NSF AccessComputing Team member Gene Kim has received the Computing Research Association’s prestigious Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award for 2025. Through this award, CRA recognizes eight undergraduate students in North American colleges and universities who show outstanding research potential in an area of computing research. The CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award is meant to recognize and foster emerging talent and excellence in computing research.
Gene is a senior at Stanford University, majoring in symbolic systems, with concentrations in human-computer interaction (HCI) and accessibility. Gene has been active in research throughout his undergraduate career. He already has more than 160 citations on Google Scholar and has six published papers and four posters to his credit at venues including ACM CIGCHI, ACM ASSETS and TACCESS. He’s worked with a number of noted HCI researchers at Stanford, the University of Washington, Northeastern University, and the University of Chicago to design, engineer, and evaluate new approaches to support blind users (like himself) in tasks such as interpreting data visualizations, 3D modeling, and designing circuits. Broadly, he is passionate about making STEM, especially computing, more accessible to people with disabilities. To this end, he conducts mixed methods research, applies human-centered design frameworks, and leverages cutting-edge technologies to engineer new accessibility tools.
Outside of his research activities, Gene has served as an undergraduate teaching assistant for introductory computer science courses. He is also a passionate disability advocate and served for three years on the National Association of Blind Students (a division of the National Federation of the Blind) board of directors. During his tenure, Gene traveled extensively to host blind student empowerment seminars, help teach non-visual STEM and college readiness skills, and to give motivational speeches about his journey as a person with a disability. Gene co-founded and is the director of Systemic Access, an international mentorship program for young blind professionals in STEM.
Gene plans to continue his research and advocacy as a PhD student starting Fall 2025 with the hope of becoming a computer science faculty afterward. He is also open to opportunities in industry.
Congratulations to Gene!