My smiling face wearing black shirt.

Assistant Professor
Tulane University

Tulane University
623 St. Charles Ave.
Mail: 303 Stanley Thomas Hall
Office: 307 Paul Hall
New Orleans, LA 70118
saadhassan [at] tulane [dot] edu
Google Scholar
@SaadHassann
@saadhassann
LinkedIn

Short Bio. I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the School of Science and Engineering at Tulane University. Previously, I was a Ph.D. student in Computing and Information Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology, and a graduate research assistant at the Center for Accessibility and Inclusion Research and Linguistic and Assistive Technologies Laboratory, where I was fortunate to be advised by Dr. Matt Huenerfauth. Check out my full CV here.

I am recruiting 1-2 Ph.D. students to join my research group at Tulane University!

Research. My research focuses on accessibility, human-computer interaction (HCI), and computational social science. I am particularly enthusiastic about three research areas:

  • Developing and studying interactive systems that address pressing accessibility and inclusion challenges, with a focus on Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) individuals and sign language users. See my prior research on designing sign language technologies [PAHCI 2023, ASSETS 2023 & 2022, CHI 2022a, TACCESS 2021] and enhance captioning [CHI 2024b, W4A 2023, CHI EA 2023, CHI 2022b, W4A 2021].
  • Understanding the impact of sociotechnical linguistic systems, including AI-powered experiences, on individuals with disabilities using cross-disciplinary theories and methods. See my prior research on investigating ableist biases and anti-social behaviors in NLP systems [EMNLP 2021].
  • Facilitating creative expression and promoting art engagement for performance artists, especially those with disabilities, by gaining an understanding of their experiences and implementing solutions within art-making and exhibiting environments [CHI 2024a].

Industry Experience. During my doctoral studies, I was a Student Researcher and Research Intern at Google Research, where I worked with the Sign Language Understanding Group (SLUG). During Summer and Fall 2022, I was Research Scientist Intern at Meta Reality Labs, where I worked with the audio experiences team.

Teaching. I have been fortunate to be taught by life-changing teachers throughout my schooling, who have inspired me to pursue teaching and research. I am currently teach human-computer interaction and data science. See teaching section for more details about my teaching experience. I would like to see more diverse groups of people become active in higher education and research, and I think diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are important towards that.

Undergrad. Prior to starting at RIT, I did my undergrad at Lahore University of Management Sciences, where I got my Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Computer Science.

I'm always looking to work with new researchers and talk about shared academic or non-academic interests so please drop me an email.

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** Beyond research the things that matter to me the most are political activism, sustainability, and human welfare.

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