Engineered Solutions for Circadian Function & Human Centric Lighting
The LESA Healthcare Research team has been busy! In case you missed it, check out what’s been happening around health and lighting.
LESA Researchers Published in LEUKOS for Work on Dynamic Changes in Light on Cognition
Arunas Tuzikas, Robert Karlicek and former LESA Researcher Lauren Hartstein completed human factor studies to better understaend how rapid, dynamic changes in light spectral power distribution can impact cognitive performance and comfort. Their findings on the ‘Impact of Dynamic Changes in Light Spectrum Power Distribution on Cognitive Performance & Wellbeing‘ were recently published in LEUKOS – The Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES). […]
LESA & GLASE Experts Offer Insights into Controlled Environment Agriculture in LEDs Magazine Blog Series
The LESA Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Greenhouse Lighting & Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium experts from Cornell University participated in a four-part guest blog series with LEDs Magazine between July and October. Throughout the series, they discussed research methods, applications, industry trends and future farming insights for controlled environment agriculture. The blog series was extremely popular generating significant interest around LESA and GLASE research initiatives. Two of the four blogs were ranked among LEDs ‘Top 5 Blogs of 2019’ – including the number 1 spot. […]
LESA Researchers Published in PLOS ONE for Work on Optimizing Sleep and Alertness
Agung Julius and John T. Wen’s research findings were recently published in PLOS ONE for their work on time optimal entrainment control for circadian rhythm regulation. They have developed ‘new ways to optimize sleep for alertness through light exposure‘ and were featured on Rensselaer News. Their work is part of ongoing research at LESA, resulting in several subsequent publications around circadian function, circadian phase shift, and the effects of healthy lighting funded by the Army Research Office, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. […]
Executive Director of GLASE Named One of Produce Grower Magazine’s Produce Pioneers
Erico Mattos named one of only three produce pioneers by Produce Grower magazine. ‘Options to optimze, Mattos is leading a charge to find more efficient environmental controls for greenhouse growers.’ His expertise and leadership to the GLASE consortium have steadily helped ushered in a renaissance of innovation in both his approach and thinking for controlled environmental agriculture (CEA).
LESA Research Published in HDIAC Journal for Work in Circadian Rhythm Regulation
Drs. Agung Julius and John T. Wen, and PhD student researcher Jaiwei Yin from Wen’s Research Group published in the Journal of the Homeland Defense & Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC) Volume: 6 Number: 3 – Biometric Nanosponges as a Broad-Spectrum Countermeasure to Biological Threats for their work on “Optimization of Lighting and Sleep Schedules for Circadian Rhythm Regulation.”
LESA Visiting Scholar’s Work Referenced in Horticultural Lighting Newsletter
Cheif Researcher Jurga Miliauskiene from the Institute of Horticulture at the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry was mentioned in the November issue of LEDs Horticultral Lighting monthly newsletter for the research work she recently completed at LESA. Miliauskiene’s work on the effects of pulsed lighting for CEA qulaity-crop production, was the subject of a recent guest blog for LEDs Magazine as well. […]
New publication on Lighting in Health from LESA Faculty Researchers in Biomedical Signal Processing and Control
Drs. Agung Julias and John Wen‘s methodological approach to assess circadian processes in subjects who have recently experienced traumatic brain injury, using regularly gathered intracranial temperature data. The health effects of circadian regulation are profound, yet assessments of circadian processes are often infeasible in the neurotrauma intensive care unit (ICU).
LESA Center research efforts with the University of New Mexico picked up by Albuquerque Journal
UNM Study Gauges Effectiveness of Light Therapy to Reshape Circadian Rhythms
University of New Mexico researchers and their colleagues from the LESA Center have demonstrated a new technology for gauging the effectiveness of light therapy to synchronize human circadian rhythms as a potential treatment for insomnia, mood disorders and other health problems. In a report published online in the IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine (and set to lead the journal’s December issue), the team reported on a pilot study using the Smart Lighting Clinical Testbed at UNM Hospital. The lighting, sensing and control systems used were based on a system first installed in the Smart Conference Room Testbed at the LESA Center.
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LESA Center Cited in Horticulture Daily for Advanced Research Modules
Lighting research consortium brings the CEA community industry-ready technologies. Without light, plants can’t grow. The continued advance of controlled environment agriculture means that sunlight is often supplemented and in some cases completely replaced by artificial lighting. It works well, but there’s one caveat: artificial lighting can take a lot of energy. Reason enough for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to kickstart the Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium with $5 million in funding in 2017.
Visiting Scholar Joins the LESA Center Plant Science Team
The LESA Center is pleased to welcome visiting scholar Dr. Jurga Miliauskiene. Miliauskiene is the Chief Researcher at the Institute of Horticulture at the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry. She is joining the Plant Science team for two months working alongside Sr. Plant Scientist Elsebeth Kolmos. […]
Visiting Scholar Joins LESA Plant Science Team
The LESA Center is pleased to welcome visiting scholar Dr. Jurga Miliauskiene. Miliauskiene is the Chief Researcher at the Institute of Horticulture at the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry. She is joining the Plant Science team for two months working alongside Sr. Plant Scientist Elsebeth Kolmos. […]
LESA Faculty Researcher Honored at IEEE Workshop
John Wen, the head of Rensselaer’s Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, was recently honored at an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) workshop on advances in the fields of control and smart automation, an area in which Wen has made significant contributions. Wen also leads the Human Centric Lighting verticle at LESA.
Solutions to the Camera Conundrum in Healthcare Using ‘Indoor LIDAR’ for Improved Patient Safety and Protection
— A small network of low cost non-imaging sensors enhances critical patient monitoring without the invasiveness of cameras. —
(Troy, New York) Health and wellness care facilities often struggle to balance trade-offs between affordable, necessary patient monitoring and patient privacy. Camera surveillance, though useful in many situations, is not always the best option for monitoring occupants in a facility where preserving privacy is also an important function. Researchers at LESA (the Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) are solving the camera conundrum in healthcare settings by demonstrating how a small network of low cost time-of-flight sensors use the speed of light to measure distances. […]
LESA Faculty Researcher Selected To Receive 2019 Outstanding Young Investigator Award from ASME
Sandipan Mishra, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been selected for the 2019 Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) Dynamic Systems and Control Division (DSCD).
LESA Center Sr. Plant Scientist’s Guest Author Blog Receives Placement in Weekly Newsletter
Dr. Elsebeth Kolmos’ guest blog spot for LEDs Magazine, describes what research has revealed about plant responses to ultraviolet light. She observes there is much more to be learned about balancing taste, nutrician, and crop yield with UV light exposure.
Learn why ‘Smart Lighting is a Myth’ in IES Webinar with LESA Center Director
Dr. Robert Karlicek addresses pressing issues about what lighting needs to be considered “SMART”. How to make cognitive lighting systems and getting to “Lighting Systems that Think” in recent Illuminating Engineering Society educational webinar.
New Senior Research Scientist Joins LESA Center’s Plant Science Team
The LESA Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is pleased to welcome Dr. Elsebeth Kolmos to the Plant Science team. Her research interests and expertise are in Plant-Environmental Interactions, Molecular Biology, Genomics, Plant Biology, Plant Physiology, and Plant Circadian Function.
New Horticulture Light Modules Developed at LESA Accelerate Indoor Plant-Growth Research
New lighting modules being developed at the LESA Center in collaboration with the Greenhouse Lighting & Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium, shows real promise for advanced control over the spectral distribution of color-mixing lights for horticulture research. The Tunable Irradiance Growth Efficacy Research (TIGER) Light can be used to dynamically adjust spectrum and intensity in order to evoke specific physiological responses from the plants. The six-wavelength modular fixture design can be “daisy-chained” to flexibly cover a wide range of growth area dimensions.
As light is a source of both information and energy for plants, creating spectrally uniform precise ‘light algorithms’ by controlling the timing and spectral power distribution is critical for optimizing controlled environment agriculture (CEA) plant growth. The TIGER Light will help to determine how the dynamic use of specific wavelengths can augment plant growth rates and improve nutritional value while controlling other plant qualities for improved CEA outcomes.
New Horticulture Light Modules Accelerate Indoor Plant-Growth Research
— LESA and GLASE are taking the guesswork out of tunable irradiant growth efficacy research for indoor farming–
New lighting modules being developed at the Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) Center in collaboration with the Greenhouse Lighting & Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium show real promise for advanced control over the spectral distribution of color-mixing lights for horticulture research.
LESA Center Featured in Illuminating Engineering Society Video Showcase
LESA faculty and researchers provide insights and expertise into the groundbreaking research being done at the Center on the topics of cognition, VLC communication, efficient buildings, plant science and healthcare in a recent IES faculty showcase video series. Watch the segments to find out what differentiates LESA from other research facilities.
LESA Center Featured in Illuminating Engineering Society Faculty Showcase
LESA faculty and researchers provide insights and expertise into the groundbreaking research being done at the Center on the topics of cognition, VLC communication, efficient buildings, plant science and healthcare in a recent IES faculty showcase video series. To find out what differentiates LESA from other research facilities, watch the segments.
Former GE Global Research Sr. Scientist Newest LESA Center Faculty Researcher
The LESA Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is proud to announce the addition of Rensselaer Professor Peter Bonitatibus from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology as its newest faculty researcher. Bonitatibus’ work in nanoparticle engineering will support LESA’s research in high refractive index materials as part of the Center’s fundamental research. To learn more, click here.
Former GE Global Research Sr. Scientist Peter Bonitatibus Newest LESA Faculty Researcher
Bonitatibus’ work in nanoparticle engineering will support LESA’s research in high refractive index materials as part of the Center’s fundamental research.
(Troy, New York) The LESA Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is proud to announce the addition of Rensselaer Professor Peter Bonitatibus from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology as its newest faculty researcher.
LESA Director Interviewed for Strategies in Light Spotlight by LEDs Magazine
Dr. Robert Karlicek and Vital Vio’s CEO Colleen Costello discuss how LEDs connect the dots between disinfection and smart lighting in recent interview for LEDs Magazine.
