Emma J. McDonnell

About Me

I am currently a ÖAW APART-USA Postdoctoral Fellow at TU Wien in Vienna, Austria. I am leading a project focused on expanding who we consider when designing accessible technologies, both engaging nondisabled people in collective access approaches and investigating how to better support underserved disability groups, such as people with chronic health disabilities. If you are looking to collaborate in this space, please reach out!

Previously I was a National Library of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellow in Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education at the University of Washington School of Medicine. I worked with Dr. Wanda Pratt at the intersection of chronic health and disability, aiming to bring together health informatics and accessibility perspectives to better serve people with chronic health disabilities. I graduated with my PhD in Human Centered Design and Engineering from the University of Washington in 2024. My dissertation research, advised by Dr. Leah Findlater, focused on how captioning technologies could be redesigned to support hearing and d/Deaf and hard of hearing communication partners in co-creating access.

Broadly, I am interested in what new kinds of, applications for, ways of understanding technology emerge when research is rooted in disability community knowledge. I use a range of qualitative and design methods to do interdisciplinary technology research.

emma [dot] mcdonnell [at] tuwien [dot] ac [dot] at [dot] edu

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Last updated: March 2026

Selected Publications

• Kelly Avery Mack, Jesse J. Martinez, Aaleyah Lewis, Jennifer Mankoff, James Fogarty, Leah Findlater, Heather D. Evans, Cynthia L. Bennett and Emma J. McDonnell. 2025. Modeling Accessibility: Characterizing What We Mean By "Accessible". In The 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS ’25).
• Emma J. McDonnell and Wanda Pratt. 2025. From Chronic Health Condition to Disability Identity: Opportunities for Health Informatics Engagement. 2025 American Medical Informatics Association Symposium.
• Steven Goodman, Emma J. McDonnell, Jon E. Froehlich and Leah Findlater. 2025. SPECTRA: Personalizable Sound Recognition for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users through Interactive Machine Learning Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
• View our recorded presentation of this work
• Gina Clepper, Emma J. McDonnell, Leah Findlater, and Nadya Peek. 2025. "What Would I Want to Make? Probably Everything": Practices and Speculations of Blind and Low Vision Tactile Graphics Creators Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
• Emma J. McDonnell and Leah Findlater. 2024. Envisioning Collective Communication Access: A Theoretically-Grounded Review of Captioning Literature from 2013-2023 In The 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS ’24).
• View our recorded presentation of this work
• Emma J. McDonnell, Tessa Eagle, Pitch Sinlapanuntakul, Soo Hyun (Andy) Moon, Jon E. Froehlich, Kate Ringland, and Leah Findlater. 2024. "Caption it in an Accessible Way That Is Also Enjoyable": Characterizing User-Driven Captioning Practices on TikTok. Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
• View our recorded presentation of this work
• Emma J. McDonnell, Soo Hyun (Andy) Moon, Lucy Jiang, Steven M. Goodman, Raja Kushalnagar, Jon E. Froehlich, and Leah Findlater. 2023. "Easier or Harder, Depending on Who the Hearing Person Is": Codesigning Videoconferencing Tools for Small Groups with Mixed Hearing Status". In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '23), April 23-28, 2023, Hamburg, Germany. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 15 pages.
• View our recorded presentation of this work
• ~Best Paper Nominee~ Emma McDonnell*, Kelly Avery Mack*, Leah Findlater, and Heather Evans. 2022. Chronically Under-Addressed: Considerations for HCI Accessibility Practice with Chronically Ill People In The 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS ’22), October 23–26, 2022, Athens, Greece. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 15 pages.
• View our recorded presentation of this work
• ~Honorable Mention~ Kelly Avery Mack, Emma J. McDonnell, Venkatesh Potluri, Maggie Xu, Jailyn Zabala, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Jennifer Mankoff, and Cynthia L. Bennett. 2022. Anticipate and Adjust: Cultivating Access in Human-Centered Methods. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22). ACM, New York, NY, USA.
• View our recorded presentation of this work
• Jazz Rui Xia Ang*, Ping Liu*, Emma J. McDonnell, and Sarah Coppola. 2022. “Can you see me? Are you talking to me?”: Exploring Inclusive Video Conference Design for Signers. Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, NY, USA.
  • View our recorded presentation of this work
• ~Honorable Mention and Recognition for Diversity and Inclusion~ Emma J. McDonnell, Ping Liu, Steven M. Goodman, Raja Kushalnagar, Jon E. Froehlich, and Leah Findlater. 2021. Social, Environmental, and Technical: Factors at Play in the Current Use and Future Design of Small-Group Captioning. In PACM on Human Computer Interaction, Vol. 5, CSCW2, Article 434, October 2021. ACM, New York, NY, USA. 25 pages.
  • View our recorded presentation of this work
• Steven M. Goodman, Ping Liu, Dhruv Jain, Emma J. McDonnell, Jon E. Froehlich, and Leah Findlater. 2021. Toward User-Driven Sound Recognizer Personalization With People Who Are d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol. 5, 2, Article 63 (June 2021), 23 pages.
• ~Honorable Mention~ Kelly Avery Mack, Emma J. McDonnell, Dhruv Jain, Lucy Lu Wang, Jon E. Froehlich, and Leah Findlater. 2021. What Do We Mean by "Accessibility Research"?: A Literature Survey of Accessibility Papers in CHI and ASSETS from 1994 to 2019. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA.
• View our recorded presentation of this work
• Lucy Lu Wang, Kelly Avery Mack, Emma J. McDonnell, Dhruv Jain, Leah Findlater, and Jon E. Froehlich. 2021. A bibliometric analysis of citation diversity in accessibility and HCI research. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts (CHI ’21 Extended Abstracts), May 8–13, 2021, Yokohama, Japan. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 11 pages.

