This story was originally published in Architectural Lighting.

The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education has announced its 2018 grant and scholarship recipients, awarding a total of $90,000 its largest annual distribution to date. Including this year’s awards, the Fund’s support over its 29-year history now totals $1.145 million.

In a prepared statement, Fund president Jeffrey A. Milham said, “The Fund’s Board of Directors felt that because more proposals submitted for 2018 demonstrated significant merit, the decision was made for an increase in the number of grants that were given.” Lighting educators in colleges and universities throughout North America submitted proposals. The eight grants and awards for 2018 are as follows:

  • One $20,000 Nuckolls Fund Grant to the University of Minnesota to put towards the development of a lighting design minor and the creation of a new advanced lighting course titled “Lighting Design Innovations and Technological Advances,” to be offered by the University’s College of Design. Abimbola Asojo and Mary Guzowski are the co-principal investigators for this grant.
  • One $20,000 Nuckolls Fund Grant to the University of Oregon for the development and implementation of a new course called, “Virtual Lighting Design.” Siobhan Rockcastle, Chair of the Baker Lighting Lab, is the principal investigator with additional team support that includes Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, David Grigsby, Zachary Suchara, Nathaniel Jones, and Naomi Miller.
  • One $20,000 Lesley Wheel Introductory Lighting Program Grant to The University of Cincinnati for its proposal “Establishing Cross-disciplinary Architectural Lighting Education.” Julian Wang is the principal investigator, and will oversee the creation of the new architectural lighting course that will be offered to upper-level undergraduate students as well as graduate students enrolled in the University’s existing programs for architecture, interior design, and architectural engineering.
  • One $10,000 Edison Price Fellowship Grant to Seunghae Lee from Oregon State University. She will apply the grant toward a summer internship with Cambridge, Mass.-based lighting design firm Lam Partners.
  • One $5,000 Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award was made to Dixon Stein from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
  • One $5,000 Jules Horton International Student Achievement Award was presented to Archanaa Pradhapan, a student at Pennsylvania State University.
  • Two $5,000 Designers Lighting Forum of New York Student Achievement Awards were presented. The first recipient is Riley Johnson from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and the second recipient is Joanna Filter, a student at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.

The Nuckolls Fund was established in 1988 to honor the late lighting designer and educator James Nuckolls, who established the first lighting design degree program at Parsons. “Since its founding, we have grown our annual support for the development and expansion of programs in architectural lighting design education in North America,” Milham said in the press statement. Educators at colleges and universities are eligible to submit grant proposals as they seek funding support from one of the Fund’s three programs: The Nuckolls Fund Grant, The Edison Price Fellowship Grant, and The Lesley Wheel Grant. Proposals are reviewed annually. To be eligible for the various $5,000 Fund awards for student, individuals who have exhibited academic excellence in their lighting design programs are nominated by their respective teachers.

In addition to the Fund’s monetary disbursements, its website hosts a variety of educational resources including teaching modules and videos. These resources are available free-of-charge to anyone interested in lighting education.

“In 2019, the Fund will celebrate its thirtieth year in operation. Our past winners have been responsible for many notable advancements made in the lighting profession,” Milham said. “We look forward with pride to the continuation of the great work by educational institutions and individuals through lighting education.”

For its 2019 granting and award cycle, the Fund has revised the timeframe for applications moving it from February of the same year to November of the previous year. The next deadline is November 30, 2018. Full details about each grant and award can we found on the Nuckolls Fund website.

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