Congratulations to our scholarship recipient of 2023, S M Ashik Rahman:

S M Ashik Rahman is a junior majoring in Architectural Engineering with a lighting emphasis at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Messy and dark rooms are his favorite spaces in this universe because he loves to make them organized and illuminated. He loves to sketch and is passionate about creating design stories with the integration of engineering knowledge.

Ashik’s childhood experiences with climate change impacts in his home country of Bangladesh have motivated him to get into architecture school to fulfill his desire to create sustainable and cost-effective design solutions. Ashik started his journey in the CU Boulder Lighting program in 2021 where he became fascinated by the dynamicity and impacts of lighting design on the human experience within spaces. This inspired him to think of lighting, explicitly daylighting, as a sustainable design tool and led him to start planning for graduate study and research on daylighting to create an impact with sustainable focus to achieve his ultimate goal of reversing global climate change effects.

Ashik got involved with the IES student chapter in 2022 to learn more about the lighting industry. Now he holds a leadership position in the chapter and works to connect lighting enthusiasts of CU Boulder with industry professionals to learn and share knowledge through lighting activities. He is going to have an opportunity to intern for SmithGroup this summer. He is looking forward to getting in-depth lighting design knowledge at the internship and is excited to keep learning about this fascinating world of lighting.

Congratulations to our grant recipient of 2023, Marianna Benitez:

Marianna is an upcoming senior at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is majoring in Architectural Engineering with an emphasis in Lighting while also minoring in Spanish. Marianna holds a leadership position in the student IES chapter and loves learning about the industry and connecting her peers to the many opportunities the lighting field presents. During the summer of 2022 Marianna was an intern designer at AE Design and she is currently an intern lighting designer at Stantec. Marianna is excited for her future in lighting and how the IES Annual Conference will expand her knowledge and experience!

Congratulations to our scholarship and grant recipient of 2022, Paola Kwan:

Hi! I’m Paola Kwan, a senior at CU Boulder majoring in Architectural Engineering with an emphasis in lighting. I love how lighting merges engineering and artistic design, and how it impacts the human experience of a space. I got involved with the IES student chapter to learn more about the industry and the opportunities to learn more about lighting design. I now hold a leadership role in the chapter and love connecting students who are interested in the field with more education and opportunities. I have had the chance to intern for Light Can Help You on the residential side, and HLB Lighting for a more commercial focus. I learned a lot at both and can’t wait to keep learning about the world of lighting! After I graduate, I am planning to do mission work for a few years, but would love to return to lighting.

The IES Annual conference was a great opportunity to learn about what’s going on in the lighting industry and to meet people from all over. It got me excited about the future of light. I got to meet and network with established industry icons as well as emerging professionals and learn from everyone’s experiences. My favorite session that I attended was called “Light Privilege - A Practical Framework for Holistic Lighting in Underserved Communities” which broadened my understanding of lighting design to a social aspect I had never considered. It made me realize how multifaceted the world of lighting design is and got me amped up to dive in.