Tamanna Motahar, PhD

1. Recognizing contextual vulnerability through technology use. I investigate how changing motor abilities, environmental constraints, and social support influence technology adoption and self-management following spinal cord injury. These studies established empirical foundations for developing intelligent systems that recognize heterogeneous user needs and contextual vulnerabilities rather than relying on fixed assumptions about individual capabilities. 
2. Preserving autonomy through accessible sensing and robotic assistance. My research advances human-centered assistive technologies that reduce interaction burdens, support independent control, and accommodate diverse abilities and preferences. Through the development of wheelchair-integrated sensing systems and accessible robotic assistance, I have investigated how interactive technologies can support self-management and autonomy among people with severe motor disabilities. These works advance my exploration for context-aware, adaptive AI systems that intelligently respond to changing user needs while preserving human agency and control.
3. Understanding changing needs, social relationships, and identity across life transitions. I explore diverse informational, emotional, and social support needs associated with disability and identity reconstruction. My research aims to develop adaptive, socially aware technologies that accommodate evolving capabilities, relationships, and participation needs across life transitions. 

 Recent Updates: 

2025 

August

• I joined as a Tenure-track Assistant Professor at the School of Computing and Informatics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette 

July

• Our ASSETS'25 Workshop proposal got accepted
• Presented our Assistive Robotics Arm demo at the UW Demos at Allen School-MSR Summer Bash 

May 

• I will be working as an Associate Chair (AC) in the Accessibility and Aging Subcommittee at ACM CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026)
• Presented two posters with my students at the CREATE Community Day Research Showcase, here is more details: [Link]
• Guest lecture at the course " Technology for Social Good," at the Western Washington University; Host: Prof.  Shameem Ahmed

April

• Accepted Tenure-Track offer from School of Computing and Informatics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, News Link
• RESPECT'25 paper got accepted
• Presented our CHI paper virtually
• Presented our concept paper titled "Up and Beyond: Collaboration and Community Building in Accessibility Research" in the HCIxB Workshop in CHI2025
• Teaching Seminar Course at UW: [CSE 590 K] Assistive Robotics Reading Group in Spring 2025 
• Program Committee Member of the Symposium on Human Computing and Social Computing (HCSC) comprising IEEE COMPSAC 2025

March

• Our CHI'25 paper received "Best Paper Honorable Mention Award"
• Our workshop paper got accepted at HCI Across Border (HCIxB) at CHI'25

February

• Our HRI'25  Workshop paper got accepted
• Invited research talk at Makeability Lab,  Host: Prof. Jon E. Froehlich

January

• Guest Lecture at Tufts University ME Graduate Seminar [Virtual]; Host: Prof. Dave Miller 
• Our paper is accepted at CHI'25
• Our paper is accepted at IMWUT'25
• Received recognition of "Outstanding Review" for one of the CHI'25 reviews
• Joined in the Program Committee of  ASSETS'25 
• Teaching Seminar Course at UW: [CSE 590 K] Assistive Robotics Reading Group in Winter 2025

2024

November

• Speaker at DO-IT: AccessComputing at the University of Washington 
• Received the Allen School Postdoctoral Research Award ($10,000) as a PI
• I will be working as a Program Committee Member for CHI'25 Late Breaking Work

October 

• Presented our paper at ASSETS'24 at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
• Panelist at Robotics and Accessibility Panel at CSE 493e - Accessibility Course at the University of Washington; Invited by: Prof. Jennifer Mankoff and Prof. Maya Cakmak 
• Guest Lecture at the University of California, Merced; Host: Prof. Ahmed Sabbir Arif [Link]
• Presented our IMWUT paper at Ubicomp'24 at Melbourne, Australia 

September

• Joined as a partner of AccessComputing
• Guest Lecture at  CS3020 (Research Forum) at the University of Utah; Host: Dr. Kazi Sinthia Kabir

August

• Started working as a CREATE Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Washington 

July

• Our paper is accepted at ASSETS'24

June

• I successfully defended my PhD dissertation
• Our DIS '24 paper received a "Best Paper Honorable Mention Award"

April

• Our paper is accepted at ACM DIS'24.

March 

• Invited talk at "CMU Accessibility Lunch" at Carnegie Melon University, Pittsburgh; Host: Prof. Jeffrey Bigham

February 

• Received recognition of "Outstanding Review"  for one of the CHI'24 reviews 

January

• Journal paper is accepted in IMWUT'24

2023

• October: I successfully defended my PhD proposal 
• March: Our paper is accepted at EduCHI'23
• April: Our paper on Cloud computing got accepted at CSCW'23
• March: Poster paper is accepted in PASC'23

2022

• Dec: Invited talk at NSU DIAL Lab, Bangladesh; Host: Prof. Nova Ahmed
• Oct: Passed my PhD Written Qualifying Exam 
• Sept: I will be working in the Program Committee (PC) of CHI'23 Late Breaking Work
• Sept: Presented our IMWUT paper in-person at Ubicomp'22 (Atlanta)
• Aug: Got selected as Student Volunteer for Ubicomp'22 (Atlanta)
• July: Our workshop proposal got accepted in ASSETS'22
• May: Presented our CHI'22 paper in-person at New Orleans
• April: Journal paper is accepted in IMWUT'22
• April: Received Gary Marsden Travel Award for CHI'22
• March: Position papers is accepted in three CHI'22 workshops
• Feb: Paper is accepted as Late Breaking Work in CHI'22 
• Feb: Paper got accepted in CHI'22 
• Jan: Working as Associate Chair (AC) in CHI'22 Late Breaking Work
• Jan: Received 3C Fellowship (Cultural Competency in Computing) by Duke University