March 3, 2026
CREATE associate director Jon E. Froehlich will be honored with a Societal Impact Award at the 2026 SIGCHI Conference in Barcelona this spring.
As fellow CREATE associate director Jacob O. Wobbrock noted, “His research in urban accessibility has achieved what few HCI researchers ever accomplish: direct, measurable change on a global scale. Specifically, Froehlich’s work has affected how cities invest in pedestrian infrastructure, how communities and governments in 40+ cities plan for accessibility, and how federal agencies define walkability and accessibility data standards. Froehlich’s societal impact has been measurable and huge!”
Froehlich’s work on accessible maps (CHI 2019 Best Paper award, UIST 2025) included the first-ever screen reader for Google Street View and real-time sound recognition for deaf and hard-of-hearing users (CHI 2020, CHI 2022, CACM 2022); it has directly impacted product teams at Google and Microsoft. This combination of civic impact, policy influence, and industry translation is rare in HCI; that Froehlich has sustained it across a decade of work is exceptional.
SIGCHI, the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction, recognizes mid-career to senior researchers whose HCI work demonstrates social benefit.
“This recognition belongs to my incredible students and collaborators in the Makeability Lab who work tirelessly to design more accessible, equitable futures and pursue research in accessibility, education, and environmental sustainability.”
– Jon E. Froehlich, in Allen School news
Jon E. Froehlich, CREATE Associate Director
- Professor, Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
- Director, Makeability Lab
- Associate Director of Tech Transfer and Outreach of PacTrans
- Co-founder of Project Sidewalk
- Core Faculty, Urban Design and Planning Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program
Project Sidewalk – real and lasting impact
One project developed in Froehlich’s Makeability Lab, Project Sidewalk, has been used by U.S. cities to help fund initiatives to improve the safety and accessibility of their pedestrian infrastructure. In Newberg, Oregon, Project Sidewalk collected more than 17,000 labels and showed that sidewalks were inaccessible especially around voting centers and bus stops, prompting the city council to authorize $50,000 for immediate sidewalk repairs and establish a grant program to help homeowners fix their own sidewalks. After Mendota, Illinois, experienced devastating fires in 2022, community partners used Project Sidewalk data to secure a $3.6 million Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grant to rebuild their sidewalks.
Past CREATE recipients
Froehlich joins CREATE leaders who have received the SIGCHI Societal Impact Award (formerly “Social Impact Award”):
- Jennifer Mankoff, CREATE Director, in 2022
- Juan Gilbert, former CREATE Advisory Board member, in 2021
- Jacob O. Wobbrock, CREATE associate director, in 2017
- Jonathan Lazar, CREATE Advisory Board member, in 2016
- Richard Ladner, CREATE’s Director of Education Emeritus, in 2014