Publications & CV

My most up-to-date CV is available here.

Person wearing a VR headset in front of dual computer monitors in an office.
Person using a VR headset interacting with a virtual coffee shop scene featuring an animated character and menu.

Training an AI model on ASL

Developing ASL Champ! Alam et al., 2024.

Scatter plot showing action identification accuracy versus reaction time for Deaf, Hard of Hearing (HoH), and Hearing groups with trend lines for each group.

Identifying behavioral patterns in action identification among people of differing hearing statuses. Willis et al., 2024.

Papers

Alam, M. S., Palagano, J., Mally, N. H. G., May, L., Malzkuhn, M., & Quandt, L. C. (Accepted). Immersive VR for signed language learning: A comparative study of ASL vocabulary acquisition. Transactions on Accessible Computing. Link

Baltatzis, V., Inan, M., Gillis, C., Kushalnagar, R., Quandt, L. C., Findlater, L., & Lea, C. (2026). DiscoSign: Discourse-aware text-to-sign language gloss translation. Proceedings of the 2026 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing. Link

Kezar, L., Aichler, L., Willis, A. S., Imai, S., Inan, M., Wooten, A., Alikhani, M., & Quandt, L. C. (2026). Surveying representation collapse in pretrained models of American Sign Language. Findings of EMNLP 2026.

Schwenk, M. F. & Quandt, L. C. (2026). ASL proficiency predicts advanced visual-spatial processing independent of age of acquisition. Cognitive Science, 50: Link

Lea, C., Baltatzis, V., Gillis, C., Kushalnagar, R., Quandt, L. C., & Findlater, L. (2026). Bootstrapping sign language annotations with sign language models. CVPR Findings 2026. Link

Sortino, R., Kim, C., Guettler, T., McClyman, K., Quandt, L. C., Wooten, A., & Pizzie., R. (2026). Producing concept-motivated signs supports learning of STEM in American Sign Language. npj: Science of Learning. Link

Imai, S., Kezar, L., Aichler, L., Inan, M., Walker, E., Wooten, A., Quandt, L. C., & Alikhani, M. (2026). How pragmatics shape articulation: A computational case study in STEM ASL discourse. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC 2026). Link

Quandt, L. C., May, L., Atemnkeng, S., Palagano, J., Aichler, L., Glasser, A. (2026). Embodied learning for Deaf signers: Exploring the potential of XR and haptic technologies. Deaftech 2026 Conference Proceedings.

Zhang, H., Shalev-Arkushin, R., Baltatzis, V., Gillis, C., Laput, G., Kushalnagar, R., Quandt, L. C., Findlater, L., Bedri, K., Lea, C. Towards AI-driven Sign Language Generation with Non-manual Markers. Full paper accepted to CHI ’25. Link‍ ‍

Alam, M. S., Palagano, J., Quandt, L. C. (2024). Insights from immersive learning: Using sentiment analysis and real-time narration to refine ASL instruction in virtual reality. ASSETS ’24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, 108, 1-4. Link

 Willis, A. S., Leannah, C., Schwenk, M., Palagano, J., & Quandt, L. C. (2024). Differences in biological motion perception associated with hearing status and age of signed language exposure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(10), 2378–2393. Link

Inan, M., Atwell, K., Sicilia, A., Quandt, L. C., & Alikhani, M. (2024). Generating signed language instructions in large-scale dialogue systems. In Proceedings of the 2024 Annual Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL 2024), 6, 140-154. Link

Alam, M. S., Lamberton, J., Wang, J., Leannah, C., Miller, S., Palagano, J., de Bastion, M., Smith, H., Malzkuhn M., & Quandt, L. C. (2024). ASL Champ!: A virtual reality game with deep-learning driven sign recognition. Computers & Education: X Reality, 4. Link

Viegas, C., Inan, M., Quandt, L. C., & Alikhani, M. (2023). Including facial expressions in contextual embeddings for sign language generation. Paper presented at the 12th Joint Conference on Lexical and Computational Semantics (*SEM 2023). Link

Alam, M. S., De Bastion, M., Malzkuhn, M., & Quandt, L. C. (2023). Recognizing highly variable American Sign Language in virtual reality. To be presented at the 8th International Workshop on Sign Language Translation and Avatar Technology (SLTAT). Link

May, L., Miller, S., Bakri, S., Quandt, L. C., & Malzkuhn, M. (2023). Designing access in sound art exhibitions: Centering deaf experiences in Musical Thinking. In Proceedings of CHI23: ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Link

Leannah, C., Willis, A. S., & Quandt, L. C. (2022). Perceiving fingerspelling via point-light displays: The stimulus and the perceiver both matter. PLOS ONE 17(8): e0272838. Link

Quandt, L. C., Lamberton, J., Leannah, C., Willis, A., & Malzkuhn, M. (2022). Signing avatars in a new dimension: Challenges and opportunities in virtual reality. In Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Sign Language Translation and Avatar Technology (SLTAT). Link

Quandt, L. C., Willis, A. S., Schwenk, M., Weeks, K., & Ferster, R. (2022). Attitudes toward signing human avatars vary depending on hearing status and age of signed language exposure. Frontiers in Psychology. Link

Berteletti, I., Kimbley, S. E., Sullivan, S. J., Quandt, L. C., & Miyakoshi, M. (2022). Different language modalities, yet similar cognitive processes in arithmetic fact retrieval. Brain Sciences, 12(2), 145. Link

Quandt, L. C. & Kubicek, E., Willis, A. S., & Lamberton, J. (2021). Enhanced biological motion perception in deaf native signers. Neuropsychologia. Link

Quandt, L. C. & Willis, A. S. Earlier and more robust sensorimotor discrimination of ASL signs in deaf signers during imitation. (2021). Language, Cognition, & Neuroscience. 10.1080/23273798.2021.1925712. Link

Kubicek, E. & Quandt, L. C. (2021). A positive relationship between sign language comprehension and mental rotation abilities. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 26, 1-12. Link

Shao, Q., Sniffen, A., Blanchett, J., Hillis, M. E., Shi, X., Haris, T. K., Liu, J., Lamberton, J., Malzkuhn, M., Quandt, L. C., Mahoney, J., Kraemer, D. J. M., Zhou, X., & Balkcom, D. (2020). Teaching American Sign Language in mixed reality. In The Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), 4, 152. Link

Quandt, L. C., Lamberton, J., Willis, A. S., Wang, J., Weeks, K., Kubicek, E., & Malzkuhn, M. (2020). Teaching ASL signs using signing avatars and immersive learning in virtual reality. In The 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS ’20), October 26–28, Virtual Event, Greece. Link

Kubicek, E. & Quandt, L. C. (2019). Sensorimotor system engagement during ASL sign perception: an EEG study in deaf signers and hearing non-signers. Cortex, 119, 457-469. Link

Quandt, L. C. & Kubicek, E. (2018). Sensorimotor characteristics of sign translations modulate EEG when deaf signers read English. Brain and Language, 187, 9-17. Link