and Maty Bohacek.
A paper on perception of ASL educators regarding the use of AI in ASL learning was accepted at CHI 2026. I will be attending CHI 2026 in person in Barcelona!
🏅 ASSETS 2025 paper on the review of literature on reading support tools received an honorable mention (best paper nomination) at ASSETS 2025. My students and I will be attending the ASSETS 2025 Conference in person in Denver!
📃 Two submissions to
Posters and Demonstration Track
for
ASSETS 2025
were accepted:
1. Sign language learning tool for emergency medical responders
Led by
Chaelin Kim
with undergraduates Cameron McLaren, Madhangi Krishnan, and Nikhil Modayur.
2. Automatic reading support tool for people with disabilities
Led by
Nazmun Nahar Khanom
with undergraduate Aaron Gershkovich and Oliver Alonzo (DePaul University).
🎉 Our workshop proposal on participant recruitment in accessible research was accepted! The workshop will be held virtually at ASSETS 2025 during the week of October 20–26, 2025. Co-organizers: Lloyd May, Khang Dang, Sooyeon Lee, Oliver Alonzo.
📃 A submission on review of literature on reading support tools was accepted to the
Technical Paper Track
of
ASSETS 2025.
This work was done in collaboration with Oliver Alonzo (DePaul University).
📃 A paper on ASL fingerspelling data collected using mobile phones and a recognition baseline was accepted at
CVPR 2025.
This work was done in collaboration with the
Sign Language Understanding Group at Google Research
and the
Deaf Professional Arts Network
.
Publications
Assistant Professor (2023-)
PhD Student, 
Intern, 
Intern, Meta Reality Labs (2022)
Teaching
Funding
Research at my lab is currently supported by:
Previous sponsors:
