PhD student Ruei-Che Chang named Apple Scholar in AIML

Ruei-Che Chang, a PhD student in computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan, has been selected as a 2025 Apple Scholar in AIML. This prestigious fellowship recognizes Ruei-Che’s significant contributions to the development of intelligent interactive systems aimed at improving accessibility for blind and low-vision individuals.

The Apple Scholars in AIML program selects a small cohort of promising doctoral candidates from around the world each year, recognizing students who have demonstrated exceptional research accomplishments and strong potential as future leaders in the field. Ruei-Che’s inclusion underscores the innovation and impact of his work at the intersections of artificial intelligence (AI), accessibility, and human cognition.

Ruei-Che’s research focuses on developing AI-powered systems that provide context-aware and personalized sensory experiences, thereby making the digital and physical world more accessible. His project WorldScribe, for instance, generates real-time visual descriptions to aid individuals who are blind or have low vision, and was recognized with a Best Paper Award at UIST 2024. In addition to WorldScribe, Ruei-Che has also led projects such as Soundshift, which enhances auditory awareness in mixed reality, and EditScribe, a system enabling non-visual image editing through natural language interactions. In all, his research is driven by a vision to ensure both that existing technologies are accessible to a broad spectrum of users, and that new technologies are being designed with all users in mind.

“Ruei-Che brings a strong and unique combination of technical system building, user-centered design and evaluation, quantitative and qualitative methods, and large-scale deployment and analysis, and applies it to challenging accessibility problems and beyond,” said Prof. Anhong Guo, Ruei-Che’s advisor at U-M. “He is among the best of the best PhD students I’ve ever known, and is an exceptional researcher and a rising star in AI & Accessibility.”

In addition to financial support for his ongoing doctoral studies, the Apple fellowship will connect Ruei-Che with a mentor at Apple for meaningful exchanges with leading researchers in AI. These resources will further enable him to pursue his goal of developing accessibility technology that enhances the user experience for people of all abilities.