Sara Hart has an B.Sc. (hons) in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, a B.S. in Biobehavioral Health from Penn State, and a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science from The Ohio State University. She completed a postdoc at the Florida Center for Reading Research before moving into a faculty line in the Department of Psychology and the Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University.
Sara Hart’s work is highlighted by bringing together theories and methods from developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, education, and behavioral genetics, to answer the fundamental question of how and why students differ in their reading and math development. Her work intersects these domains, allowing her to apply new ways of thinking to a given field, using advanced methods. Outside of her content area expertise, she is committed to using more rigorous open science practices herself and encouraging her fields to invest in open science, and she is committed to mentoring supporting women and other underrepresented groups in academia.
Sara Hart has published across many different fields, and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She has won prestigious early career awards, including the Early Career Impact Award, Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS), The Rebecca L. Sandak Young Investigator Award from the Society for the Scientific Studies of Reading, the L. Fuller & J.P. Scott Memorial Award for Outstanding Scientific Accomplishments from the Behavioral Genetics Association, and the Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science. Despite these research successes, she believes her most important work is in research dissemination and in training and mentorship.
