Wesley Deng
Senior Researcher
About
| Wesley Hanwen Deng (opens in new tab) is a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research New York City where he is a member of the Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (FATE) group and a close collaborator of the Sociotechnical Alignment Center (STAC).
Wesley received his Ph.D. from the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (opens in new tab) at Carnegie Mellon University (opens in new tab) (CMU). His research focuses on responsible AI (RAI), AI safety, and human-AI collaboration. His work aims to build human-centered tools to support the design, development, and governance of more responsible AI systems. At Microsoft Research, he is currently aim at supporting on-the-ground AI agent evaluation across Microsoft’s AI products and services, with a specific focus on human-centered outcomes that help people safeguard their agency, enhance their capabilities, and focus their attention where it matters when interacting with generative and agentic AI systems. Wesley’s Ph.D. work has been published at top-tier venues in human-computer interaction, AI, and RAI, including CHI, CSCW, FAccT, NeurIPS, EMNLP, COLM, HCOMP, and AIES, receiving four best paper awards (top 1% of all submissions) and one honorable mention (top 3% of all submissions). His work has also been recognized through the Microsoft AI & Society Fellowship, a K&L Gates Presidential Fellowship in Ethics and Computational Technologies, and an Honorable Mention for the CMU 2026 SCS Dissertation Award. Prior to CMU, Wesley earned his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from UC Berkeley, graduating with Highest Honors and receiving an EECS Research Honor. |