The Nuckolls Fund Distributes $140,000 in Grants and Awards for 2023

by | Mar 22, 2023 | News

Grants and Awards for 2023

Four grants of $30,000 each and four awards of $5,000 have been distributed by The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education for 2023, totaling $140,000. This year’s grants and awards brought the Fund’s total distribution to over $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 esthetics of lighting design with grants, and assists deserving students with awards to further their lighting design education. Submittals by educators for grants and nominations for student recognition are judged annually by the Fund’s Board of Directors.

Nuckolls Fund president Lee Waldron, FIALD, in announcing this year’s award and grant recipients, 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,” Waldron said.

Recipients of $30,000 Nuckolls Grants to Expand Lighting Curriculum:

  • Texas Christian University: Alyssa Humphries Stewart, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Lighting Education. A grant 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. A grant to improve learning modules with its “Daylighting Design through Experiential Learning Pedagogy.”

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

  • University of Southern California: Lauren Dandridge, Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Architecture. A grant 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. A grant at this HBCU for “Expanding Lighting Education: A step towards a more diverse academic pipeline into the lighting professions.”

Recipients, $5,000 Awards

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

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

3. 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, visit www.nuckollsfund.org or Jeanne Clemente, Fund Administrator, Jeanne.nuckolls@outlook.com.