The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education presented $55,000 in grants at its annual Lightfair luncheon, citing a pair of students, two college-level programs, and a lighting historian. Since the program’s launching 19 years ago with a single $5,000 gift, the Fund has now awarded a total of $555,000 in grants.
Named for lighting designer and legendary lighting educator James Nuckolls, the Fund has expanded its activities nationwide over the past two decades. Active support comes from design professionals along with manufacturers, sales representatives, and distributors of lighting products. Contributions range from $200,000 to a few hundred dollars. “Every donation is important to us and truly does make a difference,” says Jeffrey A. Milham, Fund president.
Grant proposals are reviewed by the Fund’s Board of Directors who select the recipients based on concept, originality, and a summary of projected benefits. Submittals for the next Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education grant awards are due February 1, 2009. Information is posted on the Fund’s website.
$20,000 Grants To Educational Institutions:
• Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design
The Lesley Wheel Introductory Lighting Program Grant will assist in the development of a lighting design curriculum. It will be open to all of the school’s architecture and interior design students.
• University of Oklahoma College of Architecture
This Nuckolls Fund Grant will be applied to developing and delivering an advanced lighting design course. The new program will integrate computer visualization techniques for simulation and quantification.
$5,000 Grants To Individuals:
• The Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award was given to Lisa Friehe, a senior in the Lighting Option of Architectural Engineering at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Named for the founder of Brooklyn-based Legion Lighting Co., Inc., the Bellovin prize rewards a student who has demonstrated outstanding performance in an established lighting program. Ms. Friehe has done original research on discomfort glare.
• The initial Jules Horton International Student Achievement Award was won by Rui Qi, who is pursuing a specialty in lighting at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center in Troy, New York. It was presented by Barbara Horton of Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design. “Ms. Qi has shown strong and consistent academic performance, and is committed to her research to make significant contributions to the field of lighting,” said Ms. Horton.
• Prof. Sandy Isenstadt, an assistant professor in Yale University’s Department of Art History, was the recipient of the Edison Price Fellowship to further his research on “Electric Modernism—Architecture and Illumination.” The study shows how electric lighting in the early- to mid-twentieth century affected the development of contemporary U.S. architecture.
Among the major contributors to the Nuckolls Fund this year are the New York and New Jersey Sections of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America; the Designers Lighting Forum of New York; B-K Lighting and TEKA Illumination; Enterprise Lighting Sales; Barbara Horton and Stephen Lees; International Lights; Legion Lighting Co., Inc.; Lightolier; Nulux Incorporated; and Winona Lighting.
