Donghan Fu 付东晗

A homepage

Donghan Fu 付东晗

Studying Human‑Computer Interaction, Human‑AI Interaction, and AI for health promotion and STEM education — designing generative-AI systems that improve how people learn, communicate, and care for their health.

SISLT – School of Information Science & Learning Technologies, University of Missouri Ph.D. student, School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, University of Missouri‑Columbia. Member of the Technology to Enhance Learning Lab (TELL).

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Portrait of Donghan Fu

Contents

  1. 01About
  2. 02News
  3. 03Academic Path
  4. 04Research
  5. 05Publications
  6. 06Service
  7. 07Teaching
  8. 08Contact

01 Chapter one

About

Welcome to my homepage.

My name is Donghan Fu, and I am a Ph.D. student in the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies (SISLT) at the University of Missouri‑Columbia (MU). I'm currently a member of the Technology to Enhance Learning Lab (TELL) led by Dr. Xinhao Xu. My research sits at the intersection of Human‑Computer Interaction (HCI), Human‑Artificial Intelligence (AI) Interaction (HAII), and AI for health promotion and STEM education. I am especially interested in how generative AI reshapes the ways people communicate, understand, and learn STEM content, and how AI can help address health challenges related to depression and women's health.

My work follows two interconnected strands.

01

Human‑AI Interaction for Health

I design and study applications that support mental health and women's health, including for pregnant people. I combine MR/XR with large language models to focus on the communication process, use advanced approaches to analyze its psychological dynamics, and examine how people make sense of both illness and AI.

02

AI‑Enhanced Learning and Analytics

I investigate how learners engage with AI‑powered educational tools such as conversational teaching agents. By capturing and interpreting the multimodal data generated in these interactions, I aim to advance learning analytics and evidence‑based design.

By integrating emerging media technologies with psychological frameworks, my goal is to diagnose real‑world challenges in health promotion and science learning, then design generative‑AI solutions that improve communication and educational effectiveness.

I hold a Ph.D. in Communication from Beijing Normal University (BNU), during which I was a visiting scholar in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2024. I earned an M.A. in Journalism and Communication from Wuhan University (WHU), as well as dual bachelor's degrees: a B.S. in Chemistry from Central China Normal University (CCNU) and a B.A. in Advertising from WHU. Prior to joining SISLT at Mizzou, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at WHU from 2024 to 2025.

Beyond my academic pursuits, I am deeply committed to hands‑on design — from developing applications to driving AI‑powered product innovation — and to uncovering learners' nuanced needs to guide ongoing product refinement. Ultimately, my work aims not only to push forward the fields of learning analytics and AI for science education but also to forge strong industry partnerships that tackle the real challenges learners face. I warmly invite colleagues and collaborators from academia, industry, and educational institutions to connect and explore opportunities together.

Motto

Girls can be great scientists — and they can pursue their dreams at any stage of life.

In my spare time, I love snowboarding and dream of visiting and riding at all the most iconic ski resorts around the world.

Snowboarding
Plate 01  ·  My very first snowboard was bought in Madison — it marked the start of my snowboarding journey.

02 Chapter two

News

A running log of publications, talks, and milestones.

2026

7 dispatches
  1. Jul Publication

    The paper I co‑led — "Time2Reflect: A Multi‑Agent AI System for Scaffolded Post‑Class Reflection in STEM Graduate Education" — was accepted by the 2026 Association for Library and Information Science Education (2026 ALISE).

  2. Jul Conference

    My paper was accepted by the 112th National Communication Association (NCA); I will attend in November in New Orleans.

  3. Jun Publication

    My co‑authored paper on digital illness narrative of young adults with diabetes on Chinese social media was published online in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. This project builds on my continuing interest in illness management and health promotion.

  4. May Appointment

    I was honored to join the Missouri State Health Assessment (SHA) team as a research assistant, working alongside faculty in public health — my first engagement with community‑based public health and statewide research.

  5. May Publication

    My co‑authored paper on Public Interest in Generative AI‑Driven Journalism Innovations for Personalization was published online in Journalism Studies.

  6. Jan Publication

    My paper "How Audiences Respond to Emotional Propaganda in Chinese Short‑Form Videos" appeared online in Issues & Studies (ResearchGate).

  7. Jan Conference

    Two of my papers were accepted to the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication (KCHC 2026), where I will present April 2–4, 2026.

03 Chapter three

Academic Path

Over the past ten years of my educational journey, I have encountered three pivotal turning points that have shaped the direction of my academic path.

I 2014 — 2018

From Chemistry to Communication

CCNU  →  WHU

Growing up in a traditional Chinese family, I was encouraged to pursue chemistry at a teacher's college — a path considered stable and "appropriate" for girls, despite my limited interest and challenges in mathematics. At Central China Normal University (CCNU), I became increasingly aware of gender disparities in STEM: male faculty predominantly held research positions, while female faculty were largely assigned teaching roles. While my chemistry lectures often felt disconnected from practical application, hands‑on lab activities, like building molecular models, made learning tangible and engaging. During my teaching internship, I witnessed how rigid, exam‑oriented instruction often stifled students' curiosity, especially among girls.

