The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education announced the award of a total of $65,000 in grants at the Fund's annual luncheon at Lightfair International on May 6. The awards included two grants of $20,000 each and two Edison Price Fellowships for $10,000 each. They also include a new $5,000 award, the Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award, in memory of the founder of Legion Lighting. Since its first $5,000 grant in 1989, the Fund has given a total of $300,000 to support lighting education.
One of the $20,000 grants was awarded to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center in Troy, NY, to assist in the development of a PhD program in lighting. An interdisciplinary team of faculty will develop the core courses as well as the research, scholarly, and practical experiences that will make up this new degree program. The second $20,000 grant was awarded to Parsons School of Design in New York City to develop a curriculum that incorporates the study of the historical, sociological, and spiritual influences of light in the built environment. The grant supports Parsons' change from a three-semester, 39-credit MA degree program to a four-semester, 69-credit MFA degree program. Jim Nuckolls, in whose memory the Fund was established, started the program at Parsons and instituted its original MFA degree.
The Edison Price Fellowship was established to enable educators to further their own lighting education. An Edison Price Fellowship was awarded to Carolyn Freeman of La Roche College in Pittsburgh, PA, to enable her to participate in a dual internship to examine the connection between lighitng practice and lighting manufacturing. During a sabbatical in 2004, she will intern at Hilbish McGee Lighting Design and with Forum Inc., a lighting fixture manufacturer. A second Edison Price Fellowship was awarded to Carol Caughey of Oregon State University. She will participate in a summer internship at Ripman Lighting Consultants in Belmont, MA, and will also study with professor Joseph Murdoch the writings of John Flynn on the psychological effects of lighting.
The Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award, established this year, is intended as a reward to a student who has demonstrated outstanding performance in an established lighting program. The Bellovin award will rotate among the seven schools in the US that currently offer a full lighting education program. The first $5,000 award was presented to Stephen Horner, a student at Parsons.