Annual Naclerio Scholars Program Funds Two SHU Faculty Projects

Lola Halperin and Frank Robinson are this year’s award recipients

This year’s Richard and Barbara Naclerio Faculty Scholars Program, which supports research by Sacred Heart University faculty, will provide funding for Lola Halperin’s play-based occupational therapy project and Frank Robinson’s study of convection in rapidly rotating stars.

The Naclerios began the annual scholars program to support the work of emerging leaders among SHU’s faculty and to promote the University’s vision of cultivating academic excellence through innovative research. The 2021-22 program will provide Halperin and Robinson with $12,500, comprising a $7,500 stipend and $5,000 for supplies and expenses.

Halperin, assistant professor of occupational therapy at SHU, will use the grant to purchase play equipment for children at the anti-poverty agency Action for Bridgeport Community Development (ABCD) and to pay research-related expenses. The equipment will support her ongoing project, “Promoting Play Opportunities in the Classroom,” which provides occupational therapy interventions for the children whom ABCD serves. She also will train ABCD teachers to foster play and playfulness in classrooms, supporting her long-term goal of enhancing child development and promoting teacher well-being. With sustainability in mind, she will create an intervention manual to use in future studies. 

Halperin’s mentor, Amiya Waldman-Levi, associate professor at Long Island University and expert in parent-child play and playfulness, will assist with the project. Several Sacred Heart occupational therapy (OT) students who participated in various aspects of the study for their capstone projects also will take part, and Halperin plans to involve additional OT students in the future. “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to give back to the community and to promote occupational justice among those in need of occupational therapy, especially children who are experiencing poverty or other forms of adversity,” said Halperin.

Robinson, director of SHU’s 3+2 engineering program and assistant professor of physics, is working on a project titled, “Simulating Convection in the Outer Layers of Rapidly Rotating Stars.” His project focuses on high-performance computer modeling of rapidly rotating stars to determine the effect of rotation on plasma close to the surface of a star. Sarbani Basu, professor of astronomy at Yale University, and Joel Tanner, a former Yale Ph.D. student, are working with him on this project.

The grant will fund attendance at the International Astronomical Union’s stellar convection conference at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia, this August. It also provides support for Robinson to devote time to the research, and publication of his findings. “Thanks to the generous Naclerio family, I can continue work on stellar research,” said Robinson. “I also greatly appreciate SHU’s continued support. Each year, I talk about my research in my physics classes –this year, I will have a bit more to say.” Robinson is also funded by the National Science Foundation to study the effects of tropical islands on global warming.

Photo: Frank Robinson and Lola Halperin