Jeff Sheng is an academic researcher and American artist whose photographic work over the last two decades has focused on the 21st century LGBT rights movement. His photographs have been featured in the New York Times, LA Times, CNN, NYT Magazine, Time Magazine, Newsweek, the Advocate, and The New Yorker, among others.

He is currently an assistant professor in the School of Information and faculty affiliate in Sociology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is currently writing an academic book about LGBT social movements based on his project on closeted LGBT service members in the US Military, which will also include photographic portraits of these service members before and after the discriminatory policies against LGBT military service were lifted.

Sheng first attained recognition for his photographic series Fearless, a project about ‘out’ lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes on high school and college sports teams.  From 2003-2015, he photographed over 200 “out” athletes, spoke about, and exhibited the Fearless Project at over eighty different venues, including dozens of college campuses as well as at the headquarters of ESPN, Nike, and the NCAA.  The project was published into a photography book in 2015, FEARLESS: Portraits of LGBT Student Athletes, featuring an afterword written by retired NBA basketball player Jason Collins.

His other photography series "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (2009-2011), featured over 80 closeted service members affected by the government policy known by that same name, which were recently followed up with photographs featuring transgender service members affected by the bans initiated by former President Trump (2017-2020).  

Sheng's iconic photographs from this project became part of the public debate around the issue and were extensively shown in the media as part of the commentary over its repeal, including in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, NPR, the BBC, ABC World News Tonight, and the CBS Evening News.  His photographs of these closeted service members were also widely circulated among government officials, including top policy makers and military officers in the Pentagon, until “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was finally repealed in September 2011. 

He earned his PhD in Sociology and an MS and PhD minor in Computer Science from Stanford University in 2021. He also holds a BA (Art, Film, and Visual Studies) from Harvard University, an MA (Sociology) from Stanford University, and an MFA (Master of Fine Arts, Studio Art) from the University of California, Irvine.