In 2003, The Nuckolls Fund added a new award to its already existing grants. With the incredibly generous $200,000 pledge to the fund in memory of Jonas Bellovin from the Bellovin family foundation, The Nuckolls Fund initiated the Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award. Mr. Bellovin was the founder of Legion Lighting located in Brooklyn New York.
The Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award is meant to address another important aspect of lighting education ‚ the student. It is meant as a reward to a student who has demonstrated outstanding performance in an established lighting program. This $5,000 annual award is given to a single individual for his or her use for education-related purposes. A grant recipient might use it for further education, to pay off student education loans, to relocate to obtain a position within the lighting industry, or any other appropriate education-related purpose.
The Nuckolls Fund feels that there are seven schools within the United States that presently offer a full lighting education program. They are: Parsons The New School for Design, Pennsylvania State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. As faculty members and programs change over time, the fund maintains the ability to add or subtract a school from this initial group. The primary faculty member at each of these schools has been contacted by the fund and they are all eager to participate in the Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award program.
Initially, each school is given an upcoming year in which they will be required to submit a nomination to the fund of one outstanding individual to receive the $5,000 award. A description from the primary lighting faculty member at the school is required to indicate the reasons why that particular student deserves to receive the award. At the same time, the student nominated informs The Nuckolls Fund Board how the grant monies will be used.
Jonas Bellovin $5,000 Scholar Achievement Award Recipients Since Inception
Parsons School of Design – 2003 recipient was Mr. Stephen Horner
Penn State University – 2004 recipient was Mr. Wook Jea Oh
RPI’s Lighting Research Center – 2005 recipients were Kenneth Appleman & Alexander Baker
Texas Christian University – 2006 recipient was Megan Gover
University of Colorado at Boulder – 2007 recipient was Megan Christen
University of Nebraska at Lincoln – 2008 recipient was Lisa Friehe
Parsons School of Design – 2009 recipient was Darlene Myrie
Penn State University – 2010 recipient was Michael Royer
RPI’s Lighting Research Center – 2011 recipient was Leora Radetsky
Texas Christian University – 2012 recipient was Sean Zurko
University of Colorado at Boulder – 2013 recipient was Anthony Pualani
University of Nebraska at Lincoln – 2014 recipient was Yulia Tyukhova
Parsons The New School for Design – 2015 recipient was Stephen Finney
Penn State University – 2016 recipient was Jeffrey Mundinger
RPI’s Lighting Research Center – 2017 recipient was Rohan Nagare
University of Colorado at Boulder – 2018 recipient was Dixon Stein
University of Nebraska at Lincoln – 2019 recipient was Andi Walter
Parsons School of Design – 2020 recipient was Andrea Young Fierro
Penn State University – 2021 recipient was Samantha Komber
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – 2022 recipient was Sachintha De Vas Gunawardena