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Creating Healthier Spaces with ‘Smarter’ Disinfecting LEDs
–The convergence of continuous disinfection and IoT/Connected Technologies to be focus of presentation at 2019 Strategies in Light 20th Anniversary Conference–
Troy, NY (February 25, 2019) – Imagine the lighting in a food processing facility detecting the presence of E. coli, or lighting in a gym detecting MRSA, or lighting in a kitchen detecting salmonella. Then imagine that lighting system safely and effectively targeting and killing those deadly germs. The promising new frontier of smart technologies optimizing the antibacterial capacity of LEDs will be the focus of a presentation by two experts in the field.
LESA Graduate research work published in Soft Matter for nano-transfer Adhesion work.
Michael Deagen (’18) discusses the size effects in plasma-enhanced nano-transfer adhesion. His work explores a new process of combing plasma bonding and layer-by-layer transfer molding that drives both techniques to the nanoscale. To learn more, click here.
LESA Researcher Receives DOE Manufacturing Innovator Challenge Award
Rensselaer doctoral graduate and LESA researcher wins 2019 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Manufacturing Innovator Challenge competition. The Manufacturing Innovator Challenge competition is a new contest launched by the DOE last October and Deagen is the first recipient for his submission entitled, “Layer-by-Layer Stamping for Developing Next-Generation Optical Waveguides.” […]
LESA Researcher First to Receive DOE Manufacturing Innovator Challenge Award
(Troy, New York) Rensselaer doctoral graduate and LESA researcher Michael Deagen (’18) is the winner of the 2019 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Manufacturing Innovator Challenge competition for crowdsourced solid-state lighting (SSL) manufacturing concepts. The Manufacturing Innovator Challenge competition is a new contest launched by the DOE last October and Deagen is the first recipient for his submission entitled, “Layer-by-Layer Stamping for Developing Next-Generation Optical Waveguides.”
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LESA Researcher Explores LEDs for Photons, Physiology and Food
Dr. George “Bud” Brainard with colleagues from Thomas Jefferson University explore how the color, intensity, and distribution of light can now be controlled with unprecedented precision, enabling light to be used both as a signal for specific physiological responses in humans and plants and as an efficient fuel for fresh food production in recent article in Nature Magazine. To learn more, click here.
LESA’s Pod Sensors Enable Powerful Time of Flight Tracking
The LESA Center has pioneered and patented the use of lighting-based ToF for privacy preserving indoor occupant position measurement. LESA’s precise pattern recognition methodology led to the development of extremely robust algorithms that enable its ToF sensors to detect and respond to changes in occupancy instantly as part of a $2.7M Department of Energy (DOE) ARPA-E award to develop new, cost effective occupancy sensing ToF integrated circuits. LESA has now successfully designed and tested compact, low-cost ToF “pod” sensors for localized occupant counting and tracking. The pod sensors use an array of 9 state-of-the-art, single pixel ToF sensors to cover a wide area. They detect the movement and height of objects in their wide field of view allowing people to move around freely and securely without sacrificing their privacy.
LESA’s ToF pod sensors would enable any building to locate its occupants at any given time without revealing a person’s identity or activity, make real-time adjustments to building services, and send alerts for discrepancies. In an elder care setting, the building could know if someone had fallen or wandered off. During an emergency, a hotel might be able to alert emergency responders of exactly how many people evacuated and how many remained behind.
While still in final development, LESA has shown that its goal of creating a miniature ToF pod sensor that can be commercialized for a marginal cost for the private sector is viable. In the interim, LESA is eager to engage with potential beta-test users to gather feedback on system design and performance, as well as technology transfer and commercialization strategies. LESA ToF pods may also be useful to researchers and applications specialists interested in applying ToF concepts to their own fields. For more information on the pod sensors, or to become a LESA member, visit the Center website or contact Leah Scott at scottl2@rpi.edu or 518-276-4010.
LESA’s Pod Sensors Enable Powerful Time of Flight Tracking
Time of Flight (ToF) sensing uses the speed of light to measure distance. It plays an essential role in technologies ranging from safe, autonomous self-driving cars to smart phones with facial recognition capabilities. The LESA Center has pioneered and patented (US9,363,859) the use of lighting-based ToF for privacy preserving indoor occupant position measurement.
LESA Sr. Researcher Participates in IES Podcast on Plant Science
Dr. Tessa Pocock shares insights on plant science possibilities with light in a recent podcast from the Illuminating Engineering Society. To listen, click here.
LESA Research on Circadian Function Featured in Physiology & Behavior Journal
Dr. Hanifin from Thomas Jefferson University published for his work on randomized trial of polychromatic blue-enriched light for circadian phase shifting, melatonin suppression, and alerting responses. To learn more, click here.
LESA Researchers Publish Work on Growth Dynamics in Red Lettuce
Dr. Tessa Pocock and Dr. Matthew Urschel published in agronomy 2018 special issue ‘Sensing and Automated Systems for Improved Crop Management’ with an article entitled, “Remote Detection of Growth Dynamics in Red Lettuce Using a Novel Chlorophyll a Fluorometer”. To learn more, click here.
Better Building Management with LESA Solar Heat Gain Sensors
(TROY, NY) LESA researchers have found that by simply measuring reflected light in a building, it is possible to estimate solar heat gain from daylight. […]
LESA Participates in RPI Red Talk
LESA Director Dr. Robert Karlicek presented on Urban Ecotones and Center Researcher Dr. Shayla Sawyer presented on the Jefferson Project. To watch the talk, click here.
Illuminating Engineering Society Explores Lighting and IOT with LESA
LESA Director Dr. Robert Karlicek featured in Ian Ashdown article, “The Science of Near-Infrared Lighting: Fact or Fiction” published by IES. To read the article, click here.
LESA Participates in Panel on New York State Funding
Representatives from RPI’s Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) Center participated in a recent panel discussion held by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York or CICU at the State Capitol to inform legislators on the importance of on-going State sponsored funding for higher education in New York. […]
LESA Participates in Panel at the New York State Capitol
Representatives from RPI’s Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) Center participated in a recent panel discussion held by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York or CICU at the State Capitol to inform legislators on the importance of on-going State sponsored funding for higher education in New York. […]
LESA Center cited in Indoor AgTech article
To read the article, click here.
Dr. Tessa Pocock’s research featured in Photonics Media
To read the piece, ‘The McCree Demystified’, click here
LESA Doctoral Candidate Prachi Sharma Featured on ERC Website
To view placement, click here.
3MT® Competition Winner Doctoral Candidate @LESA
LESA doctoral candidate Prachi Sharma (’18) who placed first in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition held as part of RPI’s 2nd Annual Graduate Research Symposium in 2017, has gone on to place 2nd at the Northeastern Association Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) regional 3MT® -automatically qualifying her for inclusion in the national competition in Washington, D.C., to be held in December.
3MT® Competition Winner Doctoral Candidate at LESA Center
LESA doctoral candidate Prachi Sharma (’18) who placed first in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition held as part of RPI’s 2nd Annual Graduate Research Symposium in 2017, has gone on to place 2nd at the Northeastern Association Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) regional 3MT® -automatically qualifying her for inclusion in the national competition in Washington, D.C., to be held in December.
Dr. Tessa Pocock’s Work Highlighted in LEDs Magazine Editorial Digest
To read more and download the article, click here.
Greenhouse Lighting Research Helps Shape Future Farming @LESA
LESA senior researcher and plant physiologist Tessa Pocock was asked to participate as an expert on greenhouse lighting in a recent panel discussion for agricultural business owners and local farmers hosted by New York Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner. The ‘Ag-Tech Roundtable’ was part of a larger initiative aimed at creating an open dialog of finding solutions to modern agriculture problems affecting crop production, efficient and sustainable farming methods, best-practices and industry insights.
Greenhouse Lighting Research Helps Shape Future Farming @LESA
LESA Senior Researcher and plant physiologist Tessa Pocock was asked to participate as an expert on greenhouse lighting in a recent panel discussion for agricultural business owners and local farmers hosted by New York Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner. The ‘Ag-Tech Roundtable’ was part of a larger initiative aimed at creating an open dialog of finding solutions to modern agriculture problems affecting crop production, efficient and sustainable farming methods, best-practices and industry insights.
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LESA Researchers Solve LED Packing Problem
LESA Center Director Robert Karlicek proposed a challenge: Find a way to produce large sheets of precisely oriented unpackaged LEDs without having to pick up and place each one at a time. […]
Researchers Solve LED Packing Problem @LESA
LESA Center Director Robert Karlicek proposed a challenge: Find a way to produce large sheets of precisely oriented unpackaged LEDs without having to pick up and place each one at a time. […]
LESA Health & Wellness Initiative Received Recognition from Haptic R&D Consulting
To view the placement, click here.
Dr. Tessa Pocock’s LESA Research on Horticulture Lighting Featured in Novus Light Article
To read the Feb. 19, 2018 article online, click here.
LESA Director Dr. Robert Karlicek Featured in LEDs Magazine Video During Strategies in Light/LED Show
To watch the video, click here.
Dr. Tessa Pocock Highlighted in LEDs Magazine for Conference Closing Plenary
To read the article in the Feb. 2018 issue of LEDs Magazine, click here.
LESA Featured on IES Homepage for Lighting Workshop Report
To view placement, click here.
Transforming Healthcare and Wellbeing Through Lighting @LESA
LESA and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) sponsored a workshop in 2016 to explore pathways to define and promote the adoption of lighting systems specifically for healthcare environments. The aim was to initiate an important dialog among stakeholders on the changes in modern healthcare interior lighting applications, and subsequent white paper detailing the outcomes and contributions of the workshop participants.
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Transforming Healthcare and Wellbeing Through Lighting @LESA
Transforming Patient Health Care and Well-Being Through Lighting
LESA and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) sponsored a workshop in 2016 to explore pathways to define and promote the adoption of lighting systems specifically for healthcare environments. The aim was to initiate an important dialog among stakeholders on the changes in modern healthcare interior lighting applications, and subsequent white paper detailing the outcomes and contributions of the workshop participants.