These disappointing experiences motivated me to transfer from chemistry education to communication studies, aiming to create more supportive STEM learning environments for girls.

Learning chemistry illustration
Plate 02  ·  Students often find chemistry boring and hard to learn.

04 Chapter four

Research

My ongoing projects center on Human–AI Interaction, investigating both people's use and perceptions of AI applications and their corresponding impacts, as well as leveraging AI‑based design to examine its effects on engagement across multiple contexts, including health and science / education communication.

Broadly, my research sits at the intersection of social psychology and digital media. I examine how discrete emotions — such as anxiety and fear — and higher‑order emotional experiences like feeling moved and fatigue shape information practices on social platforms and the social outcomes that follow. I also study health promotion, with a focus on diabetes and mental health, including depression and experiences of psychological emptiness.

Strand I

Human–AI Interaction

GenAI in journalism.

Journalism Studies cover

Journalism Studies · 2026

Public Interest in Generative AI‑Driven Journalism Innovations for Personalization

Shuang Song, Donghan Fu*

Personalization driven by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has progressively permeated newswork operations, encompassing news content generation, presentation, distribution, and communicative interaction. Utilizing cross‑national data from the Digital News Report (2025) and the AI Governance International Evaluation Index (2025), this study explores the extent and key predictors of public interest in GenAI‑driven journalism innovations for personalization across 34 countries worldwide (N = 54,799). Results show public interest is moderate overall, with GenAI‑driven news summaries most favored. At the individual level, news consumption patterns emerge as positive determinants. At the societal level, AI governance capacity matters more than AI infrastructural transparency, operating both as a direct predictor and as a contextual condition amplifying or mitigating news‑use effects.

05 Chapter five

Publications

Peer‑reviewed articles. Citation counts are refreshed daily from Google Scholar. * corresponding author.

  1. 2026

    Public Interest in Generative AI‑Driven Journalism Innovations for Personalization

    Shuang Song, Donghan Fu*. Journalism Studies.

    Cited by —

  2. 2026

    Digital Illness Narratives of Young Chinese Adults With Diabetes on RedNote

    Zikun Liu, Donghan Fu, Yingjie Liu & Ying Meng. Journal of Medical Internet Research.

    Cited by —

  3. 2026

  4. 2025

    Serious Game and Mental Health Education

    Donghan Fu, Nansong Zhou & Zikun Liu. Asian Journal of Communication.

    Cited by —

  5. 2025

    Chinese Parents' Online Narratives of Juvenile Diabetes

    Donghan Fu, Zikun Liu & Yingjie Liu. Health Communication.

    Cited by —

  6. 2024

    Dating App Use and Health Outcomes

    Along He, He Bu, Wenlong Mu, Donghan Fu & Chen Chen. Archives of Sexual Behavior.

    Cited by —

  7. 2024

    Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance in Romantic Relationships

    Yiting Bai, Donghan Fu* & Lyn Van Swol. Asian Journal of Social Psychology.

    Cited by —

→ Full profile on Google Scholar

06 Chapter six

Service & Awards

Journal peer reviewer

  • Health Communication
  • Information, Communication & Society
  • Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media
  • Frontiers in Public Health
  • Frontiers in Psychology
  • International Journal of Urban Sciences

Conference peer reviewer

  • The International Communication Association (ICA)
  • The National Communication Association (NCA)

Awards

  • Top Student Paper Award — Game Studies Division, National Communication Association, October 2025.

07 Chapter seven

Teaching

Teaching assistant

  • Aug 2026 · Inquiry into Transforming Learning with Technology (ISLT 2300) — University of Missouri (2026 Fall).

High school teacher internship

Jul 2017 – Apr 2018 · High School Chemistry — Wuhan University Affiliated High School (2017 Fall – 2018 Spring).

  • Taught chemistry to three classes of 11th‑grade students.
  • Graded student assignments and provided personalized feedback to encourage proactive questioning during office hours.
  • Participated in creating exams for monthly, mid‑term, and final assessments to align with curriculum objectives.

Guest lectures

  • May 2025 · Social Media Journalism — WHU, invited by Professor Zikun Liu (2025 Spring).
  • Dec 2024 · Journalism and Communication Theory — WHU, invited by Professor Shiwen Wu (2024 Fall).

Prof. Wu taught this course during my master's studies at WHU. Now, I've been invited by him to return and give a lecture, a moment that feels meaningful. I feel incredibly fortunate to come back and work at my alma mater. I have deep affection for WHU — it witnessed my personal and academic growth and marked the beginning of my lifelong academic journey.

Cherry Blossom Avenue at Wuhan University
Plate 05  ·  The School of Journalism and Communication is located at the end of Wuhan University's iconic Cherry Blossom Avenue. (新闻与传播学院坐落在樱花大道的尽头)

08 Chapter eight

Contact

I warmly invite colleagues and collaborators from academia, industry, and educational institutions to connect and explore opportunities together.

Email Google Scholar ORCID LinkedIn ResearchGate Curriculum Vitae

Mailing address

Townsend Hall
School of Information Science and Learning Technologies
University of Missouri‑Columbia
Columbia, MO 65201, USA