Sara Moussawi

Sara Moussawi is an Associate Teaching Professor of Information Systems and Senior Director for the School of Information Systems Management at Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.

Her research sits at the intersection of behavioral information systems and artificial intelligence, examining the psychological and behavioral dimensions of how users engage with intelligent conversational agents and crowdsourcing platforms. She studies how perceptions of intelligence, anthropomorphism, voice, and humor shape user trust, adoption, and continued engagement with AI systems. Her work has appeared in leading journals including the European Journal of Information Systems, Behaviour & Information Technology, and Communications of the Association for Information Systems, and has been presented at top venues in the field including ICIS, AMCIS, and HICSS. She serves as Track Co-Chair for the Social Computing Track at AMCIS and Mini-Track Co-Chair for the AI and Digital Discrimination track at HICSS.

Sara is an innovator in pedagogy, both in course design and in scholarly contributions to IS education. She has designed and launched multiple courses at CMU, including Mobile Web Design and Development, an interdisciplinary collaboration with CMU IDeATe that immerses students in user-centered design and front-end development through real client projects with community partners. She also designed a course titled Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Focus on Startups in AI and Emerging Technologies, in which 11 alumni founders, venture capitalists, and mentors work directly with students to develop startup ideas, with students going on to secure internships, full-time positions, and pursue their own startup ventures. Her research on service-learning models and experiential course design has been published in leading IS education journals. Earlier in her career, she received the John A. Elliot Teaching Award at the City University of New York, recognizing sustained excellence in teaching.

Publications

Selected Publications
- Moussawi S., Mertz J., Heimann, L., Peopping J., Pottmeyer L., Melville M., Quesenberry, Barrett M., J., Sooriamurthi, R., Kowalsky C. (2026); “How the Focus on the People Dimension in IS Helps Create a Scalable Service-Learning Model”, International Journal of Innovation in Education
- Moussawi S., Mertz J., Heimann, L., Peopping J., Pottmeyer L., Melville M., Quesenberry, Barrett M., J., Sooriamurthi, R., Kowalsky C. (2024); “The Crucial Role of Problem Scoping in Service-Learning Courses in Information Systems”; Communication of the Association of Information Systems
- Moussawi S., Koufaris M., Benbunan-Fich R. (2022). “The role of user perceptions of intelligence, anthropomorphism, and self-extension on continuance of use of personal intelligent agents”, European Journal of Information Systems, 32:3, 601-622, DOI: 10.1080/0960085X.2021.2018365
- Moussawi S., Benbunan-Fich R. (2021). “The Effect of Voice and Humour on Users’ Perceptions of Personal Intelligent Agents”, Behaviour & Information Technology, 40:15, 1603-1626, DOI:1080/0144929X.2020.1772368
- Moussawi S., Koufaris M., Benbunan-Fich R. (2020). “How Perceptions of Intelligence and Anthropomorphism Affect Adoption of Personal Intelligent Agents”. Electronic Markets.
- Moussawi, S., Quesenberry, J., Weinberg, R., Sanders, M., Lovett, M., Heimann, L., Sooriamurthi, R. and Taylor, D. (2020). “Improving Student-Driven Feedback and Engagement in the Classroom: Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Speed Dating Model.” International Journal of Innovation in Education.
- Moussawi S., Koufaris M. (2019). “Developing Measures for Perceived Intelligence and Perceived Anthropomorphism”. Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Hawaii, USA.
- Moussawi S. (2018). “User Experiences with Personal Intelligent Agents: A Sensory, Physical, Functional and Cognitive Affordances View”. Proceedings of the Association of Computing Machinery SIGMIS Conference on Computers and People Research, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, USA.
- Moussawi S., Koufaris M. (2015). “Working on Low-Paid Micro-Task Crowdsourcing Platforms: An Existence, Relatedness and Growth View”. Proceedings of the Thirty Sixth International Conference on Information Systems, Texas, USA.
- Moussawi S., Koufaris M. (2013). “The Crowd on the Assembly Line: Designing Tasks for a Better Crowdsourcing Experience”. Proceedings of the Thirty Fourth International Conference on Information Systems, Milan, Italy.

Additional Information

Ph.D., Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York

M.Phil., City University of New York

M.B.A., Olayan School of Business, American University of Beirut

B.S., Computer Science, American University of Beirut