Two ICD PhD students win PEO Scholar Award

Lauren Eales, a PhD student in developmental psychopathology and clinical science, and Mariann Howland, a PhD student in developmental and clinical psychology, both in the Institute of Child Development (ICD), are two of 110 doctoral students within the U.S. and Canada selected to receive a prestigious $20,000 PEO Scholar Award from the PEO Sisterhood.

Eales has authored multiple articles in prestigious scientific journals and is active in leadership and advocacy in her graduate program. Her PhD research focuses on how youth mental health develops in multiple contexts. She studies both problematic and screen media use in children and their correlates with child and parent mental health, how acculturation is related to media use behaviors and physical and mental well-being in youth, and how white parents use media to initiate race socialization.

Howland has seven first-authored and 13 co-authored articles in prestigious scientific journals. Her PhD research aims to further understanding of the prevalence, consequences, and biological underpinnings of maternal symptoms of mania and psychosis over the pregnancy to postpartum transition. These symptoms have been relatively neglected in research and clinical practice. she aims for findings from this and future work to accelerate progress in developing optimal interventions for perinatal mental health.

The PEO Scholar Awards program, established in 1991, provides substantial merit-based awards for women of the U.S. and Canada who are pursuing a doctoral-level degree at an accredited college or university.