Ben Z. Zhang, Ph.D.

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Technology AI and Society (DTAS) at Stony Brook University's (SUNY) College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS). I study the production and sociotechnical impacts of AI-enabled systems across critical contexts (e.g., work, health, and education) to advance theory and inform more equitable, human-centered design and policy interventions. To achieve this, I employ a life-cycle-centered, multi-method approach to analyze the promises, inequalities, and invisible labor embedded in AI infrastructures, from development and deployment to governance.

Drawing on training in sociocultural ethnography and applied data science, my work examines how responsible approaches can be integrated throughout the lifecycle of AI-enabled systems. Specifically, I have been focusing on: (1) AI production and data infrastructures; (2) work, health, and sustainability in the context of global development; and (3) sociotechnical strategies to reduce harm and promote responsible computing.

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 Journal of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (JCSCW), as well as interdisciplinary venues such as SMSociety, 4S, and AoIR. I have been fortunate to receive several honors for my work, including the ACM SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award, Rackham Predoctoral Fellow and Rackham International Research Award. I earned my Ph.D. in Information at the University of Michigan.

Research areas:

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Social Computing
Science, Technology, and Society (STS)
Human-Centered AI and Responsible AI
Work and Labor
Health and Well-being
Data Infrastructure and Governance
Design Research