The Nuckolls Fund Announces Recipients of Its 2023 Grants & Awards

This year, four grants of $30,000 each and four awards of $5,000 have been distributed by The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education, totaling $140,000 and bringing the Fund’s total distribution to more than $1.85 million.

Founded in 1988 to recognize the achievements of the late lighting designer and pioneer lighting educator, James L. Nuckolls, The Nuckolls Fund supports the development of  innovative college-level lighting programs for the technology and aesthetics of lighting design with grants, plus assists deserving students with awards to further their lighting design education. Submissions for student recognition by educators for grants and nominations are judged annually by the Fund’s Board of Directors.

Nuckolls Fund President Lee Waldron, FIALD, recognized the breadth of the proposals for lighting-related instruction, from incorporating Building Information Modeling across inter-department programs to techniques for integrating daylighting into interior spaces. “Each grant principal investigator emphasized the importance of their revised curricula to the students who would be taking the knowledge gained with them into the lighting industry which will ultimately benefit the end-user,” he noted.

The recipients of $30,000 Nuckolls Grants to Expand Lighting Curriculum are:

• Texas Christian University: Alyssa Humphries Stewart, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Lighting Education, for “Integration of CAD to BIM: The Design Process and Technology Paradigm Shift in Architectural Lighting Design Education & Practice,” which will extend throughout the existing lighting curricula.

• Oregon State University: Clotilde Pierson, Assistant Professor of Architectural Engineering, to improve learning modules with its “Daylighting Design through Experiential Learning Pedagogy.”

Recipients of the $30,000 Lesley Wheel Grants to Develop and Deliver New Courses are:

• University of Southern California: Lauren Dandridge, Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, for “Exploring Exterior Lighting Design and its Effect on Health, Community and Nature.”

• Tennessee State University: Robert Davis, Affiliate Faculty, Civil and Architectural Engineering Department, for “Expanding Lighting Education: A step towards a more diverse academic pipeline into the lighting professions.”

Recipients of $5,000 Awards are:

*  Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award: S M Ashik Rahman, University of Colorado at Boulder

* Jules Horton International Student Achievement Award: Nayoun Ryu, Parsons School of Design

* Designers Lighting Forum of New York Student Achievement Award: Bentley Tonniges, University of Nebraska at Lincoln

4. Designers Lighting Forum of New York Student Achievement Award: Aaron Zimmerman, Pennsylvania State University

For more information, click here, or email Jeanne Clemente, Fund Administrator.