Katherine Musacchio Schafer
Master's in Four Competition (MI4)- Katherine Schafer | English | GEOSET Research Video | July 25, 2019
Katherine Musacchio Schafer, M.Ed., M.S. is a fourth year graduate student in Florida State University’s Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program. She is under the direction of Thomas Joiner, Ph.D. She studies suicide risk factors as has honed skills over the course of years and across many domains. She is a strong clinician, researcher, and teacher and demonstrates leadership at the national, state, local, university, and departmental levels.
Katherine routinely presents her work and receives awards at national conferences including at the American Academy of Suicidology, International Academy on Suicide Research, and American Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) conferences. Katherine’s presentations at ABCT’s annual conference received awards for excellence in student research for second consecutive years. For efforts in treatment of psychopathology in Tallahassee’s Veterans population, she was awarded the prestigious “National Soldier Suicide Prevention Scholarship” to attend a national clinical training on suicide prevention in Veterans.
Katherine engages in inter-state leadership and scholarly collaboration. For example, Katherine collaborates with multiple leaders across state lines, with two projects currently under review at peer-reviewed journals. With regard to leadership around the region, Katherine has been invited to speak in the area on many occasions, most notably about crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and treatment for survivors of sexual assault. Further, Katherine has completed clinical placements around the region in treatment facilities with vulnerable populations including the incarcerated and severely mentally ill.
Within the University, Katherine leads as well. She presented her work in the Graduate School’s Annual Thesis in Four Minutes, and was awarded as a finalist. She has also received funding through Ermine M Owenby, Jr. Fund for Excellence, Graduate Research Development, and Congress of Graduate Students. Additionally, her commitment to teaching is exemplary. She taught in the Department of Psychology for eight semesters, and her semester evaluations indicate that she exceeds university and departmental averages in teaching quality. In Fall of 2018, Katherine was nominated as Florida State University’s Outstanding TA Award. Finally, Katherine leads within the University as she mentors two undergraduate researchers in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. These research assistants are involved in many of her research projects, including two meta-analyses and coding behavioral observations.