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Ben Z. Zhang, Ph.D.

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Technology, AI and Society (DTAS) in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) at Stony Brook University (SUNY). I study the production, governance, and sociotechnical impacts of AI-enabled systems across labor, health, and economic well-being to advance theory and inform more equitable, human-centered design and policy interventions.

 

Drawing on training in sociocultural ethnography, science and technology studies, and data science, I use a lifecycle-centered, multi-method approach to analyze the promises, inequalities, and invisible labor embedded in AI infrastructures, from development and deployment to governance.​​​ Three questions anchor my current work:

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(1) How is the labor that produces AI valued, professionalized, and rendered invisible in global supply chains?

(2) How do underserved communities use and resist AI-enabled systems in their work, health, and financial decision-making?

(3) How can sociotechnical systems be better designed and governed to reduce harm, improve access, and promote responsible innovation? 

 

My research and collaborative work have been published in top computing venues, including ACM CHI, ACM CSCW, the ACM Web Conference (WWW), AAAI ICWSM, and the Computer Supported Cooperative Work journal. I have been fortunate to receive several honors for my work, including the 2026 ACM SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award, a Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, and the Rackham International Research Award. I earned my Ph.D. in Information from the University of Michigan.

Research areas:

  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Social Computing

  • Human-Centered AI and Responsible AI

  • Science and Technology Studies (STS)

  • Work and Labor

  • Health and Finaincal well-being

  • Infrastructure and Governance

  • Design Research

Recent News:​​​

Grant funding received from Stony Brook University's OR&I Seed Grant Program 

Along with my collaborator Haotian Zheng from Stony Brook University's School of Social Welfare, I received a research grant from OR&I Seed Grant Program for the project “Emerging Adults, AI, and Financial Decision-Making: Pilot Study for a National Investigation.” September 17, 2026 

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Book Chapter Published in the De Gruyter Handbook of Critical Data Studies

"Contending with ‘Ghost Work’: (In)visibility and (Mis)recognition of Skills in Data Work," a book chapter I co-authored with Maxime Cornet, Tianling Yang, Iraklis Vogiatzis, Clément Le Ludec, Srravya Chandhiramowuli, Juana Torres-Cierpe, and Assia Wirth, has been published in in the De Gruyter Handbook of Critical Data Studies. September 10 2026

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ACM SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award 

 I am extremely honored to receive the 2026 SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award for "exceptional doctoral research in Human-Computer Interaction." This award also wouldn’t have been possible without the guidance of my advisors and committee members and the support of my collaborators, colleagues, friends, and family. I feel very fortunate to be part of the HCI community! April 14, 2026 

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Paper accepted for TheWebConference 2026

"LLM Use for Mental Health: Crowdsourcing Users’ Sentiment-based Perspectives and Values from Social Discussions,'' a paper I co-authored with Lingyao Li, Xiaoshan Huang, Renkai Ma, Haolun Wu, Fan Yang, and Chen Chen, has been accepted by the ACM Web Conference (WWW 2026).   January 13, 2026​

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CHI 2026 program committee

I am serving on the program committee for CHI 2026 as an associate chair in the Interaction Beyond the Individual subcommittee. September 8, 2025​

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Start tenure-track position at Stony Brook University!

I am excited to start as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Technology, AI and Society at Stony Brook University's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS)!  September 1, 2025

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GROUP 2027 program committee

 I am serving on the program committee for GROUP 2027 as an associate chair. August 19, 2025​​

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View archived news items here.​

Affiliation:​

© 2026 by Ben Z. Zhang

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