Since the Nuckolls Fund luncheon held during Lightfair in May, 2015. two $5,000 Student Achievement Awards have been presented each year. The DLFNY dual student awards will continue to 2035. Eligible for the awards are full-time students in full lighting programs which currently rotate along with the Jules Horton and Jonas Bellovin Awards through the following five schools: Parsons The New School of Design, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Each award recipient will be nominated by the head of the lighting program at the respective school. The award can be applied to any purpose that will further the education of each recipient. “This new award will expand upon the already existing Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award and the Jules Horton International Student Achievement Award” said Jeffrey Milham, who helped found The Nuckolls Fund in memory of lighting designer and educator James L. Nuckolls.
During the early years of the fund, from 1989 to 2013, $75,000 given by the Designers Lighting Forum of New York. In 2014 The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education received a $175,000 contribution from the Designers Lighting Forum of New York to establish a 20-year program of Student Achievement Awards. The announcement of one of the largest donations made to the Fund since its inception 27 years ago. “The Designers Lighting Forum of New York is now the single largest contributor to The Nuckolls Fund, and we are forever grateful for their generosity and support” states Fund President, Lee Waldron.
This significant financial support from the DLFNY to The Nuckolls Fund came largely from proceeds derived from LEDucation, the conference and exhibit sponsored by DLFNY, first held in 2006, and that has been expanding each year.
Clifford Starr, the DLFNY President recounted in 2015, “The hard work of so many members of the LEDucation team has made this donation and student award possible. The Designers Lighting Forum of New York has long been an ardent supporter of The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education.” Starr continued, “We believe that the new Student Achievement Awards will contribute to the continued vitality of the lighting community, both in New York and around the country.”
Designers Lighting Forum of New York Student Achievement Award Recipients Since Inception
Pennsylvania State University – 2015 recipient was Craig Casey
Lighting Research Center at RPI – 2015 recipient was Charles Jarboe
RPI Lighting Research Center – 2016 recipient was Rohan Nagare
University of Colorado at Boulder – 2016 recipient was Shelby White
University of Nebraska at Lincoln – 2017 recipient was Michael Kuhlennengel
University of Colorado at Boulder – 2017 recipient was Madeline Halpern
University of Nebraska at Lincoln – 2018 recipient was Riley Johnson
Parsons School of Design – 2018 recipient was Joanna Filter
Parsons School of Design – 2019 recipient was Aldo Jacques J. Espina
Pennsylvania State University – 2019 recipient was Laura Hinkle
Pennsylvania State University – 2020 recipient was John Sloane
RPI Lighting Research Center – 2020 recipient was Kasia Kozak
RPI – 2021 recipient was Akila Udage
University of Colorado at Boulder – 2021 recipient was Jackson Brogan
University of Nebraska/Lincoln – 2022 recipient was Makayla Thompson
University of Colorado/Boulder – 2022 recipient was Paola Kwan