Dane DeSutter is an embodiment and gesture scientist who has spent over a decade studying how the body externalizes and supports complex cognition and putting those insights to work in product development. He uses spontaneous co-speech gestures to probe the fine details of people's mental models across domains as varied as spatial reasoning in science, physician-patient dynamics in clinical environments, wearables, developer experience, and human-AI interaction. He is currently a Senior Product Researcher at Microsoft.

Dane earned his doctorate in Learning Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he studied the embodiment of spatial thinking as people reason with scientific visualizations. His work has contributed to multiple products including pedagogical chemical simulations, critical infrastructure visualization for Argonne National Laboratory, visualization of learning analytics data and telemetry, and AI grading support for instructors.

Dane presents his research at venues including the International Society of the Learning Sciences, Quant UX Con, Advancing Research, ICMI, and CHI. He also volunteers with Out in Tech to mentor early career queer UX practitioners. He also holds a B.S. in Applied Physics from Purdue University.

When he isn't in research mode, Dane bikes along Lake Michigan, hikes, swims, and follows his dog Carmen (Carmy) Sandiego wherever she leads. He hopes that someday she leads them both to the foothills of the Alps.