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Rose-Hulman Delves into Smart Lighting
August 9, 2011
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Setting Up Experiment: Junior optical engineering
student
Nick Anderson pays close attention to setting up an optics
experiment in a laboratory at Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology. |
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Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology students and faculty are
playing a role in helping the Smart Lighting Engineering Research
Center (ERC) hasten the transition of important innovations from
the laboratory bench to the classroom and marketplace.
The center is dedicated to developing new light-emitting diode
(LED) technologies and applications for smarter, better-performing
lighting devices and systems. Launched in 2008 and funded
primarily by the National Science Foundation, the ERC is led by
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) of Troy, N.Y.
These smart lighting systems are poised to revolutionize
lighting by creating immersive lighting systems that can sense
their environment to provide new levels of energy efficiency,
health and safety benefits, and enhanced workplace
productivity.
Rose-Hulman is one of the ERC's university outreach partners,
along with Howard University in Washington; and Morgan State
University in Baltimore. Along with Rensselaer, core ERC
university partners are Boston University and the University of New
Mexico. Industry partners, ranging from major lighting firms
to small startup firms, help to guide strategic planning, spur
innovation and provide students with first-hand experience in
entrepreneurship as well as corporate research and development.
Rose-Hulman recently hosted a conference to bring ERC and other
university outreach partners up to date on students' developments
in the project. Creating projects and education modules to
showcase optics technology were seniors Stuart Falco, Sadie
Geerligs and Allison Tharp, juniors Nick Anderson, Joseph Braker
and James Jacobs, and sophomores Evan Hale and Zhen (Ben)
Wei. Topic examined during the eight-week summer program
included "Smart Sensors for Traffic Signals," "Waveguide Approach
to Smart Illumination-Applications to Ad Signs" and "Radiometry
with CCD Camera." Faculty mentors for the projects were
department head Charles Joenathan, Rob Bunch and Azad
Siahmakoun.
"Rose-Hulman is a valuable asset to our Smart Lighting
initiative. The students have done some great work so far and
we're looking forward to more contributions as the project goes
forward," stated Ken Connor, a RPI professor and ERC
official. "We know that by getting Rose-Hulman involved (with
ERC) we're getting students at the undergraduate level that have
promising futures in optics and physics."
Students and faculty will become immersed in more complicated
research projects during the upcoming school year to create better
LEDs, as well as new sensors and systems required to effectively
monitor and control them.
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Offering Advice: Dr. Charles Joenathan, head of the
Department of
Physics and Optical Engineering, provides feedback after
listening
to a student's project presentation for Rose-Hulman Institute
of
Technology's contributions to the national Smart Lighting
initiative.
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The ERC will help develop new technologies and applications that
will change the way society uses lighting. Engineered Smart
Lighting Systems will optically sense the environment to provide
energy efficient, comfortable illumination when and where it is
needed. Beyond illumination, Smart Lighting Systems will
simultaneously provide high speed data access and scan for
biological and biochemical hazards.
"We're on the cutting edge of this exciting new technology and
the possibilities are endless. Our students are learning new
things every day," Joenathan said.
Find out more about the Smart Lighting Engineering
Research Center .