Brent Hecht

Dr. Brent Hecht is a Director and Partner in the Applied Science Group at Microsoft and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Northwestern University. His research spans multiple fields, including Human-Computer Interaction, Responsible AI, Social Computing, and Spatial Computing. He focuses on understanding the societal impacts of AI, particularly algorithmic bias and language models. Dr. Hecht was a founding Executive Committee member of ACM FAccT, one of the top conferences in the field of Responsible AI. His work has won numerous Best Paper Awards and has been featured in prominent media outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Wired Magazine. At Microsoft, he also leads various research initiatives on the future of work, aiming to enhance productivity and collaboration through AI.

• 2020–Present·Microsoft·Director of Applied Science Group
  • Led research teams focusing on AI applications in productivity, emphasizing privacy-preserving and trustworthy AI optimization.
  • Spearheaded cross-company research on the future of work, exploring business value and productivity improvements enabled by AI.
• 2013–2020·Northwestern University·Associate Professor
  • Conducted research in Human-Computer Interaction, Responsible AI, and Social Computing.
  • Led interdisciplinary research projects investigating the societal impacts of AI.
• 2011–2013·University of Minnesota·Assistant Professor
  • Researched Human-Computer Interaction and geospatial computing, publishing papers at top-tier conferences.

• 2008–2012·Northwestern University·Ph.D.
  • Field: Computer Science
• 2006–2008·University of California, Santa Barbara·M.S.
  • Field: Geography
• 2002–2006·Macalester College·B.A.
  • Fields: Computer Science and Geography