JOHNNA BLAIR jlb883@psu.edu | johnnablair.weebly.

com

2023- Postdoctoral Scholar

College of Information Sciences and Technology
Penn State University

EDUCATION

2016-2023
Ph.D., Information Sciences and Technology
Penn State University, College of Information Science and Technology
Advisor: Saeed Abdullah
Committee: Mary Beth Rosson, Xinning Gui, S. Shyam Sundar
Dissertation: Assessing the Design Needs to Support Longitudinal Stability and Wellbeing for
Individuals with Serious Mental Illness
2008-2011
B.S., Psychology – Bio-Evolutionary Option
Minor, Sociology
Penn State University, College of Liberal Arts

PUBLICATIONS

2023
Blair, J., Mukherjee, D., Saunders, E.F.H. & Abdullah, S. (2023). Knowing how long a storm
might last makes it easier to weather: Exploring needs and attitudes toward a data-driven
and preemptive intervention system for bipolar disorder. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’23), April 23–28, 2023, Hamburg,
Germany. ACM.
2022
Blair, J., Brozena, J., Matthews, M., Richardson, T., & Abdullah, S. (2022). Financial
technologies (FinTech) for mental health: The potential of objective financial data to better
understand the relationships between financial behavior and mental health. Front. Psychiatry
13:810057. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.810057
2021
Blair, J. (2021). Designing for serious mental illnesses: Enabling early detection and
supporting financial wellbeing in bipolar disorder. In Adjunct Proceedings of the 2021 ACM
International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2021
ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers (UbiComp-ISWC ’21 Adjunct).

Last updated: October 12, 2023 1

 Blair, J., Hsu, C.Y., Qiu, L., Huang, S.H., Huang, T.H.K., & Abdullah, S. (2021). Using tweets
to assess mental well-being of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In CHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts (CHI ’21 Extended
Abstracts).
2020
Blair, J., & Abdullah, S. (2020). “It didn't sound good with my cochlear implants”:
Understanding the challenges of using smart assistants for deaf and hard of hearing users.
Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, 4(4), 1-27.

Blair, J., Mukherjee, D., Saunders, E.F.H. & Abdullah, S. (2020). Opportunities for
collaborative clinical work: Predicting relapse onset in bipolar disorder from online behavior.
In 14th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare
(Pervasive-Health ’20).
2019
Blair, J. & Abdullah, S. (2019). Understanding the needs and challenges of conversational
agents for deaf older adults. CSCW Extended Abstracts ’19, November 9-13, 2019, Austin, TX,
USA.
2018
Blair, J., Luo, Y., Ma, N. F., Lee, S., & Choe, E. K. (2018). OneNote meal: A photo-based diary
study for reflective meal tracking. In Proceedings of the American Medical Informatics Association
(AMIA) 2018.

Blair, J. & Abdullah, S. (2018). Supporting constructive mental health discourse in social
media. In PervasiveHealth ’18: 12th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing
Technologies for Healthcare.
2017
Eikey, E., Booth, K.,Yarger, L., Blair, J., & Li, V. (2017). How weight loss apps impact users
with eating disorders: An exploratory qualitative study of users’ perspectives. JMIR Mhealth
Uhealth,5(10).

PRESENTATIONS

2023
Brozena, J., Blair, J., Richardson, T., Matthews, M., Mukherjee, D., Saunders, E.F.H., &
Abdullah, S. (2023). Fintech for Psychological and Financial Resilience: Determinants of
Financial Data Sharing Behavior for Individuals with Bipolar Disorder. Designing for and
Reflecting upon Resilience in Health and Wellbeing workshop at DIS.

Blair, J., Brozena, J., Richardson, T., Matthews, M., Mukherjee, D., Saunders, E.F.H., &
Abdullah, S. (2023). Supportive Data-Driven Financial Technologies for Individuals with
Serious Mental Illnesses. WISH Symposium at CHI Conference on Human Factors Computing
Systems

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 Richardson, T., Blair, J., Brozena, J., , Matthews, M., Mukherjee, D., Saunders, E.F.H., &
Abdullah, S. (2023). Impulsive Spending and Finance Management in Bipolar Disorder:
Technology as both a Problem and Potential Solution. Annual Conference of the International
Society for Bipolar Disorders
2022
Blair, J. (2021). Designing for serious mental illnesses: Enabling early detection and
supporting financial wellbeing in bipolar disorder. In Adjunct Proceedings of the 2021 ACM
International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2021
ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers (UbiComp-ISWC ’21 Adjunct).
2019
Blair, J. & Abdullah, S. (2019). The challenges for voice interfaces for deaf and hard of
hearing users. CSCW Workshops ’19.

