Atieh Taheri
Colour theme

About

Who I am

I’m a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, where I research accessibility and human-centered AI.

I’m a disabled researcher and a wheelchair user, and that shapes what I notice. A tool can do its job and still leave out what makes using it satisfying, private, or truly your own. My research starts from gaps like these. I study them with other disabled people, who know their own lives best, and I build an alternative when none exists.

I trained as an engineer. I hold a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Santa Barbara, where Misha Sra advised me, and I have done research at Google, Apple and Magic Leap. At Carnegie Mellon I work with Jeffrey Bigham and Patrick Carrington. That background lets me build what a question needs, from mechatronic devices and camera-based input to VR experiences and tools built on large language models.

Download CV (PDF) Read my research

Experience

  • Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Carnegie Mellon University

    Sept 2024 to present

    Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Pittsburgh. Advisors: Jeffrey P. Bigham and Patrick Carrington.

  • PhD Student Researcher, Google

    Aug 2022 to Feb 2023

    An accessible interface for text-to-image generation tools. Advisors: Negar Rostamzadeh and Shaun Kane.

  • Associate, Apple

    Summers 2016 and 2017

    Computer vision and machine learning research. Advisor: Marco Zuliani.

  • Intern, Magic Leap

    Summer 2015

    Simulation and implementation of a stereo monochromatic camera and depth sensor. Advisor: Jason Wither.

Education

  • PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering

    2024

    University of California, Santa Barbara. Dissertation: “Beyond Functionality: Exploring Interaction, Sensation, and Experience in Assistive Technology Design”. Advisor: Misha Sra.

  • MSc, Electrical and Computer Engineering

    2019

    University of California, Santa Barbara.

  • BSc, Computer Engineering

    2011

    Sharif University of Technology, Tehran.

Awards and honors

2022–2026
Special Recognition for Outstanding Reviews: CHI 2027, UIST 2026, CHI 2025, CHI 2024 Late-Breaking Work and NordiCHI 2022 Late-Breaking Work
2025
OpenAI Researcher Access Grant
2024
Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University
2023
People’s Choice Best Poster, UIST 2023
2023
Doctoral Student Travel Grant, UC Santa Barbara
2021
First place, Student Game Competition (Innovative Interfaces), CHI 2021
2021
GHC Student Scholarship, Grace Hopper Celebration
2021
Fellowship for Outstanding Academics, UC Santa Barbara Electrical and Computer Engineering
2019, 2020
Outstanding Lower-Division Italian Student, UC Santa Barbara
2014
Fellowship, UC Santa Barbara Electrical and Computer Engineering
2011
Fellowship of Exceptional Talents, Sharif University of Technology
2011
Ranked second by cumulative GPA in the Software Engineering major, and sixth among all Computer Engineering BSc students, Sharif University of Technology

Service

Associate Chair
CHI 2026; NordiCHI 2026 Late-Breaking Work
Program committees
ASSETS 2025 and 2026; Augmented Humans 2026
Co-organizer
Ethical Considerations in Creative Applications of Computer Vision workshop, CVPR 2023 and 2024
Area Chair
Women in Machine Learning workshop, NeurIPS 2019
Reviewer
CHI, UIST, ASSETS, NordiCHI, IEEE VR, TEI, Augmented Humans and AlpCHI. More than fifty reviews and meta-reviews since 2022.
Advisory role
Accessibility expert for Robots for All, an inclusive robotics initiative. Reviewed its draft universal design guidance for human-robot interaction.