Industry-Academia Days Accommodations
Block Name: RPI LESA Industry Day
Nightly Rate: $129
Block Deadline: March 12th or until the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first
Address: 235 Hoosick St, Troy, NY 12180
Phone Number: (518) 272-1700
Web Link: http://bit.ly/2Bex5me
Best Western Plus Franklin Square Inn
Block Name: LESA Industry Day
Nightly Rate: $134
Block Deadline: March 21st or until the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first
Address: 1 4th St, Troy, NY 12180
Phone Number: (518) 274-8800
Web Link: https://www.bestwestern.com/en_US/customer-service.html#Reservations
If you experience difficulties booking your accommodations at either location, please contact the hotel property directly and provide them with the block name.
Please note that the event venue is the Hilton Garden Inn. The Best Western Plus at Franklin is conveniently located to both the the event venue (and the RPI campus), however, a shuttle will not be provided between the two hotel properties.
LESA Horticulture Lighting Initiative Receives Placement on ERC Site
To view the national ERC ‘Center News’ click here.
ARPA-E Selects Plenoptic TOF Technology @LESA
The LESA team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of New Mexico in collaboration with industry partner ABB was recently selected to receive a $2.375M award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures with Occupancy Recognition (SENSOR) program. […]
Horticultural Lighting Gets Big @LESA
LESA and Cornell have received a prestigious INFEWS award from the National Science Foundation for $2.4M to fund a program in advanced urban farming. This program focuses applied plant growth research on water use efficiency, transpiration and nutritional value optimization using engineered solutions for vertical farming. […]
ARPA-E Selects Plenoptic TOF Technology @ LESA
The LESA team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of New Mexico in collaboration with industry partner ABB was recently selected to receive a $2.375M award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures with Occupancy Recognition (SENSOR) program. […]
Extreme Light Trapping
A silicon solar cell harvests the energy of the sun as light travels down through light-absorbent silicon. To reduce weight and cost, solar cells are thin, and while silicon absorbs visible light well, it captures less than half of the light in the near-infrared spectrum, which makes up one-third of the sun’s energy. Read more.
Bacteria Detection in Floodwaters @ LESA
LESA Professors Shayla Sawyer (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Valencia Koomson (Tufts University) have been awarded an NSF EAGER award from the Division of Biological Infrastructure for $297,451 for their proposal titled, “Ultrasensitive frequency domain spectrometer for high throughput bacteria detection in floodwater”. […]
Bacteria Detection in Floodwaters @LESA
LESA Professors Shayla Sawyer (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Valencia Koomson (Tufts University) have been awarded an NSF EAGER award from the Division of Biological Infrastructure for $297,451 for their proposal titled, “Ultrasensitive frequency domain spectrometer for high throughput bacteria detection in floodwater”. […]
Circadian, Sleep and Neurobehavioral Performance Engineering @ LESA
Human circadian rhythm regulation is linked to many physiological processes, including sleep. Circadian disruption is known to have negative impacts on health and may lead to lower human performance and higher risk of failure during critical tasks. By understanding the relationships between human circadian processes, sleep processes, and cognitive performance, improved management of lighting and task scheduling can be developed to favorably impact overall human health and performance. […]
Tessa Pocock featured at US Horticultural Lighting Conference
LESA’s Dr. Tessa Pocock is the Closing Plenary speaker at the 2017 US Horticultural Lighting Conference on October 17 in Denver Colorado, her talk is entitled “Fast-forwarding the Future of Food”.
Circadian, Sleep and Neurobehavioral Performance Engineering @LESA
Human circadian rhythm regulation is linked to many physiological processes, including sleep. Circadian disruption is known to have negative impacts on health and may lead to lower human performance and higher risk of failure during critical tasks. By understanding the relationships between human circadian processes, sleep processes, and cognitive performance, improved management of lighting and task scheduling can be developed to favorably impact overall human health and performance. LESA’s Professors John Wen and Agung Julius were recently awarded a $450,000 / 3 year contract from the DoD’s Army Research Office (ARO) for advanced research in personalized task and sleep scheduling based on circadian rhythm regulation. […]
LESA and Cornell to Collaborate on $1.92M Program for Advanced Urban Farming
LESA and the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) team at Cornell University have been awarded a $1.92M research program under the NSF “Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water” (INFEWS) program. The awarded research project, Strategic FEW and Workforce Investments to Enhance Viability of Controlled Environment Agriculture in Metropolitan Areas, will develop a multi-dimensional toolkit to guide the development of metropolitan based CEA. The growth systems, operating guidelines and workforce development programs that will be developed in this research is part of a broad collaboration between LESA and Cornell University exploring the future of advanced CEA systems as part of advancing sustainable urban food supplies. This new INFEWS award augments the systems that will be developed by $5M GLASE consortium led by LESA and Cornell and funded by NYSERDA specifically for reducing the carbon footprint of modern greenhouse systems.
At LESA, this new project will be led by Dr. Tessa Pocock, a global expert on photobiology and relationships between lighting and plant physiology who will work on the effect of LED light programs on water use efficiency and nutrient content of crop plants. In parallel, Professor Marianne Nyman in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rensselaer will be developing new methods for assessing plant nutrient content to quantify CEA growth system performance. Together, they will work with the world class team of CEA experts led by Professor Neil Mattson at Cornell on CEA economic modeling, system design and workforce development that will advance the future of metropolitan food production.
LESA and Cornell to Collaborate on $2.42M Program for Advanced Urban Farming
LESA and the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) team at Cornell University have been awarded a $2.42M research program under the NSF “Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water” (INFEWS) program. The awarded research project, Strategic FEW and Workforce Investments to Enhance Viability of Controlled Environment Agriculture in Metropolitan Areas, will develop a multi-dimensional toolkit to guide the development of metropolitan based CEA. […]
LESA Featured in Light Matters Newscast
LESA was recently featured in the August 2017 edition of Light Matters, an online newscast at photonics.com. The segments highlight LESA research in the Smart Conference Room Testbed and Plant Physiology Lab and features interviews with Center Director Robert Karlicek and graduate student Tianna-Kaye Woodstock. Two segments are available to view, A ‘Smart’ Lighting Revolution and a bonus feature Light Matters Extra: Center for Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications.
Job titles below link directly to RPI Human Resources job description:
Research Engineer
LESA featured in Light Matters Newscast
LESA was recently featured in the August 2017 edition of Light Matters, an online newscast at photonics.com. The segments highlight LESA research in the Smart Conference Room Testbed and Plant Physiology Lab and features interviews with Center Director Robert Karlicek and graduate student Tianna-Kaye Woodstock. Two segments are available to view, A ‘Smart’ Lighting Revolution and a bonus feature Light Matters Extra: Center for Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications.
L.E.D. A History of the Future of Light
The new book by veteran technology journalist Bob Johnstone entitled L.E.D. A History of the Future of Lighting is a detailed account of the radically changing lighting industry. Chapter 15 Selling Darkness includes an overview of LESA and its research vision of lighting systems that think. The book is published by CreateSpace and is available via Amazon.
July 14, 2017
Recent advances in solid state lighting technology are enabling the development of ‘designer’ crops, according to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute plant physiology expert Dr. Tessa Pocock, who serves as a senior research scientist at the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA). The impact of lighting on plants is the core focus for Pocock, who conducts research in both academic and industry settings around the mechanism of photosynthesis on plant development and regulation by light for traditional greenhouse crops and the emerging field of medicinal plants. Recently, Pocock and her team received a $25,000 grant from Dr. William Beers, Black Belt/Senior Systems Engineer at Current, powered by GE, to support continued work on sensing and signaling in plants.
April 25, 2017
LESA graduate Jessica Morrison was chosen as one of ten innovators in Cohort Three of Cyclotron Road, an incubator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that aims to bridge the science-to-product gap by investing in energy entrepreneurs through its two-year fellowship program. Dr. Jessica Morrison received her PhD in Physics from Boston University in 2016 and has since founded Helux Lighting as a spin-off of her work at LESA on beam-steering micro-mirrors. Applicants must go through a rigorous four-month long selection process. The ten innovators of Cohort Three represent eight universities across the US. The Cyclotron program innovators will begin their journey in May, 2017.
LESA Researcher Dr Tessa Pocock is RPI Lead of $5M GLASE Consortium Project
Rensselaer, Cornell and NYSERDA create a consortium to reduce electricity use in greenhouses by up to 70%
Now, a newly formed public-private consortium called GLASE—The Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering Consortium, led by researchers at Cornell University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)—is being launched to transform the way greenhouses operate in order to reduce electricity use by 70 percent.
The seven-year, $5 million project funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will advance Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard that aims to have 50 percent of electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2030.
Plant physiology expert Tessa Pocock, who serves as a senior research scientist at the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA), will lead the work at Rensselaer.
June 5, 2017
LESA, Cornell and NYSERDA announces the launch of a multidisciplinary consortium to reduce electricity use in greenhouses up to 70%. Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE), a seven-year $5 million project funded by NYSERDA, is being launched to transform the way greenhouses operate reducing both energy cost and carbon footprint. Dr. Tessa Pocock, Senior Research Scientist at LESA will lead the work at Rensselear.
March 4, 2017
LESA Alum Dr. Jessica Morrison has formed a startup, Helux Lighting, Inc to bring dynamic optical control to the market through microtechnology developed at Boston University. These micro-mirrors are an example of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) that can steer a beam of reflected light by applying a voltage. The tiny mirrors steer light faster that the human eye can detect and facilitate rapid control over light position, brightness, and illumination area. The competitive advantage of Helux technology is a tenfold reduction in size and lower cost when compared to existing mechanical systems for light control.
Dr. Tessa Pocock Awarded Robert W Langhams Visiting Scholar at Cornell University
Dr. Tessa Pocock was awarded the Robert W. Langhans Visiting Scholar at Cornell University, School of Integrative Plant Science. Each year this Visiting Scholar Program brings a renowned scientist in greenhouse technology and management to lecture and interact with students over the course of several days to their Ithaca campus. This year Dr. Pocock, LESA Plant Physiologist, will spend May 8-10 on their campus and will provide a lecture entitled “Light Matters: Sensing and Signaling in Plants”. Dr. Pocock, Senior Research Scientist at LESA, is a world-renowned speaker and researcher on plant photosynthesis and plant development and regulation by light for traditional greenhouse crops and the emerging field of medicinal plants.
