While researching his master’s thesis at SJU, he began considering ways in which those with disabilities experience the web. In 2015, his efforts earned him IBM’s People with Disabilities Award and a $10,000 Google Lime Scholarship. Also that year, he won “Geek of the Year” at the Philly Geek Awards. The project would lead Ather to form his own nonprofit, EvoXLabs, dedicated to increasing accessibility to the web via what’s become known as “universal design.”