Emilia Pauline Pisani (Lee) Belserene (December 12, 1922 – December 11, 2012)[1] was an American astronomer specializing in the observation of variable stars and recognized as an expert on RR Lyrae variable stars.
Belserene was a student at New Rochelle High School, and was awarded a full scholarship to Smith College.
Her dissertation, Period changes of variable stars in Messier 3, was supervised by Martin Schwarzschild.
[1] She became a professor of astronomy at Lehman College and then, in 1979, was hired as director of the Maria Mitchell Observatory.
In her period as director of the observatory, she supervised many student research projects involving the observations of variable stars, and the analysis of those observations using computer algorithms she had written, leading to over 100 publications.