Renowned LESA Researcher Awarded Visiting Scholar Designation at Cornell
May 8, 2017, Dr. Tessa Pocock was awarded the Robert W. Langhans Visiting Scholar at Cornell University, School of Integrative Plant Science. Each year this Visiting Scholar Program brings a renowned scientist in greenhouse technology and management to lecture and interact with students over the course of several days to their Ithaca campus. This year Dr. Pocock will spend May 8-10 on their campus and will provide a lecture entitled “Light Matters: Sensing and Signaling in Plants”. Dr. Pocock, Senior Research Scientist at LESA, is a world-renowned speaker and researcher on plant photosynthesis and plant development and regulation by light for traditional greenhouse crops and the emerging field of medicinal plants.
April 15, 2017
Chaitanya Ullal, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and a Faculty member of the ERC, has won a Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF). He will use the five-year, $556,091 award to study the structure of hydrogels—jelly-like materials that have some of the properties of solids, but are largely composed of water. The CAREER Award is given to faculty members near the beginning of their academic careers and is one of the most competitive and prestigious awards given by the NSF to junior faculty.
March 20, 2017
Professor Connor Recognized as Innovator at 2017 ECEDHA Annual Conference
On Monday, March 20, 2017, Professor Kenneth Connor (RPI) was presented with the “Innovative Program Award” at the 2017 ECEDHA Annual Conference in Miramar Beach, Florida. Don Millard (NSF) summarized Ken’s contributions well, “Ken is loved by many and is a true innovator: he has the intellect and motivation to seek and see space that others don’t, he is not afraid to break from the norm, using past traditional wisdom.” This award is given to individual(s) or department(s) […]
February 16, 2017
Industry Meets Academia: LESA has a Record-Setting Attendance at Annual Conference. The Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) held their 8th Annual Industry-Academia Days Conference on February 8-9, 2017 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, NY. This annual conference brought together LESA researchers and students to showcase innovations in research initiatives and educational activities to industry representatives. This year’s conference had over 100 industry attendees from approximately 64 distinct organizations and was the largest conference we have held to date.
Industry Meets Academia: LESA has a Record Setting Attendance at Annual Conference
The Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) held their 8th Annual Industry-Academia Days Conference on February 8-9, 2017 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, NY. This annual conference brought together LESA researchers and students to showcase innovations in research initiatives and educational activities to industry representatives. This year’s conference had over 100 industry attendees from approximately 64 distinct organizations and was the largest conference we have held to date.
March 1, 2017
Dr. Karlicek will present “SSL and IoT: Growing Pains and Future Outcomes” on March 1 at the 2017 Strategies in Light Conference held at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA from February 28 – March 2, 2017. His presentation will discuss the current market turmoil driven by the confluence of two disruptive technologies, LED lighting and ubiquitous sensing and control (Internet of Things) is opening new market opportunities for augmented lighting systems. […]
January 23, 2017
A team of LESA faculty and graduate students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of New Mexico (UNM) were recently awarded U. S. Patent 9,520,472 for “Growth of Cubic Crystalline Phase Structure on Silicon Substrates and Devices comprising the Cubic Crystalline Phase.” This patent was issued on December 13, 2016 and included principal investigator Steven R. J. Brueck and inventors Sueng-Chang Lee (UNM), Christian Wetzel, Theeradetch Detchprohm (LESA/RPI), and Christoph Stark (LESA/RPI Graduate). The universities are partners in the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) headquartered at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. […]
LESA Faculty and Graduate Students Awarded US Patent for Cubic GaN LED Materials Breakthrough
Cubic GaN LED Materials Breakthrough. Opportunities for Higher Efficiency Full-Spectrum Lighting and Displays
A team of LESA faculty and graduate students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of New Mexico (UNM) were recently awarded U. S. Patent 9,520,472 for “Growth of Cubic Crystalline Phase Structure on Silicon Substrates and Devices comprising the Cubic Crystalline Phase.” This patent was issued on December 13, 2016 and included principal investigator Steven R. J. Brueck and inventors Sueng-Chang Lee (UNM), Christian Wetzel, Theeradetch Detchprohm (LESA/RPI), and Christoph Stark (LESA/RPI Graduate). The universities are partners in the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) headquartered at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. […]
February 8, 2017
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has signed a sponsored research agreement with Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc., the leading North American supplier of LED-based lighting solutions. As part of this project, the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) will develop light protocols for specialized LED lighting with integrated feedback for efficient plant growth. […]
Acuity Brands and LESA Collaborate to Improve Plant Growth Through LED Lighting
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has signed a sponsored research agreement with Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc., the leading North American supplier of LED-based lighting solutions. As part of this project, the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) will develop light protocols for specialized LED lighting with integrated feedback for efficient plant growth.
“Our program creates opportunities to study, develop and bring solutions to market that improve health, productivity and well-being for people, as well as plants and the food ecosystem,” said Robert F. Karlicek, Jr., Ph.D., Director of LESA, and professor of electrical, computer and systems engineering at Rensselaer. “Acuity Brands is the leading innovator in solid-state lighting technologies and applications, and we are excited to be working with them to develop LED solutions that will enhance and accelerate crop automation, while delivering greater energy savings.”
LESA Plant Scientist, Dr. Tessa Pocock Invited Panelist at DOE SSL R&D Workshop
Dr. Tessa Pocock is an invited Panelist at the Plenary Session of the DOE SSL R&D Workshop to be held on Tuesday, January 31, 2017, at 10:30 am at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, CA. This Panel, entitled “ENGINEERED LIGHT: ACTION SPECTRUM AND BEYOND” will explore the use of engineered light — light whose spectral intensities are tailored in time and space — to accommodate various applications and the action spectra associated with those applications. Solid-state lighting offers new levels of engineering control over light spectra, but we almost exclusively consider the photopic “action spectrum” associated with the standard human observer when developing products/solutions and specifying/defining the lumen content of light. In fact, as low-cost, engineered solid-state lighting becomes more and more available, different ways in which light will be used will require consideration of different action spectra: human melatonin response, museum-art degradation, cameras for machine vision, plants, animals, etc. Moreover, action spectra interact with other characteristics of light (intensity distribution in time and space) that may also be engineered. Dr. Pocock will bring her extensive knowledge of lighting and its impact on plant physiology, plant yield and nutrient quality.
January 25, 2016
Dr. Tessa Pocock is an invited Panelist at the Plenary Session of the DOE SSL R&D Workshop to be held on Tuesday, January 31, 2017, at 10:30 am at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, CA. This Panel, entitled “ENGINEERED LIGHT: ACTION SPECTRUM AND BEYOND” will explore the use of engineered light — light whose spectral intensities are tailored in time and space — to accommodate various applications and the action spectra associated with those applications. […]
January 12, 2017
Sensing and Signaling Networks in Plants. What’s Light Got to Do with It? Is the title of Dr. Tessa Pocock’s presentation March 15, 2017 at the Phosphor Global Summit to be held at the San Diego Marriott La Jolla. Recent advances in lighting technology are enabling the development of ‘designer’ crops. Light is the primary energy source required for crop growth and development but it also contains signals that shape the plant down to sub-cellular levels. The assessment of lighting and spectral distributions on photosynthesis, growth and phytochemical value will be presented.
Dr. Tessa Pocock Invited Speaker at 2017 Phosphor Global Summit
Sensing and Signaling Networks in Plants. What’s Light Got to Do with It? will be Dr. Tessa Pocock’s presentation on Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at the 2017 Phosphor Global Summit to be held at the San Diego Marriott La Jolla. Recent advances in lighting technology are enabling the development of ‘designer’ crops. The use of light by plants is rapid and complex. Light is the primary energy source required for crop growth and development but it also contains signals that shape the plant down to sub-cellular levels. Two sensing and signaling networks exist in plants however their regulation is crop specific. The assessment of lighting and spectral distributions on photosynthesis, growth and phytochemical value will be presented.
January 5, 2017
LESA congratulates two of its graduate students who were selected to present at the Department of Energy’s Annual SSL R&D Workshop Student Poster Competition for 2017. Indrani Bhattacharya (RPI), and Jinyuan Zhao (BU) will receive free registration to the workshop and will be able to network, interact and exchange ideas with the best and brightest researchers to help accelerate the science and technology of Solid State Lighting. The Poster Session will be held on Wednesday, February 1, 2017, from 5:00 – 7:30pm. Poster authors, locations and titles are: […]
LESA Students Selected to Present at DOE SSL R&D Workshop Copy
LESA congratulates two of its graduate students who were selected to present at the Department of Energy’s Annual SSL R&D Workshop Student Poster Competition for 2017. Indrani Bhattacharya from RPI, and Jinyuan Zhao LESA affiliate Boston University will both receive free registration to the workshop and will be able to network, interact and exchange ideas with the best and brightest researchers to accelerate the science and technology of Solid State Lighting.
LESA’s research continues to attract new industry members
LESA is pleased to introduce the newest members of the Engineering Research Center (ERC) – Delos, a world leader in providing standards and solutions for interior environments that can enhance the health, well-being and productivity of occupants; Lighting Science Group, manufacturer of breakthrough LED lighting solutions that work in sync with nature, originally created in collaboration with NASA to help regulate the circadian rhythms of astronauts on the International Space Station; and Rambus, creator of cutting-edge semiconductor and IP products, spanning memory and interfaces to security, smart sensors and lighting.<--more-->
LESA member companies have access to leading research in systems, devices and materials that are driving the Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications industry. ERC members receive monthly research updates, have access to member only events, attend and participate in Annual Industry-Academia Days, LESA Speaker Series and the NSF Site Visit Review, recruitment of well-rounded and diverse students for internships and permanent positions in addition to the many collaboration opportunities available with our world-class researchers and faculty. Please see our membership page for more information.
November 17, 2016
We are pleased to introduce the newest members of the LESA ERC – Delos, a world leader in providing standards and solutions for interior environments that can enhance the health, well-being and productivity of occupants; Lighting Science Group, manufacturer of breakthrough LED lighting solutions that work in sync with nature, originally created in collaboration with NASA to help regulate the circadian rhythms of astronauts on the International Space Station; and Rambus, creator of cutting-edge semiconductor and IP products, spanning memory and interfaces to security, smart sensors and lighting. […]
Light Education: The State of Smart Lighting
Bob Karlicek, Director of LESA discusses the State of Smart Lighting in the November 2016 issue of Illuminations section of Residential Lighting.com.
