Rachel Adler

• Associate Member, Cancer Center at Illinois
• Faculty Affiliate, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
• Faculty Affiliate, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
• Faculty Affiliate, Illinois Informatics

Human-computer interaction, accessible design, participatory design, mobile health technologies, and computing education.

• Teacher Ranked as Excellent, University of Illinois, Spring 2024
• Honorable Mention Best Long Paper Award, ASIS&T 2024
• Public Voices Fellow, 2024-2025
• Arnold O. Beckman Award, UIUC Campus Research Board
• NIH Grant Writing Series Participant, UIUC IHSI, 2024

Rachel Adler is an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She previously served as an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at Northeastern Illinois University. Adler's research interests are in human-computer interaction, accessibility, and computing education. She is particularly interested in designing applications for and with people with disabilities. Some of her recent projects include co-designing a mobile health application to empower cancer survivors with disabilities, co-designing a mobile health peer navigator intervention for people with disabilities, and creating accessibility games to teach students about accessible design. Her research has been funded through the National Institutes of Health; National Science Foundation; National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research; and the U.S. Department of Education. She holds a PhD in computer science from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

• Fall 2024 - Independent Study - IS189RAD
• Fall 2024 - Independent Study - IS189RDL
• Fall 2024 - Independent Study - IS389RAD
• Fall 2024 - Independent Study - IS389RAL
• Fall 2024 - Independent Study - IS589RAD
• Spring 2025 - Independent Study - IS189AD
• Spring 2025 - Introduction to HCI - IS226D
• Spring 2025 - Independent Study - IS389AD

Complete List of Publications

Zhou, K. Z., Liu, C., Shan, J., Kletenik, D., and Adler, R. F. (2024). Accessible Adventures: Teaching Accessibility to High School Students Through Games. In Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology. (ASIS&T 2024), 61(1), 457-468.  *Honorable Mention Best Long Paper Award.

Adler, R. F., Baez, K., Delgado, M., Raudales Reyes, D. I., Sotelo, J., Shan, J., Zhou, K. Z. and Magasi, S. (2024). mENTER: Co-Designing an mHealth Peer Navigator Intervention for People with Disabilities. In Proceedings of the 3rd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop (EmpathiCH ’24 CHI ’24 workshop), (pp. 26-33).

Adler R. F., Baez, K., Morales P., Sotelo J., Victorson, D., Magasi S. (2024). Evaluating the Usability of an mHealth App for Empowering Cancer Survivors with Disabilities: Heuristic Evaluation and Usability Testing. JMIR Human Factors, 11, e51522

Kletenik, D. and Adler, R. F. (2024). Motivated by Inclusion: Understanding Students' Empathy and Motivation to Design Accessibly Across a Spectrum of Disabilities. In The 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE'24), (pp. 680-686).

Kletenik, D., Minkowitz, R., Peric, A., Sahin, M., and Adler, R. F. (2024). From Awareness to Action: Teaching Software Accessibility for Neurodiverse Users. In The 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE'24), (pp. 687-693).

Adler, R. F. and Kletenik, D. (2023). Accessibility for All: Introducing IT Accessibility in Postsecondary Computer Science Programs for K-12 Teachers. Practice brief. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability (JPED), 36(1), 103-108.

Kletenik, D. and Adler, R. F. (2023). Who Wins: A Comparison of Accessibility Simulation Games vs. Classroom Modules. In The 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE'23), (pp. 214-220).

Adler, R. F., Paley, A., Li Zhao, A., Pack, H., Servantez, S., Pah, A. R., Hammond, K., SCALES OKN Consortium. (2023). A User-Centered Approach to Developing an AI System Analyzing U.S. Federal Court Data. Artificial Intelligence and Law, 31, 547-570.

Adler R. F. Morales P., Sotelo J., Magasi S. (2022). Developing an mHealth App for Empowering Cancer Survivors with Disabilities: Co-Design Study. JMIR Formative Research, 6(7), e37706.

Kletenik, D. and Adler, R. F. (2022). Let's Play: Increasing Accessibility Awareness and Empathy Through Games. In The 53nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE'22), (pp. 182-188).

Kletenik, D. and Adler, R. F. Breaking Down Barriers: Empowering K-12 Students with Accessibility Education. Illinois Computer Science Summer Teaching Workshop (virtual), June 2024.

Magasi, S., Adler, R. F., and Victorson, D. WeCanManage: An App-based Self-Management Intervention for Cancers Survivors with Known Disabilities. American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) 2023 Annual Conference, October 2023, Atlanta, GA. *Launchpad Competition Finalist

Magasi, S. and Adler, R. F. "Developing mHealth tools to support Cancer Survivors with Known Disabilities," Invited talk at Step-up Breast Cancer Awareness Virtual Conference, E-Center for Women's Cancers and Maternal Health, Johannesburg, South Africa, October 2022. 

Adler, R. F., Friedman, D., Victorson, D. and Magasi, S. Co-Design Processes for the Development of mRehabilitation (mRehab) Interventions For and With People with Disabilities. American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine 2022 Annual Conference, November 2022. 

Sotelo, J., Morales, P. H., Baez, K., Delgado, M., Teolis, B., Magasi, S., and Adler, R. F. Heuristic Evaluation of an mHealth Prototype for Cancer Survivors with Disabilities. Poster at the 2022 SACNAS National Diversity in STEM Conference, October 2022. *Outstanding Undergraduate Presentation Award

Presenter at the Integrating Accessibility and Disability into the Computing Curriculum Pre-symposium event at SIGCSE 2022 (with D. Kletenik), March 2022. 

Sotelo, J., Morales, P. H., Dimayuga, L., Teolis, B., Magasi, S., and Adler, R. F. Developing a Prototype of a Self-Management Application to Empower Cancer Survivors with Disabilities. Poster at the 2021 SACNAS National Diversity in STEM Conference (Virtual), October 2021. *Outstanding Undergraduate Presentation Award

Morales, P. H., Sotelo, J., Dimayuga, L., Teolis, B., Magasi, S., and Adler, R. F. Applying a User-Centered Co-Design Approach to Discover the Challenges of Cancer Survivors with Disabilities. Poster at the 2021 SACNAS National Diversity in STEM Conference (Virtual), October 2021.

Magasi S., Victorson D., Adler R., and Hamlish T. WeCanManage: Collaborative user-centered design of a self-management tool for cancer survivors with disabilities. 2nd Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries – European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education (COTEC-ENOTHE) Congress (Virtual). September 2021.

Magasi, S. and Adler, R. F. "WeCan… - Developing mHealth tools to support Cancer Survivors with Known Disabilities," Invited talk at the University of Illinois Cancer Center’s Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) Program Meeting, March 2021.