About Me

Hi! I'm Vinitha, a tenure-track assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Wellesley College. At Wellesley, I lead the BRAT Lab (Bringing Representation and Accessibility to Technology, affectionately coined by my students in honor of Charli xcx.)

My lab investigates how Artificial Intelligence tools and other technology mediate intimate human connection, with a focus in clinical and cohabiting relationships. We primarily employ qualitative research methods, such as interviews, diary studies, focus groups, and ethnography to understand these dynamics. We also study and prototype new systems that can better facilitate communication and relationship building in these contexts. My research has been published in CHI, ASSETS, and FAccT. My lab and I have been supported by the CRA Trustworthy AI Fellowship and the Google Research Scholar Award.

I also teach classes relating to these topics, such as Human-Computer Interaction (CS220) and Designing for Accessibility (CS325), as well as Wellesley's introductory programming course (CS111).

Outside of work, I love vintage shopping, smelling new perfumes, reading fiction, and obsessing over my dog.

Highlighted Publications

  • 2026: Navigating New Disability as a Sociotechnical Process. Wenhan Xue*, Kelly Ramos Pereira*, Taniyah Hicks*, Maitraye Das, Vinitha Gadiraju. Proceedings of the 28th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS). To be published.
  • 2024: "It's an independent living skill, but covered with fun!": Prompting At-Home Skill Development for Children with Vision Impairment. Vinitha Gadiraju, Lucia Jayne, Shaun Kane. Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS). Read publication
  • 2023: "I wouldn't say offensive but...": Disability-Centered Perspectives on Large Language Models. Vinitha Gadiraju, Shaun Kane, Sunipa Dev, Alex Taylor, Ding Wang, Remi Denton, Robin Brewer. Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT). Read publication
  • 2021: “It is fascinating to make these beasts fly”: Understanding Visually Impaired People's Motivations and Needs for Drone Piloting. Vinitha Gadiraju, Jérémie Garcia, Shaun Kane, Anke M. Brock. Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS). Read publication
  • 2021: Exploring technology design for students with vision impairment in the classroom and remotely. Vinitha Gadiraju, Olwyn Doyle*, Shaun Kane. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI). Read publication
  • 2020: Brailleblocks: computational braille toys for collaborative learning. Vinitha Gadiraju, Annika Muehlbradt, Shaun Kane. Proceedings of the 2020 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI). Read publication
  • * indicates authorship by an undergraduate researcher whom I advised/mentored.

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