November 7, 2016
Dr. Yacob Astatke from Morgan State University, a LESA educational outreach partner school, was awarded the 2016 Award for More Diversity in Engineering Education from Airbus Group and the Global Engineering Deans Council. The Award ceremony took place during the GEDC and World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) conference in Seoul, South Korea on November 7, 2016. The Award […]
November 8, 2016
The Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) was recently awarded an additional $2.68 million from the National Science Foundation under its Engineering Research Centers program. The total dollars received from the NSF to over $30.7 million to date. LESA is recognized as the global leader for its innovation in applying engineering to the science of lighting. The LESA ERC is extremely proud of its accomplishments in research, education and innovation over the last 8 years.
LESA Awarded $2.68M from NSF
The Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) was recently awarded an additional $2.68 million from the National Science Foundation under its Engineering Research Centers program. The total dollars received from the NSF to over $30.7 million to date. LESA is recognized as the global leader for its innovation in applying engineering to the science of lighting. The LESA ERC is extremely proud of its accomplishments in research, education and innovation over the last 8 years. Visit https://lesa.rpi.edu/ to learn more about the center and its research.
LESA Researchers Awarded US Patent for High-Speed LED Assembly Process
Inventors from the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute were recently awarded a U.S. Patent entitled, “Light Emitting Diodes and a Method of Packaging the Same”. The patent (US 9,245,875) describes how magnets can be used to arrange arrays of LED dies in a desired pattern and connect them to their substrate. According to Professor Robert Karlicek, the Director of LESA, “Assisted LED self-assembly technology has the potential to radically reduce the cost of manufacturing large LED assemblies.”
October 5, 2016
Inventors from the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute were recently awarded a U.S. Patent entitled, “Light Emitting Diodes and a Method of Packaging the Same“. The patent (US 9,245,875) describes how magnets can be used to arrange arrays of LED dies in a desired pattern and connect them to their substrate. According to Professor Robert Karlicek, the Director of LESA, “Assisted LED self-assembly technology has the potential to radically reduce the cost of manufacturing large LED assemblies.”
LESA Receives Patent to Detect Occupant’s Presence without Cameras
A team of LESA faculty and graduate students from LESA Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Boston University were recently awarded a US Patent #9,363,859 entitled, “Sensory Lighting System and Method for Characterizing an Illumination Space.” The patent describes how the LED lighting system in a space can detect occupants’ presence, location and pose without the use of cameras, thereby preserving the privacy of the room’s occupants.
September 21, 2016
A team of LESA faculty and graduate students from LESA Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Boston University were recently awarded a US Patent #9,363,859 entitled, “Sensory Lighting System and Method for Characterizing an Illumination Space.” The patent describes how the LED lighting system in a space can detect occupants’ presence, location and pose without the use of cameras, thereby preserving the privacy of the room’s occupants.
LESA Research Center Breakthrough Could Alleviate Bandwidth Shortage
As the demand for mobile wireless services continues to grow, and the deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies expands, Visible Light Communication (VLC) is emerging as a potential broadband transmission technology that will offer virtually unlimited spectrum for high quality wireless services. The LESA Center recently achieved the world’s first high-speed visible light transmission link with a fully integrated microchip receiver.
September 15, 2016
As the demand for mobile wireless services continues to grow, and the deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies expands, Visible Light Communication (VLC) is emerging as a potential broadband transmission technology that will offer virtually unlimited spectrum for high quality wireless services. The LESA Center recently achieved the world’s first high-speed visible light transmission link with a fully integrated microchip receiver.
September 7, 2016
The Group Meeting Re-imagined: Designing Intelligent Rooms. Team of LESA Faculty and Industrial Partners Among Recipients of National Science Foundation Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity Award
August 25, 2016
For the eighth summer in a row, the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) sponsored undergraduates and teachers for an in-depth summer research experience. 25 undergraduates and 9 educators from as far west as New Mexico and as far south as Puerto Rico participated in an eight week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), Undergraduate Research Program (URP), and a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) where they learned about advanced solid-state lighting technologies and developing new LED-based applications. […]
LESA’s Summer Undergraduates and Teachers Shine as Researchers Developing Advanced Lighting Applications
For the eighth summer in a row, the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) sponsored undergraduates and teachers for an in-depth summer research experience. 25 undergraduates and 9 educators from as far west as New Mexico and as far south as Puerto Rico participated in an eight week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), Undergraduate Research Program (URP), and a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) where they learned about advanced solid-state lighting technologies and developing new LED-based applications.
LESA’s REU, URP and RET programs allow visiting students and teachers to work directly with LESA graduate students, staff and faculty on state-of-the-art projects with exciting lighting applications that incorporate advanced materials, devices and system integration concepts. REU and URP students gain valuable insights on new technologies and approaches to performing advanced research. RET participants develop new lighting and applications-based curriculum used in the pre-college courses they teach, expanding the overall impact of LESA’s STEM K-12 outreach program.
This year’s summer program theme was “Synthesizing Light for the Benefit of Humanity.” Teachers and students learned about innovative lighting, control systems, power, and sensor technologies and how they can be integrated into real world, sustainable, and well-engineered Smart Systems.
Under the guidance of LESA graduate students, faculty and staff, participants develop research plans, attend lectures and seminars from subject matter experts, and visit local high-tech companies to see science and engineering at work.
Projects that explore how lighting systems can address today’s social, environmental and sustainability challenges covered a wide range of topics, such as: developing advanced sensors for visible light communications, researching improved occupancy sensing using digitized lighting, exploring novel biofluorescence sensing for both optimized plant growth systems and bacterial contamination detection, and new approaches to optical materials for higher efficiency color tunable lighting systems.
“We had a great turnout of some very bright and remarkable undergraduates, who will change the future of the world and lighting as we know it,” commented Elizabeth Herkenham, director of K-12 Education Outreach at Rensselaer. Samantha Atchinson, an undergraduate from the College of St. Rose, in Albany, NY, writes, “I have greatly benefitted from the LESA program at RPI…I learned valuable life skills that will be extremely applicable to graduate school, my future career and the world around me.”
“We have two key goals in this program: Recruit underserved minority undergraduates to become graduate students by engaging them in exciting research in advanced solid state lighting system applications, and expand our research by partnering with a very bright set of enthusiastic students and teachers looking to enrich their technical capabilities,” said Robert F. Karlicek, Jr., Ph.D., director of LESA, and professor in Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering department at Rensselaer.
About the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA)
Funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, LESA is an interdisciplinary, multi-university center developing “Smart Lighting Systems that See and ThinkTM”. The Center engages faculty members, graduate students, research staff, and undergraduates to develop advanced smart lighting systems with adaptive and controllable properties that will not only illuminate, but generate lighting enabled […]
June 1, 2016
Indrani Bhattacharya , a LESA RPI graduate student in ECSE was among the top 5 posters selected by the C3E Poster Symposium Competition to provide a presentation and to receive an honorarium. The C3E (Clean Energy, Education & Empowerment Awards) solicited posters showcasing the work of women in clean energy. This Poster Competition is an opportunity for early- and pre-career researchers to participate in networking and share their research at the C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium, a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Energy, MIT Energy Initiative, and the Precourt Institute. Bhattacharya submitted her abstract and poster, “Lighting Systems that Think” in addition to a required one minute video pitching her work.
LESA Seminar Series on June 23, 2016
Thursday, June 22, 2016, 2:30 pm EST
JEC 3117
Ubiquitous Sensing Using Visible Light
Xia Zhou, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH
Abstract
The ability to sense what we do and how we behave is crucial to help detect diseases, diagnose early symptoms of health issues, and foster healthier lifestyles. Existing sensing technologies, however, have significant drawbacks. They either are intrusive — we have to constantly carry or wear sensing devices (e.g., Apple Watch, Fitbit), or present serious privacy risks by capturing raw images, or are limited in sensing granularity.
In this talk, I will present a radically different approach to unobtrusive human sensing, which exploits the ubiquitous light around us as a sensing medium that senses and responds to what we do, without requiring any on-body devices nor any cameras. I will first present LiSense, the first-of-its-kind system that reconstructs a 3D human skeleton in real time (60 Hz) using purely the light around us. Empowered by Visible Light Communication (VLC), LiSense uses shadows created by a human body from blocked light to reconstruct the 3D skeleton. I will then present our recent effort StarLight, which advances LiSense by addressing several practical issues and pushes light sensing closer to practice. I will conclude with our ongoing work and future directions.
Dr. Zhou Biography
Xia Zhou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Dartmouth College. She received her PhD at UC Santa Barbara in 2013. Her research interests are in mobile systems and wireless networking. Her recent work on visible light communication systems has won the Best Paper Award at ACM VLCS 2014, Best Demo Award at MobiSys 2015, and Best Video Award at MobiCom 2015. Her work on spectrum distributions won Best Practical Paper Award at SIGMETRICS 2013, and Best Paper Award Finalist at MobiCom 2008. She also won other paper awards in UbiComp 2014 and 2015, HotWireless 2015. She is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award in 2016 and Google Faculty Research Award in 2014.
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For series details contact: Dr. Silvia Mioc, Director of Industrial Collaborations, miocs@rpi.edu, 518-276-4010.
Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications: A Vision Way Beyond Seeing
LESA: A Vision Way Beyond Seeing, an article which appeared in the May 17, 2016 online edition of West Coast Lighting Insider, highlights the work of the ERC. In the future, personalized lighting will interact with our presence, our environment and our activities. Lighting will change color, brightness and directionality, all the while transmitting data to our cellphones and wearable tech, networked with the Internet of Things (IoT). Implementing this vision is the purpose of the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center, newly rebranded as the Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications Engineering Research Center (LESA ERC).
