FSU doctoral student wins prestigious scholar award

A Florida State University doctoral student is the only recipient in the state of Florida to have been awarded the prestigious P.E.O. Scholar Award.

Meghan Keough, a doctoral student in clinical psychology, has received a $15,000 award from P.E.O. International for the academic year. This is the third year in a row that a Florida State University student has received the scholar award since local P.E.O. members began nominating FSU students in 2008. Keough was recommended by Nancy Marcus, dean of the Graduate School, and psychology Professor Norman Schmidt, director of the Anxiety Behavioral Health Clinic (ABHC) at Florida State.

“The P.E.O. scholarship is a very competitive national award and it is wonderful that our students continue to stand out in the pool of nominations,” Marcus said. “We are very proud of Meghan and our previous P.E.O. recipients.”

Keough, who hails from Seattle, has served as the associate director of the ABHC and has worked there as an anxiety specialist. She is the recipient of the highly esteemed National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health for her dissertation research in anxiety sensitivity.

“In an effort to work toward the prevention of anxiety disorders, my current research examines a brief intervention aimed at the amelioration of anxiety sensitivity, which is a well-established risk factor in the development of panic,” Keough said. “While the past several decades have seen great research strides in the phenomenology and treatment of anxiety disorders, substantial work is still to be done in bolstering treatment effectiveness, preventing the occurrence of anxiety disorders and ensuring adequate access to effective treatment.”

With the P.E.O. Scholar Award, Keough plans to present her research at national conferences, purchase statistical software and complete a yearlong internship in Boston at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University. After graduation, Keough looks forward to continuing her research on the prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders.

P.E.O. International, a philanthropic educational organization founded in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1869 established the scholar award in 1991 to support advanced doctoral and postgraduate students who demonstrate scholarly excellence and extraordinary potential in their fields. Of more than 700 nominees from the United States and Canada, 85 students received the scholar award.