Blair, J., Luo, Y., Ma, N. F., Lee, S., & Choe, E. K. (2019). OneNote meal: A photo-based diary
study for reflective meal tracking. Penn State Graduate Research Exhibition. (Poster
Presentation)

TEACHING

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Penn State University, College of Information Sciences and Technology
2022-2023
HCDD 440: Human Centered Design and Development, Capstone Course
● Graded and provided feedback on individual and group assignments
● Advised student groups on design research methods, interview protocols, and prototype
development and evaluation
2019-2023
IST 442: IT in International Contexts
● Graded and provided feedback on individual essays and exams
● Lectured on the topics of education, mental health and gender inequalities in global
information technology
● Helped develop course materials, readings, and quizzes
2016-2022
IST 440W: IST Integration, Capstone Course
● Graded and provided feedback on individual and group assignments
● Provided strategies for professional workplace analytical writing, guidance for successful
within-group and group-client relationships and communication, and one on one
tutoring to improve writing skills for English second language undergraduates before
entering the workforce
2020-2021
IST 421: Advanced Enterprise Integration-Technologies and Applications
● Advised student groups on the research, design, and development of enterprise
integration course projects
● Graded and provided feedback on individual and group assignments

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 ● Provided strategies for professional workplace analytical writing, guidance for successful
within-group and group-client relationships
Spring 2021
Cyber 440: Cybersecurity Analytics and Operations, Capstone Course
● Graded and provided feedback on concise technical writing and communicating
technical concepts to general audiences
● Lectured on the fundamentals of concise technical writing, executive summaries, and
reference citation styles
2019-2020
IST 237: Introduction to Digital Entrepreneurship
● Graded and provided feedback on individual writing assignments
● Advised IST and business students on entrepreneurial projects
● Conducted team meetings and gave guest lectures on developing survey questionnaires
and interview guides for customer discovery research

AWARDS

2023
IST Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching
for "exhibiting exemplary commitment to student learning, reflective teaching practices, leadership
and a commitment to professional growth as a teacher."
2022
Nittany AI Challenge
Prototype awarded total prize of $1,500

HCI Consortium Travel Scholarship

2019
CRA-W Grad Cohort Workshop Travel Scholarship
2011
Graduation with Distinction

INVITED TALKS

2022
“Mental Health IT in Different Cultural Contexts: the Impact of Covid-19”, Guest Lecture for
IST 442: IT in International Contexts, Penn State University Park
2021
“Hearing Siri: Understanding the Challenges of Using Smart Assistants for Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Users”, Invited Speaker at the National Educational Conference of the Canadian
Hard of Hearing Association

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 “Accessibility By Design”, Guest Lecture for IST 421: Advanced Enterprise Integration, Penn
State Greater Allegheny
2019
“Using Empathy in Design”, Guest Lecture for IST 331: Foundations of Human-centered
Design

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2016-2023
Graduate Teaching Assistant
College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State University

2018-2020
Graduate Research Assistant
College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State University
Supervisor: Dr. Saeed Abdullah

2011-2016
Assistant Retail Manager
Shoe Dept Encore
Men’s Department Team Lead, New Employee Trainer for Customer Service, Commission
Sales, and Product Knowledge

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2017-2023
Wellbeing and Health Innovation (WHI) Lab
Lab Member, Penn State University
PI: Dr. Saeed Abdullah
Fintech for Mental Health
● Developing financial data-driven interventions to support long-term financial stability for
individuals with bipolar disorder
Data-driven Mental Health Interventions
● Assessing user acceptability and feasibility of predicting relapse onset in bipolar disorder
from online behavioral data
● Understanding financial behaviors and challenges related to mental health
● Designing financial technologies to reduce high-risk spending behaviors in the context of
mental illness
Accessible Technologies
● Investigating accessibility concerns of deaf and hard of hearing users for voice interface
conversational agents

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2018-2020
Smart Speakers and Health Research Group
Lab Member, Penn State University
PIs: Dr. Saeed Abdullah and Dr. S. Shyam Sundar
● Studying the effects of perceived ownership on sensitive disclosures in the context of
shared household conversational agent devices

2016-2018
Design Square Lab
Research Collaborator, University of Maryland
PI: Dr. Eun Kyoung Choe
● Developed and deployed a photo-based diet logging system prototype for a month-long
dietary intervention study

2014-2016
Health Information Technologies Lab
Volunteer Research Assistant, Penn State University
PI: Dr. Erika Poole; Project Supervisor: Dr. Elizabeth Eikey
● Explored the appropriation of weight loss apps by users with eating disorders, the
impact on users, and unintended consequences of design

MEDIA OUTREACH

2022
Blair, J. (2022, Feb. 22) Are Essential Workers More Optimistic Online? Using Tweets to
Assess Mental Well-being of Essential Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Penn State Social Science Research Institute: Insights from Experts. (Research Blog Article)
https://tinyurl.com/2p86hs24

Auman-Gooding, K. (2022, Feb. 24) Insights from Experts: COVID-19 and the mental health
of essential workers. Penn State News.(Media Interview)
https://tinyurl.com/2p96uzsb
2021
“Hearing Siri” -- Top of Mind with Julie Rose for BYU Radio Sirius XM 143, January 21, 2021.
Episode 202. (Podcast Interview)

Hallman, J. (2021, Jan. 7). Study suggests smart assistant design improvements for deaf users.
Penn State News. (Media Interview)
https://tinyurl.com/3bak68zk
Article Recirculated by:
● The Hearing Review -- Feb. 2, 2021 https://tinyurl.com/u32b7hsh
● Hearing Health Foundation, Jan. 12, 2021 https://tinyurl.com/y8n4e5k4
● Science Blog -- Jan. 8, 2021 https://tinyurl.com/s69x9svs