May 15, 2016
LESA RPI faculty, Prof Partha Dutta in collaboration with Ram Krishna Dharmath Foundation University (RKDF), in Bhopal India, have developed a device that can surpass 1400 Celsius from insolation to produce electricity. This project was sponsored from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India. Varsity vice chancellor VK Sethi and Professor Dutta developed the device. The objective of this project was to achieve the greatest amount of energy from the sun to be used for the production of electricity, without the polluting effects of coal – the primary source of electricity right now.
May 9, 2016
Brian Frey, LESA graduate student of Prof Lin in Physics has been awarded the Dr. Paul S. Ho ’65 Graduate Prize in Physics. This prize, established by the generosity of Dr. Paul S. Ho ’65, recognizes the need for technically educated people who will serve the betterment of mankind through the “application of science to the common purposes of life”. The fund shall be used to financially support a prize for an outstanding graduate student enrolled in the Department of Physics.
Frey is studying orders-of-magnitude absorption enhancement in simple cubic metal-oxide photonic crystals for mesoscale light-trapping applications. He expects to graduate in the Fall 2016.
April 22, 2016
RPI Students Win First Place at NYSP2I R&D Competition. Undergraduates Hayleigh Sanders and Timothy Castiglia won first place at the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute’s 5th Annual R & D Student Competition, hosted at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY on April 22, 2016. Their poster and demonstration, Automated Power Conservation and Color Temperature Control is a novel approach to LED lighting systems with the intention of power conservation to reduce the pollution generated by electricity production. […]
May 3, 2016
Two RPI LESA faculty members, Profs. Kenneth Connor and Agung Julius, are recipients of the 2016 RPI School of Engineering Faculty Award. The School of Engineering honors those faculty who continue to enlist a variety of activities in both research and education to engage and encourage curiosity and learning among their students. […]
January 2016
RPI Undergrad attends KAUST WEP. Kyle Altman, a senior biomedical engineering undergraduate student at RPI was among the 40 poster abstracts chosen out of 700 poster submissions to attend and present his poster at the annual King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Winter Enrichment Program International Poster Competition held at the university in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia from January 9-22, 2016. He is an undergraduate researcher working with two center faculty members, John Wen and Agung Julius at RPI. His Poster was entitled, “Estimation of Circadian Rhythm Based on Adaptive Notch Filter and Its Application to Locomotor Activity.”
February 17, 2016
The University of New Mexico (UNM) has fabricated triangular-nanostripe core–shell semi-polar III–nitride light-emitting diodes (TLEDs) on c-plane sapphire [Ashwin K. Rishinaramangalam et al, Appl. Phys. Express, vol9, p032101, 2016]. The performance results are described as “preliminary”. By using triangular nanostripes with semi-polar sidewalls, the UNM researchers hope to access the advantages for light-emission without the non-commercial costs of free-standing substrates and at a lower cost, which could accelerate commercial adoption.
Postdoc Position Open for Plant Physiologist
LESA’s Horticultural Lighting Research area is seeking to fill a Postdoctoral Research Associate position to perform advanced plant physiological and plant stress research. All inquiries should be directed to Diane Veros at verosd@rpi.edu.
February 17, 2016
Welcome LESA! Smart Lighting ERC Gets a New Name – Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA)
The Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) has been selected as the new name for the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC). We are proud to announce the launch of a new name at our Annual Industry-Academia Days held this past Feb 9-10, 2016.
December 15, 2015
Graphene Van Gogh is the name of the image captured by Michael Deagen, Ph.D., research assistant at RPI. This photo recently earne
d first place in the Artistic Microscopy, Black & White category of the 2015 International Metallographic Contest sponsored by the International Metallographic Society.
January 15, 2016
Rensselaer Installs First of Its Kind Smart Lighting Testbed in Hospital Inpatient Setting
In an effort to study the effects of lighting on human health and diseases, the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) recently installed a novel hospital inpatient lighting test bed for the study of automated lighting at the University of New Mexico Health Center (UNMHC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
February 1, 2016
We’ve changed our name! As you read through our website, you will notice gradual changes from “Smart Lighting” to “Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications”.
Our new identity satisfies the existing expectations of our original work, while simultaneously moving forward to acknowledge the maturity, functionality and diversity of our center and the new lighting landscape. This new name more accurately represents what we are doing today – creating “Lighting Systems that Think™” – and captures the broad range of our research in areas such as horticulture and human-centric lighting.
We are excited about this change and hope that it will help not only to differentiate the center, but to demonstrate our growth potential and not be limited by a name that doesn’t quite fit any longer.
December 15, 2015
Professor Steven R.J. Brueck of the University of New Mexico was elected as a 2015 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and will be inducted on April 15, 2016. Dr. Brueck is a distinguished professor & professor emeritus in the Departments of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Physics & Astronomy and the former director of the UNM Center for High Technology Materials. Dr. Brueck’s research in nanotechnologies spans the fields of semiconductors, biotechnology, lighting, and materials science. His principal research focus has been on the process of nanolithography, creating patterns that approach molecular scales. He is a prolific innovator and inventor and holds approximately 49 patents (2013).
December 1, 2015
Smart Lighting ERC welcomes Richard Radke, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer as their newly appointed Deputy Director of the Smart Lighting ERC beginning September 1, 2015. In his new role, Professor Radke will continue to oversee the Adaptive Control and Simulation Research Thrust. As Deputy Director, Professor Radke will support the ERC’s research and vision, expand opportunities for new sponsored research and increase the visibility of the ERC through its innovative accomplishments and initiatives.
Unlocking the World of Digitized Illumination
Watch this webinar and learn about “Unlocking the World of Digitized Illumination” as presented by Smart Lighting ERC Director Robert Karlicek at the Philip’s Educational Webinar Series. Future lighting systems will be informative, sensory, and integrated into everything!
November 28, 2015
Smart Lighting ERC Sr. Research Scientist Tessa Pocock was invited to speak at the 5th International Symposium on the Science and Technology of Lighting, May 22-27, 2016, at Shiran-Kaikan of Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center Researcher to Deliver Keynote at DOE Meeting
Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center Senior Research Scientist Tessa Pocock will give the keynote address at the 2015 U.S. Department of Energy Solid-State Lighting Technology Development Workshop on November 17, 2015 at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Pocock’s talk, entitled “Tuning the Spectrum for Plant Growth” discusses how the ability to tune the spectrum of LED light sources has opened up new possibilities for horticultural lighting – to improve indoor plant production and associated energy use as well as plant nutrient and pharmaceutical value.
This talk will share findings from the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center’s work to examine what we know about the effects of different portions of the spectrum on plant growth, and where future research will focus. Efforts around Dr. Pocock’s research include the fine tuning of light for urban and vertical farming opportunities.
“Thanks to recent advances in LED technologies, it is now possible to better elucidate the effects and functions of different portions of the spectrum to manipulate plants with unprecedented control and accuracy,,” said Dr. Pocock. “The fine-tuning of light spectra and controlled regulation of plant attributes is adding new sophistication to plant production.”
Light and plants expert Tessa Pocock, Ph.D., joined the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) in 2013, leading the development of a new plant physiology lighting program. Her research focuses on plant photosynthesis, and plant development and regulation by light for traditional greenhouse crops and the emerging field of medicinal plants.
Prior to joining the Smart Lighting ERC, Dr. Pocock was director of research at Heliospectra, in Sweden, where she designed light-emitting diode (LED) regimes to reduce energy consumption, produce healthier plants, and improve the quality of greenhouse crops. For the last four years, she has been developing a biofeedback system in which the physiology of the plant regulates the spectrum and intensity of LED arrays, in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology, under a prestigious grant from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra).
About the Smart Lighting ERC
Funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, the ERC is an interdisciplinary, multi-university center developing “Smart Lighting Systems that See and ThinkTM”. The ERC is developing lighting systems that do everything from automatically maximizing light quality and minimizing energy use by sensing occupant needs to lights that carry data, complementing and enlarging the Wi-Fi network with Li-Fi (or visible light communications); and controlling LED lighting to enhance plant growth for farming and ‘pharming’ applications.
The Center engages faculty members, graduate students, research staff, and undergraduates to work on research leading to smart lighting systems with adaptive and controllable properties. It joins academia, industry, and government in partnership to produce transformational engineered systems, along with engineering graduates who are adept at innovation and primed for leadership in the global economy. The Smart Lighting ERC is headquartered at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and partners with Boston University and The University of New Mexico to achieve its objectives. Visit the ERC website at: http://smartlighting.rpi.edu/.
A Smart Lighting Revolution
The Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center is developing the systems that will transform the way we live, work, and communicate.
Read the full article that appeared in the Rensselaer Alumni Magazine, Fall 2015. Rensselaer Alumni Magazine-SmartLight Fall2015
November 9, 2015
Professor Yacob Astatke of Morgan State University has been selected for the “2016 College-Level Promotion of Education Award” and will receive his award at the Black Education of the Year Awards Ceremony (BEYA) to be held in February 2016. Prof. Astatke’s outreach activities are dedicated to spreading engineering and STEM education to underrepresented minorities and his work is definitely having an impact!
October 22, 2015
Smart Lighting ERC Director Robert Karlicek presented a seminar titled “Unlocking the World of Digitized Illumination” as part of Philips’ Educational Webinar Series. Of attendees that completed the survey taken by Philips (n=81), 98% thought the webinar was relevant or partially relevant; 95% rated the quality as a 7-10/10 and 89% would recommend the webinar.
October 28, 2015
Indrani Bhattacharya, PhD student (Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering) and Michael Deagan, PhD student (Materials Science & Engineering) presented the Smart Lighting ERC’s research to members of congress, ERC directors, industry representatives and National Science Foundation (NSF) program managers at the 30th Anniversary celebration of the Engineering Research Centers Program held in Washington, DC on Capitol Hill. Indrani and Mike explained their research in the context of societal needs and the broader impact of their success. Pictured below is Congressman Paul Tonko, (who is a strong support of the Smart Lighting ERC and the ERC program), ERC Director Bob Karlicek, Mike Deagan and Indrani Bhattacharya.
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November 6, 2015
Dr. Tessa Pocock, Senior Research Scientist with the ERC served as a panelist for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Women in STEM Leadership: Self-Empowerment and Other Keys to Professional Success that took place on Friday, November 6 at the Russell Sage Dining Hall Main Banquet Room from 5 to 8 p.m.
