Evan Kleiman

Evan Kleiman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology at Rutgers University. His research focuses on understanding and improving the lives of people at risk for suicide through innovative applications of technology, including ecological momentary assessment (EMA), wearables, and ecological momentary interventions (EMI). He leads the Kleiman Lab, which develops tools to make suicide prevention research more accessible.

His work emphasizes real-time monitoring of emotional states and behaviors, leveraging smartphone apps to deliver scalable mental health interventions. Key areas of investigation include sleep disturbance, social media's impact on suicidal ideation, and the role of social connection among marginalized populations such as autistic adults and LGBTQ+ youth. Kleiman's methodologies prioritize idiographic (individual-specific) approaches to predict and mitigate suicide risk, often using machine learning and wearable device data.

Notable contributions include the 'Emoji Game' to improve EMA participation among adolescents and development of the Connections with Others Scale (CWOS) for assessing social support in autistic individuals. His research frequently addresses healthcare disparities, such as barriers faced by transgender adults and adolescents with food allergies.

Current projects explore the feasibility of brief telehealth interventions, the impact of real-time crisis resources (e.g., 'ResourceBot'), and dynamic modeling of suicide risk trajectories. Kleiman advocates for transdiagnostic interventions and ethical considerations in digital mental health research.