PeopleofSuperintelligence

Lab leader

Ryen W. White

Also known as Ryen White

Ryen White is a Distinguished Scientist and Vice President at Microsoft, where he heads applied science for OneDrive and SharePoint. His current work focuses on agentic AI, search, and knowledge systems, and his earlier work was in information retrieval. He wrote a PhD thesis at the University of Glasgow in 2004 on implicit feedback for interactive information retrieval. His book Interactions with Search Systems won the 2017 ASIST Best Information Science Book Award, and he became an ACM Fellow in 2021. By 2017 he was a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, CTO of Health Intelligence at Microsoft Health, and lead of Cortana research.

Timeline

  1. 2004

    A Glasgow PhD thesis

    He writes a PhD thesis, Implicit feedback for interactive information retrieval, at the University of Glasgow in 2004.

  2. 2005

    A British dissertation award

    In 2005, his PhD dissertation wins the British Computer Society Distinguished Dissertation Award.

  3. 2014

    Karen Spärck Jones Award

    He receives the 2014 Microsoft BCS/BCS IRSG Karen Spärck Jones Award for contributions to information retrieval.

  4. By 2017

    Health intelligence and Cortana research

    By 2017, he is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, CTO of Health Intelligence at Microsoft Health, and the lead of Cortana research.

  5. 2017

    Interactions with Search Systems

    His book Interactions with Search Systems wins the 2017 ASIST Best Information Science Book Award.

  6. 2021–2024

    ACM Fellow and two academies

    He becomes an ACM Fellow in 2021 and receives the Tony Kent Strix Award in 2022. Membership of the SIGIR Academy comes in 2023, and the SIGCHI Academy follows in 2024.

  7. 2025

    Information access and generative AI

    In 2025 a paperback edition of Information Access in the Era of Generative AI appears. He co-edits the book with Chirag Shah.

  8. As of October 2026

    Applied science for OneDrive and SharePoint

    At Microsoft he is a Distinguished Scientist and Vice President, heading applied science for OneDrive and SharePoint. His work focuses on agentic AI, search, and knowledge systems.

Sources and credits

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  1. Implicit Feedback for Interactive Information Retrieval - Microsoft Research microsoft.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Ryen W. White ryenwhite.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Ryen W. White - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. iSchool Directory | Information School | University of Washington ischool.uw.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. 2017 Best Information Science Book Award - Association for Information Science and Technology | ASIS&T asist.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Ryen W. White at Microsoft Research microsoft.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Information Access in the Era of Generative AI by Ryen W. White (u. a.): Neu Taschenbuch (2025) | preigu abebooks.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. New book showcases work of CIIR researchers | Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval ciir.cs.umass.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.