October 12, 2015
Dr. Tessa Pocock, Plant Physiologist in the ERC is invited to give a talk at the Portland, Oregon chapter of the IES (Illuminating Engineering Society) on November 18, 2015.
November 17, 2015
Dr. Tessa Pocock, Plant Physiologist with the ERC presented the keynote talk at the annual Department of Energy’s Solid State Lighting Technology Development Workshop on November 17-18, 2015 in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Pocock’s talk titled “Tuning the Spectrum for Plant Growth” discussed how the ability to tune the spectrum of LED light sources has opened up new possibilities for horticultural lighting — to improve indoor plant production and associated energy use as well as plant nutrient and pharmaceutical value. […]
October 1, 2015
Dr. Robert Karlicek, Director of the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center, was interviewed by Katherine Ling, reporter for Greenwire, who wrote a detailed article that broadly features the ERC’s work titled, “Next-generation LEDs — bright in more ways than one” [story recirculated with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net]
June 29 – July 3, 2015
Dr. Tessa Pocock, Senior Research Scientist will give one of only 5 invited talks at the 2015 CIE (International Commission on Illumination) in Manchester England June 29-July 3. Dr. Pocock’s talk titled, “Advanced Lighting Technology in Controlled Environment Agriculture” will be presented on the opening day of the conference, July 29.
August 2-5, 2015
Sagar Ray, recent PhD graduate of the ERC (Rensselaer) was the first place winner in the student competition of the IEEE’s 58th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems for his paper titled, “A 10-Gb/s Inductorless AGC Amplifier with 45-dB Linear Variable Gain Control in 0.13-um CMOS”. Sagar’s advisor is Dr. Mona Hella, professor in the ECSE department at Rensselaer.
August 4, 2015
Professor and ERC Director Bob Karlicek is quoted in an article that appeared in Electronics360 titled, “The Human Side of Lighting” that discusses light and human wellness.
June 21-26, 2015
ERC Professor Michael Shur’s (RPI) poster titled “New Ideas in Smart Lighting” was voted the best poster of the 2015 Advanced Research Workshop, Future Trends in Microelectronics: Journey into the Unknown, in Mallorca Spain, June 21-26, 2015.
May 26, 2015
The Senate of Vilnius University, Lithuania, unanimously voted ERC Professor Michael Shur, (RPI) as an honorable professor of Vilnius University. Collaborating professor Gintas Tamulaitis from Vilnius said “There was no doubt about it. Nobody else made such a strong direct impact to research at our university as you. Thank you once again.”
May 30, 2015
Anqing Liu, ERC PhD student (RPI) was chosen to be the recipient of the 2015 Hillard B. Huntington Award. This award was established in 1976 by friends and former students of the late Hillard B. Huntington, professor emeritus of Physics. It is awarded at Commencement to an outstanding graduate student in Physics.
May 16, 2015
Bob Karlicek, (Center Director) talks about how lighting can be improved by using the ‘Internet of Things’ in an article and video published by the Albany Times Union. Robotic and sensor-enabled lighting systems will one day sense who is in a room and exactly how much light they need, depending on their specific activity. These lights could also be used to “see” or sense people who might be having medical emergencies using infrared technology without using cameras or invading privacy in places like hospitals, nursing homes and schools.
“We draw an analogy to the Google car,” Karlicek said. “Done properly, it will be safer, it will save fuel, and it will be better for people. And that’s what we want to do with lighting.”
April 29, 2015
Professor Thomas D.C. Little (Boston University) co-authored a guest editorial published in the April 2015 issue of IEEE Wireless Communications focused on Visible Light Communications.
May 8, 2015
Smart Lighting ERC PhD Student Mottaleb Hossain (University of New Mexico) has been selected to receive the 2015 IEEE Albuquerque Section Outstanding Engineering Graduate Student Award.
Michael Deagen wins NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
First year ERC graduate student Michael Deagen (Material Science Engineering (MSE), RPI) is among the winners of the prestigious 2015 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (NSFGRFP) competition. The GRFP offers awards directly to graduate students selected through a national competition, and provides three years of financial support within a five-year fellowship period.
Deagen, co-advised by Professors Chaitanya Ullal and Linda Schadler, works on advanced secondary optics for multi-color LED systems. The Department of energy estimates that by 2027 such LEDs could save the equivalent annual output of 44 large electric power plants. Michael hopes to understand at a fundamental level the propagation of visible light through 3-D mesoscopic periodic structures and how to efficiently fabricate these structures. Working at Rensselaer enables Michael to synergistically leverage the strengths of the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center as well as the expertise of the Ullal and Schadler groups in the Materials Science Engineering Department.
From the Director, March 1, 2015
As you all know, here at the Smart Lighting ERC, we’ve pushed the vision that future lighting systems will be radically different: informative, immersive, sensory, integrated (to everything). Industry is rapidly adopting our views, but most of it is just talk so far – we still have a lot of work to do (more on later that as we prepare for our ERC Annual Report and Annual NSF site visit in June).
One of the views we’ve kicked around for the past five years is the fusion of illumination and video technology. As all lighting companies ponder the end of their lighting businesses as they knew them (some have coined the term “illumigeddon”), there are new opportunities in dynamic immersive lighting that tie together efficient illumination, data, and improved human health, cognition, productivity and wellbeing (the ERC vision). Philips will be offering a webinar on Semantic Lighting featuring a talk by Zary Segall. Zary first heard the Smart Lighting vision from me about 3 years ago – and we discussed then how sensory lighting systems would be needed to realize some of his vision for Semantic Lighting. If you have a chance, you might want to register. This concept is already driving some new video/illumination fusion business concepts.
One of the things that may drive this is the growing availability of blue, green and red lasers diodes that can be used for projection and/or illumination (or both). Many of you know that some high end cars are now using a blue laser for automotive headlights, and now some (notably the blue LED 2015 Nobel Prize winner Shuji Nakamura) are saying that lasers are the lighting source of the future (no droop – for you LED specialists). The really interesting thing is that Semantic Lighting will really need lasers to be fully developed.
For the Smart Lighting ERC long range strategic planning, there is a lot exciting research, technology and new applications to ponder. Because of the Smart Lighting ERC’s work – the lighting industry and some of the IoT companies now getting into lighting based on our point of view. The good news for the Smart Lighting ERC is that we are still at the beginning of the Smart Lighting story, because for lighting companies, it is still more talk than serious Smart Lighting solutions.
Bob
February 8, 2015
An article published in The Schenectady Daily Gazette titled Advances in Lighting will be among Changes-The Daily GazetteSunday features quotes (and a photograph) from ERC Center Director Bob Karlicek.
March 1, 2015
Center Director/Professor Bob Karlicek (RPI) attended Strategies in Light 2015 in Las Vegas and was an invited workshop panelist for “Human-Centric Lighting.” A blog post on Scientific Seen titled “Human-Centric Lighting: The Real Work Begins”, quotes Prof. Karlicek, cites the ERC work in this area, and provides a terrific synopsis of the panel discussion.
February 4, 2015
“Solid-State Lighting: Toward Smart and Ultra-Efficient” has been selected for the Best of Advanced Optical Materials 2014 Edition, co-authored by ERC Director Bob Karlicek.
Daniel Feezell wins NSF Career Award
University of New Mexico professor and ERC thrust leader Daniel Feezell wins a prestigious $500,000 NSF Career Award titled: “Short-Wavelength Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser Arrays Using Nonpolar and Semipolar GaN”.
Richard Radke named “20 Under 40” most influential young engineering faculty
Rensselaer professor and ERC thrust leader Richard Radke is named as one of “20 Under 40” of the most influential young engineering faculty in the country by ASEE Prism Magazine. Read the full article…
September 23, 2014
Rensselaer professor and ERC thrust leader Richard Radke is named as one of “20 Under 40″ of the most influential young engineering faculty in the country by ASEE Prism Magazine. Read the full article…
November 7, 2014
Two ERC students advised by Dr. Kofi Nyarko from Morgan State University showcase their work on Visible Light Communication at the White House’s first ever Maker Faire. Read more…
November 6-8, 2014
Smart Lighting ERC Director Bob Karlicek is the International Chairman of the 11th China International Forum on Solid State Lighting, and will be presenting an invited talk at the conference, to be held in Guangzhou, China on Nov. 6-8, 2014. The focus of the conference is the “Application of Lighting in the Internet Era.”
October 25, 2014
Two ERC graduate students, Mark Durniak and Sagar Ray were selected to be honored as Founders Award of Excellence recipients at Rensselaer’s 21st Annual Honors Convocation on October 25, 2014. The Founders Award is given to only 1% of RPI students who embody qualities of creativity, discovery, leadership, and the values of pride and responsibility at Rensselaer.
October 9, 2014
Smart Lighting ERC Director Bob Karlicek is an invited panelist for a discussion of smart lighting systems and the industrial internet at GE’s Minds and Machines 2014 Conference.
October 2, 2014
Tessa Pocock, ERC Senior Research Scientist, gives an invited talk titled “Trip the Light Fantastic” for the Biology Department’s Research Seminar Program at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.
September, 2014
ERC Graduate Student Octavio Perez was awarded a Scholarship of $1,250 to attend the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America’s 2014 Annual Conference to be held in Pittsburgh, PA.
September 22-24, 2014
The Smart Lighting ERC is a sponsor/exhibitor at the SSL Ecosystem 2014: Lighting in the Information Ageconference, September 22-24, 2014 in Cambridge Massachusetts. Boston University ERC Students will also give special demonstrations on “Visible Light Communications Using LED Luminaires”
September, 2014
University of New Mexico ERC student, Mottaleb Hossain was appointed as the Associate Vice President of the student membership by the IEEE Photonics Society for 2014-2015. Mottaleb will work with the Society to empower students to become effective leaders and active community members within the Society and the photonics community at large.
September 10, 2014
The Smart Lighting ERC hosted a reception celebrating a generous donation of a cutting-edge oscilloscope from Keysight Technologies Inc. 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm in the Low Center for Industrial Innovation, Room 7003.
