Wanheng Hu, a Data & Society affiliate, is an embedded ethics fellow at Stanford University’s McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society and the Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). His research lies at the intersection of the sociology of science, medicine, and technology; critical data/algorithm studies; media studies; and public engagement with science. His dissertation project ethnographically examines the cultivation of credible machine learning systems in complex expert practices, with an empirical focus on image-based diagnostics within the Chinese medical AI industry. Another line of his work focuses on the democratic engagement of ordinary citizens in technoscientific affairs, particularly concerning AI development. 

Hu received his PhD in science and technology studies from Cornell University, where he also completed a minor in media studies and remains an active member of the Artificial Intelligence, Policy, and Practice (AIPP) initiative. Before Cornell, he studied at Peking University, where he obtained an M.Phil. in philosophy of science and technology, a B.L. in sociology, and a B.Sc. in biomedical English.