The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education presented a total of $70,000 for lighting education grants and awards to the winners at its annual luncheon held at Lightfair International 2013 in Philadelphia on April 23. Founded in 1989 in honor of the late lighting designer and educator, James L. Nuckolls, The Nuckolls Fund has given a total of $845,000 for the advancement of lighting education in North America.
Proposals are solicited annually by the Nuckolls Fund for innovative educational ideas that will advance the understanding of light in architecture. This year, Jeffrey A. Milham, president of The Nuckolls Fund, presented three $20,000 Nuckolls Fund grants and two $5.000 student awards.
$20,000 Nuckolls Fund Grants:
- University of Michigan for a new course, “Virtual Lighting Design and Analysis.” Content will be drawn from recent developments in lighting simulation, visualization, and measurement, including analysis techniques within the real or virtual environment. Incorporated will be knowledge bases from architecture, illuminating engineering, optics, computer science, and medical science. Principal investigator is Mojtaba Navvab.
- University of Minnesota for a new course to support the development of an emphasis in lighting design for undergraduate interior design students. This course will create the only such program offered in Minnesota. Abimbola Asojo is the principal investigator.
- Carnegie Mellon University to develop a five workshop series for schools of architecture to encourage the initiation of new courses or expand existing programs in lighting design. The workshops will be open to students and faculty. Serving as principal investigator is Cindy Limauro.
$5,000 awards:
- Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award to Anthony Pualani, Colorado State University at Boulder. While still an undergraduate with an excellent academic record, Anthony completed internships at Edison Price, New York and Bega-US, Carpinteria, Calif. He has accepted a position in the Boston office of Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design.
- Jules Horton International Student Achievement Award to Minchen Wei, Pennsylvania State University. Originally a resident of Shanghai, China, he earned his master’s degree from Penn State where he is now enrolled in a Ph.D. program leading to an academic career. His original research has been published in LEUKOS. In 2012, he presented at the CIE Conference in China.
Guest luncheon speaker was Professor Katherine S. Ankerson of Kansas State University, who led a team of lighting educators to develop the seven-module course guide, “Lighting Across the Design Curriculum.” Funded by a $50,000 Nuckolls Fund Twentieth Anniversary Grant awarded in 2010, the course is now available at no charge on the Fund’s newly redesigned website, www.nuckollsfund.org, in the Educational Resources section. “The idea underpinning ‘Lighting Across the Design Curriculum’ is that lighting is so critical to all aspects of design,” said Professor Ankerson, “that the study of light and lighting must be initiated early in a student’s design education and carried throughout the design educational process with multiple topics.”
Another teaching module, “Lighting Controls—Tools for Teaching,” is also posted on the Nuckolls Fund website. It was developed by Erin Speck at The George Washington University from her Nuckolls Fund 2012 Edison Price Fellowship Grant.
Milham concluded the event by recognizing recent $5,000 contributors to The Nuckolls Fund, including B-K Lighting, Designers Lighting Forum of New York, Enterprise Lighting Sales, Focus Lighting, and the New York City Section of the Illuminating Engineering Society.
Proposals for the 2014 Nuckolls Fund grants are due on February 7, 2014. For further details, visit www.nuckollsfund.org to download the current grant RFP or to make a donation to the Fund.
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Proposals for the 2014 Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education grants are due on February 7, 2014. For further details, visit www.nuckollsfund.org to download current grant RFP or to make a donation to the Fund.
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