Rate My Professor Dania Bilal

Dania Bilal is the Patricia D. Williams Professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, part of the College of Communication and Information. She holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Science from Florida State University, as well as a Bachelor of Science from Lebanese University. Appointed as a professor at the University of Tennessee since 1997, her research lies at the intersection of human information behavior, human-computer interaction, human-AI interaction, and information retrieval. Key areas include youth informatics, child-computer information interaction, cognitive and affective youth information experiences, usability, and user experience. Her foundational studies on children's interactions with web search engines revealed differences and similarities in information behavior compared to adults, influencing the field profoundly. Recent projects encompass humanoid robots for delivering reminiscence therapy to older adults with dementia, voice-switching behaviors and embodiments in voice digital assistants, interface mirroring with diverse representations, and applications of generative AI in education.

Bilal has secured funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the IDEA Institute on Artificial Intelligence, Google Inc., the Eugene Garfield Foundation, and the University of Tennessee System Grand Challenge Grant for the project Beyond Boundaries: Introducing 4-H Students to Gen-AI Through Immersive Learning Experiences. She earned the ASIS&T SIGUSE 2017 Outstanding Contribution to Information Behavior Research Award, the 2014 Google Faculty Development Research Award, the ASIS&T SIGUSE 2008 Book-of-the-Year Award, the ALISE 2007 Excellence in Teaching Award, and recognition as one of the top 2 percent of scientists worldwide since 2022 based on citations. Notable publications include Theoretical Applications of Children’s and Youth’s Information Behavior Research: 1999-2019 (2022, ASIS&T proceedings, top 10 most downloaded), Users’ voice-switching behaviors, embodiments and perceptions of voice assistants (2025), Fueling Conversations: AI Education across the iSchools in the US and Canada (2025), and AI in Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning (2025, Information and Learning Sciences). Her work has received national and international media coverage and advanced understanding in information sciences.