Nuckolls Fund distributes $130,500 in Grants and Awards for 2022
(USA) – The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education for 2022 has issued grants and awards totalling $130,500, ranging from $5,000 to $30,000.
Due to Covid restrictions, a presentation planned for LEDucation in New York City was replaced by mail notifications. This year’s grants and awards brought the Fund’s total distribution to $1,715,500 since its formation in 1988.
The Nuckolls Fund supports college-level lighting programmes that enable students to learn, appreciate and apply the fundamentals of lighting design, and to recognise the achievements of the late lighting designer and educator, James L. Nuckolls. Submittals for financial support from the Fund’s programmes are judged annually by its Board of Directors.
This year, three $30,000 Nuckolls Grants are being applied to expanding lighting curricula. This includes funding an upper-level advanced lighting course for interior designers at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, by Jake Tucci; a new course in the School of Architecture and Design at Virginia Tech incorporating the 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, by James Jones and Ron Gibbons; and a continuation of new lighting related curricula at Mississippi State University, by Robin Carroll.
In addition, Victoria McReynolds at Texas Tech was the recipient of the $7,500 Lesley Wheel Grant to initiate the acquisition of testing and building lighting tools as a basis for an architectural lighting course to monitor the Llano Estacado natural setting and its measurable effects on human wellness with energy sustainability. The $13,000 Edison Price Fellowship will be applied to the summer internship of Arpan Guhan at the Light and Health Research Center at Lawrence Technological University.
Four Student Achievement awards of $5,000 were distributed to Sachintha De Van Gunawardena, Renesselaer Polytechnique Institute, for the Jonas Bellovin Scholar Achievement Award; Wangyang Song, Pennsylvania State University, for the Jules Horton International Student Achievement Award; and Makayla Thomposon, University of Nebraska/Lincoln and Paola Kwan, University of Colorado/Boulder for the 2021 Designers Lighting Forum of New York Student Achievement Awards.
Nuckolls Fund President Lee Waldron, President of Grenald Waldron Associates, praised each of the recipients, and recognised the generosity of the lighting community: “We are proud of our record to continue financial support for the advancement of lighting education. In total, 140 grants and awards have been sponsored by the Nuckolls Fund during its 33 years, including 59 grants to expand or create a new lighting course.”
