Speaker: Shirley Wang

Affiliation: PhD Candidate, Harvard Psychology & Incoming Assistant Professor, Yale Psychology

Title: Mathematical and Computational Modeling of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors

Abstract: Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. Over 47,000 people die by suicide each year in the United States alone, making it the 12th leading cause of death overall, the 2nd leading cause of death for young people ages 10 – 34, and among the most devastating of all public health problems. Unfortunately, whereas scientific advances have led to declines in other leading causes of death over time, the current suicide rate is nearly identical to what it was 100 years ago. In order to make meaningful progress, new methods and approaches are needed that can capture and model the immense complexity of suicide and other forms of self-harm. In the first half of this talk, I will present a series of studies harnessing machine learning and real-time monitoring to predict who is at risk for suicide and when risk is highest. In the second half, I will take a complementary theory-driven computational approach to investigate why and how suicide and self-harm arise by building formal mathematical models of these phenomena as complex dynamical systems. Together, this work may help us advance the understanding, prediction, and prevention of suicide and self-harm.

Location: 46-3310

Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/3473065359