The variety and sophistication of paid research projects undertaken by Adelphi students this summer reflects the University's emphasis on undergraduate research.
At Adelphi, research doesn’t take a summer vacation. Working one-to-one with faculty mentors, Adelphi undergraduates extend their learning far beyond the classroom, embarking on exciting research collaborations that may just transform their futures.
This summer, undergraduate research is heating up on and off campus, thanks to support from the Scholars Pursuing Arts, Research and Knowledge (SPARK) Center, the Honors College and other funding sources. These program offerings ensure that every undergraduate has the tools to spark their curiosity—and immerse themselves in the University’s culture of research, creativity and innovation.
Honors College Students Explore the Past, the Future and Everything in Between
Vincent Calvagno, a history major and rising senior in the Honors College, is spending the summer doing research supported by two fellowships—an Honors College Summer Research Fellowship and a Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) Research Fellowship. Remarkably, he is the lone undergraduate in the group of 48 scholars from around the nation who received MHS fellowships this year.
History major Vincent Calvagno is researching water and property in the colonial era for his Honors thesis. He is one of just 48 research scholars selected by the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Calvagno is using the fellowships to comb through the archives of MHS, the Maine Historical Society, and The New York Public Library for his Honors thesis project, “Aquatic Appropriation: Water and Property in Colonial New England.” Much of what he’s paging through hasn’t been unearthed in decades, sometimes even centuries. “It’s made me more thoughtful about how I bring the distant past to life,” he said.
With guidance from his research adviser, associate professor of history Michael Lacombe, PhD, Calvagno is working to discover the role that access to fresh water played in relations between colonists and the Indigenous population and to place it in the context of larger geopolitical trends of the colonial era. His findings may even shed light on current issues. “Our world is experiencing a rising water scarcity crisis right now,” he explained, “so in looking back into the history of water possession, I hope to potentially gain insight into some of the root causes of this problem.”
Calvagno isn’t the only Honors College student to receive two fellowships. Troy Cofie, a rising senior majoring in economics and minoring in mathematics and political science, won an award to do research with the University of Pittsburgh’s National Science Foundation-funded Mobilization and Political Economy Summer Research Program. He was one of only eight students chosen nationwide for this program.
Cofie is using the National Science Foundation and Honors College fellowships to conduct research for his Honors thesis, “Social Embeddedness and Legal Institutionalism: Alternative Frameworks for Economic Policymaking.” Mariano Torras, PhD, professor and chair of the finance and economics department, is the adviser for Cofie’s Honors College summer research project.
“A Diverse Group of Thinkers” Tackles Research Topics from Energy to Neuroscience
Honors College students Aruzhan Bissenbay, Nadirah Peakes and Mickeylia Walker are working with Professor Brian Stockman, PhD, who last year won a $311,000 National Science Foundation grant to explore the origins of life on Earth. Now, Dr. Stockman is supervising the three students as they tackle separate pieces of his Prebiotic Origins of Biological Energy project. The impact of their findings could reach well beyond the scholarly community, generating real-world value for projects such as NASA’s Europa Clipper.
Much like other research partnerships at the University, Dr. Stockman’s student team exemplifies the richness of the Adelphi community. “I wanted a diverse group of thinkers,” he told Adelphi in 2024. Since then, he’s staffed his lab with students who bring a variety of disciplinary perspectives to their work. Bissenbay, an international student from Kazakhstan, is a mathematics major. Peakes is a computer science major, while Walker is majoring in biology and minoring in African, Black and Caribbean studies.
Elias Nauth, a junior psychology major and political science minor, is working with Michael Moore, PhD, associate professor of psychology, on “Trauma in the First Responder Population,” a project inspired by his work as an EMT on a volunteer ambulance squad. By identifying where trauma comes from and how it manifests, Nauth hopes to provide data that can guide future therapeutic treatments for first responders.
The other Honors College summer fellows are drawing on their studies in neuroscience, public health, physics and other fields to produce equally impactful work. Read more about their projects on the Undergraduate Summer Research and Fellowships page.
SPARKing Students’ Passion for Research
The SPARK Center is foundational to the Adelphi undergraduate experience. SPARK Summer Research Fellowships are designed to encourage important inquiry in fields outside the lab sciences, empowering Adelphi students to follow their passions wherever they lead—from the archives to the rehearsal room to the community center.
This summer, SPARK fellows are unlocking the brain’s secrets with projects focused on the relationship between socio-cognitive impairment and mental illness and how gaming can help older adults maintain cognition. They’re also exploring theme development in dance choreography, examining the role of AI in employee retention strategies, translating their coming of age into a story collection, and more.
There are many other fellowships available for Adelphi students interested in specific areas of research: the Landesberg Family Summer Research Fellowship for chemistry students, the Mary Klement Fellowship for physics students, and a Bhisé Center Field Research Travel Grant for global research. The 2025 Bhisé grant was awarded to Clara Ossandón Melo, a dual dance and psychology major, who is exploring dance and women’s empowerment in Butoh, a form of Japanese dance theater.
Maintaining Adelphi’s Global Reach Throughout the Summer
Adelphi’s commitment to global engagement is also evident in a Poland-based summer research program led by Justyna Widera-Kalinowska, PhD, professor of chemistry. Every year since 2014, Dr. Widera-Kalinowska has taken a group of Adelphi students to Poland to conduct research on nanotechnologies with top scientists at the University of Warsaw. The program is funded by International Research Experiences for Students grants from the National Science Foundation.
This summer’s participants are posting about their experiences in and outside the lab—including seminars, educational workshops, and trips around Europe, along with cutting-edge projects on green energy and sustainability—on the SPARK Center’s Instagram page. Visit that page for more direct reports from Adelphi students on their research efforts.