⚠️ Want to join the TEA Lab? Please fill out this research interest form instead of emailing Dr. Maitraye Das. ⚠️ Unfortunately she cannot respond to all individual emails; so, even if you do not receive a response, you can apply to our PhD programs if there is potentially a good fit.
Prospective PhD students
At the Technology, Equity, and Accessibility (TEA) Lab, we welcome students who are excited about studying, designing, and building accessible technologies with and for people with disabilities. Students may come from a variety of technical and design background with expertise and interests in
- Human-centered research involving various methods for data collection and analysis. These methods may include but are not limited to interviews, field observations, co-design sessions, focus groups, diary studies, exploratory and experimental user evaluation, field deployments, etc.
- Programming and building user-centered systems/applications and/or experience with applied AI/ML.
- Designing accessible technologies or educational/learning tools and curriculums.
PhD students can join the TEA Lab through the Computer Science (CS) PhD program or the Interdisciplinary Design and Media PhD program. You can fill out this form to indicate your interest; but note that you must also apply through the official Northeastern system and mention Dr. Maitraye Das’s name in your application as one of the faculty members you are interested in working with.
Students who maintain satisfactory academic progress receive full funding for up to five years including tuition, stipend, and health insurance. Funding is provided through a combination of fellowship, research assistantship, or teaching assistantship. This link provides more information about financial support for CS PhD students. Also, GRE is NOT required for Khoury PhD programs or the PhD in Interdisciplinary Design and Media.
***PhD students are admitted only in the Fall cycle.***
For master’s and undergraduate students currently at Northeastern University
If you are interested in accessibility research and are currently enrolled at Northeastern University, you can fill out this research interest form. Dr. Das will reach out to you if there is an opening and potentially a good fit. Students can apply to do research for credit. For master’s students, we highly recommend the Khoury Research Apprenticeship program. For Spring apprenticeship, the deadline for student nominations is early November and for Fall apprenticeship, the deadline is early May. Khoury master’s students can also enroll into 4-credit Readings and Projects course and/or 8-credit MS thesis with Dr. Das as faculty advisor.
At this moment, we do not have funding for undergraduate or master’s students.
Others
Funded opportunities are not available for students who are not enrolled at Northeastern University, but we are happy to chat if there’s a strong alignment in research interests. You can fill out this research interest form.
Additional resources
- PhD admissions advice — by Casey Fiesler
- PhD admissions advice — by Maria Antoniak,
- PhD admissions advice — by Noah Smith
- Illustrated guide to a PhD — Matt Might
- Open PhD positions in HCI — Andrew Kuznetsov (may not be updated)