Teaching Experience

Honors, Funding, and Awards

• ÖAW APART-USA Fellowship; 2026
• >Garvey Institute for Brain Health Solutions Innovations Grant; 2024
• NCWIT Conference Attendance Grant; 2024
• CREATE Student Minigrant; 2024
• HCDE PhD Student Award of Excellence For Teaching and Mentorship; 2024
• WE RISE Outstanding Scholar; 2025
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow; 2021-2026
• University of Washington Disability Studies Dennis Lang Award Winner; 2023
• Selected to participate in the ASSETS 2022 Doctoral Consortium
• Northwestern Gender Studies George C. Casey Prize; 2019
• Northwestern Engineering Murphy Scholar; 2015-2019

Mentoring/Advising

• Tae Jones, PhD Computer Science and Engineering, 2025-Present
• Anastasia Schaadhardt, PhD Information Sciences, 2024-2025
• Gina Clepper, PhD Human Centered Design and Engineering, 2023-2025
• Adrian Rodriguez, PhD Human Centered Design and Engineering, 2022-2024
• Weerachet (Pitch) Sinlapanuntakal, PhD Human Centered Design and Engineering, 2023-2024
• Ana Liu, M.S. Human Centered Design and Engineering, 2019-2023
• Andy Moon, M.S. Human Centered Design and Engineering, 2020-2024
• Jazz Ang, M.S. Human Centered Design and Engineering 2021-2023
• Lucy Jiang, B.S. Computer Science and Engineering, 2021-Present

Volunteer/Service

UW Office of the ADA's Committee on Disabiltiy, Access, and Inclusion; October 2024 to March 2026

• Member of the university-wide advisory committee providing input on campus climate and guiding policy focused on issues related to disability, accessibility and inclusion

ASSETS 2024 Hybrid Co-Chair; July 2024-October 2024

• Member of the ASSETS 2024 Organizing Committee, planning and implementing an accessible, synchronous hybrid conference experience

CSCW 2023 Student Volunteer; October 2023

• Part of the student team conducting tasks necessary to running the CSCW 2023 conference, recognized as an "Accessibility Ambassador"

ASSETS 2022 Virtual Co-Chair; November 2021-October 2022

• Member of the ASSETS 2022 Organizing Committee, responsible for planning and executing the virtual aspect of this year’s hybrid conference

UAW #4121 Contract Enforcement; January 2021-June 2024

• Member of UAW #4121 Union Contract Enforcement, responsible for supporting union members who suspect that they have been harmed by a contract violation in investigating what has happened and finding resolution, including through a formal grievance process

HCDE PhD Student Research Grant Reviewer; April 2022-April 2023

• Providing feedback on and making decisions about PhD student applications for departmental grants, allocating $6000 of funding annually

PhD Student Ambassador; October 2021-June 2024

• Serving as a contact for prospective HCDE PhD students, meeting 1:1 and facilitating information sessions

PhD Application Review; December 2020-December 2024

• Annually review applications for the HCDE PhD program

Girls Who Code Facilitator; September 2021-June 2022

• Supporting high school girls in learning Python and gaining familiarity with computer science

Admitted PhD Student Days Coordinator; March 2019-March 2024

• Organized and ran activities to introduce students admitted to the HCDE PhD program to the department and Seattle, both in person and online

