Interior design faculty receive major lighting ed grant
Two Mississippi State faculty members in the university's interior design program are receiving a $20,000 national grant.
The 2015 Nuckolls Fund Grant has been awarded to assistant professor William Riehm and instructor Robin Carroll by the Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education Inc. They will use the funds to purchase supplies necessary to launch a new course in integrated lighting solutions.
Given annually since 1989 by the New York-based non-profit organization, the grants support development and delivery of innovative academic courses in lighting. After a rigorous review of submitted proposals, Nuckolls provided a total of $80,000 in grants this year -- with MSU receiving one of the largest. For more, see www.nuckollsfund.org.
MSU's interior design program is housed in the College of Architecture, Art and Design.
According to Riehm and Carroll, the new three-credit-hour elective course will begin in the 2016 spring semester and address lighting analytics and the understanding of lighting as an integrated part of building systems.
Jim West, dean of the college, said the award represents "a major step forward for the interior design program's lighting curriculum."
Speaking as both a veteran architect and university administrator, West said the lighting industry "rapidly is evolving in terms of technical advancements and, in particular, advancements in LED lighting and lighting controls directed at reducing energy usage. Keeping these advancements squarely within the purview of solid architectural lighting design practices is the fundamental aim of this new coursework."
Joining him in expressing appreciation to Nuckolls, Carroll said the grant "will open many doors for a future lighting program at MSU."
A five-year, $5,000 gift also is being provided by Curtis Stout of Little Rock, Arkansas, the nation's largest representative of electrical equipment manufacturers, she added.
West said the new course will do much to enable creation of a lighting certification program and should be considered a first step in developing a new interdisciplinary teaching program involving four MSU academic units. In addition to interior design, architecture, building construction science in his college, the program would include industrial and systems engineering in the Bagley College of Engineering.
For more on the College of Architecture, Art and Design and its interior design and other programs, visit www.caad.msstate.edu.
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Christie McNeal | College of Architecture, Art and Design
