Parthasarathy PD

Parthasarathy PD

Product Accessibility Expert @
Salesforce Pvt Ltd.

Research Scholar @ BITS Pilani, Goa

I love to wear many hats! Currently, I am a Software Professional, Educator, and budding researcher. I have extensive experience in the IT Industry and have played various roles like Software Developer, Scrum Master, Security Specialist, and Accessibility Advocate in different capacities with my previous employer (SAP Labs Pvt Ltd). I am currently working with Salesforce Pvt Ltd. and contribute to the area of Product Accessibility & Inclusive Design. I am pursuing a Ph.D. at the Dept of CSIS, BITS Pilani, Goa Campus, and work closely with the researchers at the Human-Centered Future Computing Lab. On weekends, I dedicate some of my time to teaching at BITS Pilani, WILP Division, as well as being involved with few non-profit organizations focusing on education, inclusion and accessibility.

Interested in knowing a little more about me? You can do so by reading this post.

Interests
Education
  • PhD in CSIS, Pursuing

    BITS Pilani, Goa

  • M.Tech in Software Engineering

    BITS Pilani

  • M.Sc in Information Technology

Projects

Some of my recent projects (Focus for the next 12 months)…

Research Projects

  • Frownment Detection in Supreme Court Judgments using AI in collaboration with Mr. Prateek (This is his Masters thesis)
  • Digital Conscience: Investigating the State of Ethics in CS Curricula in India in collaboration with Dr. Lakshmi G
  • GenAI-Powered elective course selections for Academic and Professional Trajectories in collaboration with Ms. Prarita
  • Optimizing Collaborative Models in Distance Learning to enhance Student Learning through Workplace and Academic Integration in collaboration with Ms. Prarita

Long Term Projects (Currently not spending more than 10hours a month on these)

I am currently looking for collaboration in the below projects. If any of the below interests you and you wish to contribute, please reach out to me or schedule a meeting via Meet Partha!.

Inclusive Education!
  • I started working on a very interesting and challenging problem in 2022. There are more than 2 million children with disabilities (CwD's) in India. A quick research suggested that less than 0.01% of schools in India offer science education to children with disabilities! A few major reasons for this are:
    • Inaccessible textbooks to visually impaired
    • Inaccessible laboratories
    • Lack of community, support and policies
    I firmly believe in inclusive education, and I am deeply saddened by the current situation of STEM education not being inclusive enough for CwDs. I know a few researchers at IIT-Delhi working on making books accessible to the visually impaired by creating digitally accessible and tactile books. Few Researchers at IIIT-Bangalore are working on policy and community building.
    Our team contributes to making science laboratories accessible, harnessing the power of technology. I am in touch with a few non-profit organizations (Vision Empower Trust) working to achieve this and fund our work. Currently, we are developing affordable assistive technologies using the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial intelligence (AI) to make science labs accessible. We are testing our products at various schools in Goa and Karnataka and plan to expand across India by early 2024.
Authorship
  • Working on the 2nd Edition of my book titled "NTA UGC NET/JRF/SET Computer Science"
  • I am planning to write a reader-friendly animated book on Accessibility, Usability, Software Engineering, AI, and CS Fundamentals
    • Looking for co-authors, graphic designers (specializing in comic design), and content editors to contribute for the above two:
    • Requirement for co-authors - Masters in Computer Science + Qualified NET/JRF or Equivalent Industry experience
    • Requirement for Designers and editors - Skills in Latex and textbook editing and comics design

Recent

Accomplishments

Some of my recent accomplishments are:

  • Internationally Certified Accessibility Professional
  • Speaker @ Software Engineering Research in India (SERI), India
  • Dept of Homeland Security, US Certified Accessibility SME
  • Won the Prof. Suresh Ramaswamy Memorial Award: 2022-2023
  • "Inclusive Education by making science labs" project selected for mentorship by Clinton Global Initiative
  • Presented progress of Accessible Science Labs (EMPOWER 2023 @ IIT Madras, Winners 2022)
  • Sold 300+ copies of my first book titled "NTA UGC NET/JRF/SET Computer Science"

Recent Publications

Some of the work where I have contributed in the past 12months…

  • “Serious Games for Enhancing Accessibility Awareness and Skills", ACM CompED 2023, Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Global Computing Education
  • “Integrating Accessibility in a Mobile App Development Course", ACM SIGCSE 2023, ACM SIGCSE Proceedings
  • “An Accessibility-focused Android Development Course", Poster Presentation, EMPOWER 2022
  • “Inclusive Thinking Questionnaire: Preliminary Results", ACM SIGCSE TS 2022, ACM Proceedings, USA

Teaching

As of Oct 2023, I have delivered more than 250 credit hours of instruction to Master’s students, reaching a total of 10000+ students.

Current Courses:

# Course Name Code Role No of Students Rating (5)
1 Data Structures and Algorithm Design DSECLZG519 Lead Instructor NA NA Yet
2 Data Structures and Algorithms CTZG519 Lead Instructor 40 NA Yet
3 Operating Systems ZC364 Lead Instructor 220 NA Yet

Details of the courses taught in the past 12 months is as below:

# Course Name Code Role No of Students Rating (5)
1 Data Structures and Algorithm Design DSECLZG519 Lead Instructor 755 4.91
2 Dissertation CT093 Examiner 20 NA
3 Operating Systems ZG364 Lead Instructor 192 4.63

Non-Credit Courses:

# Course Name Code Role No of Students Rating (5)
1 Python fundamentals for Data Science DSECLPFDS Lead Instructor 1780 4.91

I am also responsible for the smooth functioning of the PGP AIML Programme and act as a Lead TA from the beginning of this offering (Currently we are in Cohort 9). I am also pivotal in bringing innovation in pedagogy, suggestions to improve online examinations, establishing accommodations for students with disabilities, etc. I am also trying out new pedagogies to teach computing to K-12 students.

Some of the voluntary Feedback received about my sessions can be found here

Contact

  • pdparthasarathy.03@gmail.com / parthasarathypd@wilp.bits-pilani.ac.in (If you are a BITS Pilani, WILP student use this ID)
  • Book an appointment