A child developmental psychologist whose research focuses on language development, reading and the role of play in learning, Hirsh-Pasek also serves as co-director of the Temple Infant Laboratory at Ambler, where she oversees cutting-edge research that has attracted national and international attention.

“I am humbled and honored to be receiving this award,” said Hirsh-Pasek. “With any of these awards, you never do the celebrated work by yourself. I have a virtual army of terrific people who deserve this award with me.”

She cited her collaborator of 25 years, Roberta Golinkoff of the University of Delaware — “we have outlasted most marriages”; her Infant Lab co-director Nora Newcombe “she’s both a best friend and a world class researcher”; a supportive psychology department; and “tremendous” graduate students.

“The graduate students are the ones who work with me to push ideas farther. They push me to the edge to make whatever we do seem like it is the work of just one person when it is really the work of a team,” said Hirsh-Pasek, a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.

Hirsh-Pasek, the author of more than 100 professional articles and the author or co-author of nine books, said she loves kids and trying to find ways to get babies and young children to “put it all out there for you so we can understand what and how they are learning. We try to see things through their eyes. So, for me, conducting research is really having fun and playing.

“I always say of the Infant Lab that it is a place where children teach adults, so every day, I’m learning,” she added. “I believe that the very best teachers are the very best researchers, and the very best researchers are the very best learners.

“Science is about discovery and collaboration, and each of us gets only one chance to put a small grain of sand on the beach front. We can only hope that as we put our individual grains of sand out there, we are going to see a beautiful beach,” she said. “I think Temple University has allowed me that opportunity to put my grain of sand on the beach.”