Chieko Asakawa

Chieko Asakawa

Dr. Chieko Asakawa is an IBM Fellow, working in the area of accessibility. Her initial contribution to the field started from braille digitalization and moved onto the Web accessibility, including the world’s first practical voice browser. In 2009, she became the first Japanese female IBM Fellow. Since 2010, Chieko is focusing on real world accessibility to help the visually impaired to better comprehend their surroundings and navigate the world by the power of AI. Her latest project is the development of the AI suitcase, a navigation robot for the visually impaired. She has been serving as an IBM Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University since 2014. Dr. Asakawa started to concurrently serve as Chief Executive Director of the Japanese National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) since April 2021. In 2013, the government of Japan awarded the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon to Dr. Asakawa for her outstanding contributions to accessibility research. She was elected as a foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering in 2017, inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) in 2019. She also received American Foundation for the Blind 2020 Helen Keller Achievement Award. She is a member of the Science Council of Japan.
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  • Organization
    IBM
  • Profession
    IBM Fellow