Hello! My name is Grace Hart (she/her) and I am a Postgraduate Associate in Yale University’s Psychology Department. I am currently the lab manager of Dr. Shirley Wang’s Computational Clinical Science Lab, where we leverage digital phenotyping and computational methods to study self-injurious thoughts and behaviors and eating disorder behaviors.

In fall 2026, I will begin my PhD in psychology at Yale under the continued mentorship of Dr. Wang. During my PhD, I intend to use computational models and intensive longitudinal methods to improve understanding, prediction, and prevention of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). I am particularly interested in a) what people believe and feel about death and mortality (“death concepts”) and b) whether one feels life has meaning, and how these influence relevant psychological and behavioral outcomes like death anxiety and STBs. In short, I am passionate about leveraging new methods to answer perennial questions.

I also retain interests in modeling transdiagnostic and basic psychological processes to better situate clinical knowledge within the context of broader psychological science. Relatedly, I enjoy thinking about philosophical and meta-scientific questions related to theory, measurement, and classification.

In my free time, I enjoy reading, practicing yoga, cooking for friends, and listening to music produced by artists from my home state of Virginia.

Research Interests

Suicide, death concepts, existential psychology, theory formalization, mathematical and computational modeling, ecological momentary assessment, scalable interventions, metascience

Education

Yale University, Incoming Fall 2026

Ph.D., Psychology

Boston College, 2021-2023

Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude // Psychology Major: Honors Program, Clinical Concentration // Philosophy Minor

Randolph College, 2019-2020

Selected Fellowships, Grants, and Awards

2026

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

2024

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (awarded but declined)

Fulbright U.S. Student Program, Netherlands (awarded but declined)

2023

International Network on Personal Meaning Student Membership Award - First Place

Berlin Institute of Health Metascience Summer School Travel Award

Boston College Conference Travel Grant

Center for Open Science Metascience Conference Travel Award

Boston College Advanced Study Grant

2022

Scott O. Lilienfeld Memorial Prize for Scientific Thinking in Clinical Psychology

Sentio University “Therapist Throwdown”- Third Place

Boston College Undergraduate Research Fellowship

2021

Boston College Undergraduate Research Fellowship

Research Experience

Yale University: Computational Clinical Science Lab

Postgraduate Associate/Lab Manager (July 2024-present)

Yale School of Medicine: Belief, Learning, and Memory Lab

Research Assistant (June 2023-June 2024)

McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School: Cognition, Affect, Research, and Education Lab

Research Assistant (January 2022-May 2024)

Boston College: Cooperation Lab

Undergraduate Research Assistant (July 2020-August 2022)

Randolph College: Embodied Cognition Lab

Undergraduate Research Assistant (October 2019-May 2020)