Selected Invited Talks/Panels

Human Centered Design and Engineering Speaker Series - Chronic Health, Disability, and Design ; October 2025

• Shared work bridging health informatics and accessibility research to support people with chronic health conditions

University of Utah School of Medicine Summer Seminar -- From Chronic Health Conditions to Disability Identity ; June 2025

• Presented research on the benefits of a disability identity to people with chronic health conditions

University of Washington Global Accessibility Awareness Day -- Disability History for Technologists ; May 2025

• Presented on disability studies and history, as is relevant to people interested in accessibility

Vanderbilt University Medical Center Grand Rounds-- From Chronic Health Conditions to Disability Identity ; April 2025

• Presented research on the benefits of a disability identity to people with chronic health conditions

TeachAccess Student Academy -- Disability History for Technologists ; February 2025

• Presented on disability studies and history, as is relevant to a technical audience, to over 1000 participants in the 2025 TeachAccess Student Academy

AccessComputing Webinar - Basics of Disability History; August 2024

• Presented on disability studies and history, as is relevant to a technical audience, to over 100 webinar participants

University of Washington Foundation Board; April 2024

• A representative of the UW CREATE center and co-presenter of a presentation titled "Advancing Engineering Excellence for the Public Good: From Basic Science to Innovation, Disability Inclusion Equalizes the Playing Field"

HCDE 515 and 315 - Accessiblity and Inclusive Design, University of Washington; April 2022, October 2022, January 2023, April 2024

• Invited by Dr. Sarah Coppola and Dr. Leah Findlater to guest lecture on Disability Studies and its relevance to HCI and design practice

Department of Information Studies, University of Colorado; February 2024

• Guest speaker, delivering a lecture titled Designing Collective Communication Access

School of Information, University of Michigan; February 2024

• Guest speaker, delivering a lecture titled Designing Collective Communication Access

Disability Studies Working Group, Northwestern Medicine; January 2024

• Invited to discuss translating disability studies and activism into accessibility practice and applications within medicine research and practice

Interdisciplinary Research Methods, Northeastern University; September 2023

• Invited by Dr. Michael Arnold Mages to teach HCI accessibility research methods

Advanced Topics in Accessibility, University of Michigan; September 2023

• Invited by Dr. Dhruv Jain to facilitate a discussion of disability history and its relevance to computing

CSE-P 590 - The Future of Accessible Technology; University of Washington ; February 2023

• Invited by Dr. Jennifer Mankoff to present with Kelly Avery Mack on our ASSETS 2022 paper, "Chronically Under-Addressed: Consideraitons for HCI Accessibility Practice with Chronically Ill People"

CSCI 327 - Inclusive Technology Design, Oberlin College ; February 2023

• Invited by Dr. Emily Wang to facilitate a discussion of disability history and its relevance to computing

AccessComputing Webinar - Considerations for Technology Design For People with Chronic Illnesses; January 2023

• Co-presented findings from our 2022 ASSETS paper on chronic illness and technology with Kelly Avery Mack, and participated on a panel discussion about this topic

Access Lunch, Carnegie Mellon University; December 2023

• I was invited to present on my ongoing dissertation work, "Toward Collective Access in Captioning Design"

UW Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering Accessibility Colloquium; November 2022

• Co-presented "Chronically Under-Addressed: Considerations for HCI Accessibilty Practice with Chronically Ill People" with Kelly Mack

Accessibility, HCI, and Aging Group, University of Michigan; April 2022, October 2022, January 2023

• I was invited as a guest speaker on my ongoing dissertation work, "Toward Collective Access in Captioning Design"

HCDE 515 and 315 - Accessiblity and Inclusive Design, University of Washington; April 2022, October 2022, January 2023

• Invited by Dr. Sarah Coppola to guest lecture on Disability Studies and its relevance to HCI and design practice

Society for Disability Studies 2021 Conference; April 2021

• Devva Kasnitz, Jen Mankoff, Meryl Alper, Emma McDonnell, Kelly Avery Mack, and Venkatesh Potluri. April 18, 2021. Human Computer Interaction Folk Have Found Disability Studies: Playing Together Well! Society for Disability Studies @ Ohio State University Conference 2021

HCI 05499 - Special Topics in HCI: Accessibility, Carnegie Mellon University; March 2021

• Invited by Dr. Patrick Carrington to present my work "Social, Environmental and Technical: Factors at Play in the Current Use and Future Design of Small-Group Captioning