May 13, 2025
CREATE associate director James Fogarty has been inducted into the SIGCHI Academy Class of 2025. Each class of the the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction represents the principal leaders of the field, whose research has helped shape how we think of HCI.
A central figure in Seattle’s human-computer interaction (HCI) community and beyond, Fogarty has made key contributions in accessibility, sensor-based interactions, interactive machine learning, and personal health informatics. He has played a pivotal role in founding and growing Design, Use, Build (DUB) — the UW’s cross-campus HCI alliance bringing together faculty, students, researchers and industry partners.
“I am honored to be among the SIGCHI Academy Class of 2025,” Fogarty said. “I’m grateful for the amazing students and collaborators that I’ve had the pleasure to work with over the years, advancing HCI, interactive machine learning, personal health informatics and accessibility research.”
James Fogarty, CREATE associate director and professor in the Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
Important strides in accessibility research
Fogarty was co-advisor on research, led by Anne Spencer Ross, that drew inspiration from work in epidemiology to conduct the first large-scale assessment of accessibility in 10,000 Android apps. The Department of Justice cited the work as part of its updates to the Americans with Disabilities Act. He also extended his work on interface understanding and enhancement to demonstrate real-time repair of mobile app accessibility failures. This research helped directly motivate and inform Apple’s launch of accessibility repair in its pixel-based Screen Recognition.
Early AI investigation: ‘ahead of its time’
Upon joining the UW’s Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering in 2006, Fogarty launched a new research emphasis in interaction with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Fogarty’s research into new methods for engaging end-users in machine learning training and assessment and understanding difficulties that machine learning developers encounter was considered ahead of its time. The researchers contributed to what is now known as human-AI interaction before it became a trending topic, and this line of research went on to directly impact industry guidelines for the field.
“James has made an exemplary impact across research disciplines and industry,” Allen School professor Jeffrey Heer said. “His research prowess, volunteer spirit, deep care, thoughtfulness and community-mindedness have helped guide DUB and advance the HCI community in Seattle and across the globe.”
Fogarty and his collaborators developed Prefab, a system for real-time interpretation and enhancement of graphical interfaces through reverse engineering their pixel-level appearance. Prefab, which earned a 2010 CHI Best Paper Award, was a breakthrough in interface systems research, foreshadowing current work using AI to understand, interact with and enhance graphical interfaces.
This article was excerpted from an Allen School article by Kristine White. Read the full article.
Read more about CREATE contributions to CHI 2025, the 2025 ACM SIGCHI Awards, and DUB and the UW presence at CHI 2025.