Career
He is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research. He is known for being one of the pioneers in the human–computer interaction field Buxton received his bachelor"s degree in music from Queen"s University in 1973 and his master"s degree in computer science from the University of Toronto in 1978.
Buxton"s scientific contributions include applying Fitts" law to human-computer interaction and the invention and analysis of the marking menu (together with Gordon Kurtenbach).
He pioneered multi-touch interfaces and music composition tools in the late 1970s, while working in the Dynamics Graphics Project at the University of Toronto. In 2007, he published Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design.
Buxton is a regular columnist at BusinessWeek. Before joining Microsoft Research he was chief scientist at Alias Wavefront and SGI, and a professor at the University of Toronto.