NOLA A11y Lab

Our lab studies and designs human–AI systems that make communication, information, and public services accessible.

Projects span sign language and captioning technologies, reading supports, accessible data visualizations, and civic AI chatbots. They center the experiences of people with disabilities and their communities.

Lab News

  • Jul 2026

    Saad Hassan received a $899,868 collaborative NSF award, as PI, to design civic AI that connects residents, communities, and local governments.

  • Jun 2026

    Two papers and a demo accepted to ASSETS 2026, including an ASL video comprehension tool led by Chaelin Kim.

  • Apr 2026

    A paper on ASL educators’ perspectives on AI was accepted to CHI 2026 in Barcelona.

Earlier news
  • Jan 2026

    Lab alum Nikhil Modayur received an Honorable Mention for the 2026 CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award.

  • Oct 2025

    The lab presented one paper on reading support technologies and two demos at ASSETS 2025 in Denver.

  • Aug 2025

    Two demos led by Chaelin Kim and Nazmun Nahar Khanom, on text simplification and an ASL learning tool for emergency medical providers, were accepted to ASSETS 2025.

  • Jun 2025

    A review of 25 years of reading support research, with Oliver Alonzo, was accepted to ASSETS 2025 and nominated for Best Paper.

  • Jun 2025

    A workshop on participant recruitment in accessibility research was accepted to ASSETS 2025.

  • Apr 2025

    Matyas Bohacek presented the lab’s AI-driven video-based ASL dictionary at W4A 2025 in Sydney.

  • Apr 2025

    Nazmun Nahar Khanom presented a demo of AI-based reading support tools at the Tulane Research, Innovation, and Creativity Summit (TRICS).

  • Mar 2025

    Brad Myers visited the lab to talk about his book Pick, Click, Flick!: The Story of Interaction Techniques.

  • Feb 2025

    FSboard, an ASL fingerspelling dataset built with Google Research and DPAN, was accepted to CVPR 2025.

  • Jan 2025

    A paper on multimodal affective captioning with haptics was accepted to CHI 2025 in Yokohama.

  • Jan 2025

    Saad Hassan is Co-PI on an NSF IUCRC planning grant to establish Tulane’s partner site for the AHeAD Center.

  • Jan 2025

    Aaron Gershkovich received an Honorable Mention for the 2024–2025 CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award.

  • Nov 2024

    A journal article on video-span selection for ASL learners was published in ACM TACCESS.

  • Oct 2024

    The lab presented two posters at ASSETS 2024, on a rich closed-captioning format and on design sprints with neurodivergent scholars.

  • Oct 2024

    The lab co-organized the PACE workshop on participatory AI for community engagement at HCOMP 2024 in Pittsburgh.

  • Aug 2024

    Chaelin Kim, Nazmun Nahar Khanom, and Syeda Mah Noor Asad joined the lab as PhD students.

  • May 2024

    Two CHI 2024 papers, on affective captions and a dance video comprehension tool, received Best Paper Honorable Mentions.

  • Apr 2024

    A $102,281 Louisiana Board of Regents award, with Saad Hassan as PI, will support AI-powered tools for ASL learning.

  • Dec 2023

    Aaron Gershkovich won the Best Prototype award at the Annual Undergraduate Poster Session.

  • Dec 2023

    PopSign ASL, a sign language dataset collected through a smartphone game, was presented at NeurIPS 2023 in New Orleans.

  • Sep 2023

    Tap to Sign, on American Sign Language text entry for smartphones, was accepted to MobileHCI 2023.

  • Aug 2023

    Saad Hassan joined Tulane University as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science.

Join the lab

Tulane CS PhD applications for Fall 2027 are open (no application fee). Tulane undergraduates are welcome too.

PhD interest form Undergraduate interest form

Projects

Communication Accessibility

  • Sign language
  • Captions

AI-powered tools that help people learn, look up, and understand American Sign Language, and richer captions that convey emotion and non-speech information for d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.

See 14 publications Funded by LA Board of Regents

Information Access

  • Reading support
  • Data visualization

Reading supports such as customizable text simplification, and accessible data visualizations, including personal health information, that help people understand and act on what they read.

See 4 publications Funded by Lavin-Bernick Grant

Civic AI

  • Public services
  • Participatory AI

Participatory approaches to AI that make public services accessible and connect residents, communities, and local governments, along with the broader social context of AI in public life.

See 2 publications Funded by NSF

Publications

Lab members in bold

People

Saad Hassan wearing a maroon shirt and black and golden glasses.
Saad Hassan Lab Director
Chaelin Kim outdoors in sunglasses and a white top, holding a tumbler.
Chaelin Kim PhD Student
Nazmun Nahar Khanom in a purple headscarf, speaking into a microphone.
Nazmun Nahar Khanom PhD Student
Syeda Mah Noor Asad in a floral dress, standing in front of greenery.
Syeda Mah Noor Asad PhD Student
Evelyn Nguyen smiling, with long dark hair, in front of a stone building.
Evelyn Nguyen Undergraduate Researcher
Jaret Solomon smiling in a navy suit and tie.
Jaret Solomon Capstone Student
Campbell Endries smiling, with long brown hair, in a black blazer.
Campbell Endries Capstone Student

Alumni

Master’s

Justin Haysbert (2025), Will Silver Wagman (2024)

Undergraduate

Yaniv Nagar (2026), Sydney Wade (2025, Honors Thesis), Nikhil Modayur (2025, CRA HM), Oscar Xiao (2025), Madhangi Krishnan (2025), Cameron McLaren (2025), Aaron Gershkovich (2025, CRA HM), Michael M. Weild (2024), Madeline “Dylan” Murray (2024), Caitlin Chen (2024)

Capstone

Emily Aymond, Madeline Davis, Jaimie Morris (2026); Miranda Diaz (2025, now at Cornell), Zoe S. Oboler, Sam DeMarinis, Hubert Mendez, Ethan Schaferkotter, Izzy Blair (2025); Ryan Stevens, Shayne Shelton, Gabriel Sagrera, Devin Gutierrez, Tanner Martz (2024)

High school

Emile H. Mattei (2026), Mauro E. Nunez (2024)