August 19, 2014
Smart Lighting professor and associate director Thomas D.C. Little is invited to speak at the founding conference for Visible Light Communication in China on August 27-28, 2014.
August 10, 2014
Smart Lighting director Bob Karlicek is quoted in NewScientist Magazine about the applications of advanced sensing systems in Street Lighting.
August 4, 2014
The Smart Lighting ERC hosts Dr. Shiv Kalyanaraman, Chief Scientist with IBM Research Australia for his presentation titled,Energy meets Smarter Transportation: The Energy-Transportation Nexus & Personalized Public Transportation.
July 29-30, 2014
Smart Lighting ERC Center Director Bob Karlicek gave an invited talk at the Design Lights Consortium Stakeholder Meeting In San Diego, CA and participated in a panel discussion about the future of Solid State Lighting.
July, 2014
Dr. Tessa Pocock, Sr. Research Scientist in the ERC was accepted as a member in the Illuminating Engineering Society and was asked to serve on the Photobiology Committee. Professor George Brainard of Thomas Jefferson University and a collaborating partner in the ERC also serves on the committee that is tasked with evaluating and interpreting data and other information on the biological effects of radiant energy and advises the Board on matters pertaining to photobiological projects.
July 28-29, 2014
Dr. Tessa Pocock, Sr. Research Scientist in the ERC will participate in a roundtable discussion on the Standardization of LED Lighting for Horticultural Applications as well as present “The impact of LED lighting on specialty crops” at a colloquy at the 2014 American Society for Horticultural Science Annual Conference held in Orlando, FL.
May, 2014
Md Mottaleb Hossain, ERC Graduate Student from UNM was awarded a prestigious 2014 SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship in the amount of $2000 for his contribution to the Optics and Photonics community. In 2014 SPIE awarded $353,000 in education and travel scholarships to 144 outstanding individuals from around the world, based on their potential contribution to optics and photonics, or a related discipline.
May 7-8, 2014
ERC Director Bob Karlicek gives a presentation titled “How Smart Should Smart Lighting Systems Be?” at the Smart Lighting 2014 conference to be held on May 7-8, 2014, in Barcelona, Spain. The Smart Lighting ERC was also an exhibitor at the conference.
April 22, 2014
Smart Lighting ERC Graduate Students Anqing Liu and Octavio Perez received a third place award for their entry titled “Controlled Environmental Architecture LED Lighting System, New Metrics” at the 2014 Earth Day Event & Student Competitionheld at RIT in Rochester, NY. The event was sponsored by the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute.
April 1, 2014
Four new companies joined as industrial members of the ERC: Vivonics, Thermal Solution Resources, Pixelligent, and Edison Price.
March 20, 2014
RPI graduate student Kumar Modepalli received the best presentation award at the 29th IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference(APEC) for his paper titled “Single stage dual purpose off-line HB- LED drivers for Illumination and Visible Light Communication”. The award included an appreciation certificate from IEEE and award of $100. This conference was held March 16- 20,2014 at Fort Worth, Texas
March 20, 2014
RPI graduate student Mark Durniak will be presented with a $1,000 scholarship award by the Eastern NY Chapter of ASM International at their March dinner meeting.
March 16, 2014
RPI graduate student Mark Durniak is one of three recipients of the 2013 Electronic Materials Conference Best Student Presentation Award for his presentation “Cubic GaN Templates for LED Applications”. The award, accompanied by a monetary prize of $500, will be presented at the 2014 EMC Meeting, which takes place at the University of California, Santa Barbara, CA on June 25-27, 2014.
March 8, 2014
Dr. Tessa Pocock joins the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center to expand Smart Lighting to Horticulture and Plant Physiology Research.
March 1, 2014
ERC Professor Thomas Little of Boston University is interviewed for (and pictured in) an article titled, “Optical Wireless Communications-The New Hot Spot” in the March 2014 issue of Optics and Photonics News.
Feb 25-27, 2014
At “Strategies in Light 2014” in Santa Clara California, the ERC is an exhibitor and Director Bob Karlicek moderates a panel discussion titled, “Smart Lighting and the Semiconductor Industry“.
February 12-13, 2014
January 2014
“Going Green with Cubic GaN” is published in the Jan/Feb 2014 issue of Compound Semiconductor Magazine showcasing work by ERC student Mark Durniak and Prof. Christian Wetzel.
January 2014
Compound Semiconductor Magazine publishes an article in its Jan/Feb 2014 issue showcasing research of ERC student Zhongda Li, and Prof. Paul Chow titled, “Bringing the Inverter Onto the Chip”.
January 6-9, 2014
The Smart Lighting ERC hosts a booth at Eureka Park, CES Las Vegas, to present a prototype of wearable glasses that measure light exposure and biometric signals to provide personal health insights. Contact Silvia Mioc for more information.
January 6, 2014
LEDs Magazine discusses Smart Lighting ERC’s participation in CES in an article Rensselaer Polytech researchers demonstrate light measurement system at CES 2014.
December 20, 2013
December 15, 2013
The University of New Mexico will honor Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics, Steve R.J. Brueck with the first UNM Presidential Award of Distinction this fall. Professor Brueck, currently the ERC’s Associated Director from UNM, will receive the inaugural award on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013. UNM President Robert Frank established the award to recognize outstanding career achievement, scholarly excellence, leadership in a profession, noteworthy public service or humanitarian endeavor. The ERC congratulates Steve on this much-deserved award!
December 13, 2013
Hafez Raeisi Fard, ERC RPI doctoral candidate in the Mechanical Engineering Department at RPI is one of 10 winners ofRensselaer’s “Change the World Challenge” student innovation competition, for his project titled, “Enhanced Energy Efficiency Using Thermal Management in Electronic Devices.”
December 10, 2013
Matt Laherty, Business Development Manager, Cisco, will present at the Smart Lighting ERC Speaker Series: Lighting Transformed: How Innovation Will Create New Opportunities in Lighting
December 3, 2013
Majeed Hayat, ERC Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Mexico, has been named anIEEE Fellow. He is being recognized for contributions to the modeling of impact ionization and noise in avalanche-photodiode devices.
November 12, 2013
Bytelight, an ERC start-up company, gets a write-up in StartUp Beat Magazine titled: “Sending Bytes through Lights”.
November 5, 2013
Dr. Chris Bohler, Director of Innovation at Eaton’s Cooper Lighting Division, presented at the Smart Lighting ERC Speaker Series: The New Lighting Industry: Evolution or Revolution?
October 23, 2013
Electro Optics Magazine publishes an editorial titled “Illumination that thinks: the potential for ‘smart lighting’ written by ERC Director and Professor Bob Karlicek.
October 22, 2013
Dr. Mark Taylor, Project Manager from Corning Inc., presents at the Smart Lighting ERC Speaker Series: Advanced Glass Opportunities in Solid State Lighting.
October 18, 2013
Kirthana Bhat, RPI Student in Chemical Engineering ’16, blogs about her summer undergraduate research experience with the Smart Lighting Center on RPI’s Society of Women Engineers website.
October 17, 2013
ERC Director and Professor Bob Karlicek presents an overview of Smart Lighting at the general meeting of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) in RPI’s Student Union, Room 3602 at 6:30 p.m.
October 15, 2013
Anton Tkachenko, ERC student in the Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering Department (ECSE) at RPI was awarded the Veera and Arjun Saxena Fellowship in Microelectronics. The $3,000 award is given each academic year to an outstanding PhD student in the ECSE Department. Students are selected based on grade point average, overall performance, and faculty recommendations. The ERC congratulates Anton!
October 8, 2013
ERC Director and Professor Bob Karlicek presents an overview of Smart Lighting at the general meeting of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in RPI’s Student Union, Room 3602 at 6:00 p.m.
September 26, 2013
The Smart Lighting ERC invites students interested in improving the efficiency of lighting across campus to join the Smart Lighting Sustainability Club. The kick-off meeting for the fall semester will be held at 7 pm in CII 7128. The club was established to increase campus awareness of the positive impact of solid state lighting, consistent with Rensselaer’s long term energy conservation plan.
September 24, 2013
Lessons Learned from Internships – ERC students share their internship experiences, presenting a brief discussion about the organization that sponsored the intern, their research topic and personal experiences, and the impact this endeavor had on their life.
September 1, 2013
ERC Director and Professor Bob Karlicek is welcomed as an Editor-in-Chief to the new, open access Journal of Solid State Lighting, published by Springer-Verlag GmbH, Berlin.
August 25, 2013
ERC Graduate Student Md. Mottaleb Hossain from the University of New Mexico is awarded a prestigious SPIE Student Travel Grant 2013 to present his work “Theoretical characteristics of 1.55 µm InN based quantum dot laser” at the SPIE Optics & Photonics Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, August 25-29, 2013.
August 9, 2013
Smart Lighting ERC Professor Daniel Feezell at the University of New Mexico receives a prestigious DARPA Young Investigator Award titled: “High-Speed Nonpolar InGaN/GaN Light-Emitting Diodes Using Plasmonic Core-Shell Nanowires.”
August 9, 2013
Donated GE LED light fixtures were installed in the Civil Engineering Department on Rensselaer’s campus. See a picture of the lighting and read the article with quotes from Professor Karlicek in LEDInside.
August 1, 2013
Professor Karlicek and PhD student An Mao publish “Surface patterning of nonscattering phosphors for light extraction,” in the August 1, 2013 issue of Optics Letters.
July 21, 2013
Professor and Director Bob Karlicek is interviewed on Australia’s National Radio Program called “Future Tense”. Listen to the“The Light Bulb Goes Wi-FI” to learn more about smart lighting, color rendering, and other new lighting technologies.
July 1, 2013
ElectroIQ picks up the story of Professor Paul (Tat-sing) Chow’s paper on Monolithic Integration with an article titled LED TEchnology Breakthrough
June 5, 2013
Smart Lighting ERC researchers demonstrate the first monolithic integration of an LED and high-electron-mobility transistor on a Gallium Nitride Chip. This innovation could open the door to a new generation of LED technology that is less expensive to manufacture, significantly more efficient, and which enables new functionalities and applications far beyond illumination. View the full paper in Applied Physics Letters at doi:10.1063/1.4807125.
May 20, 2013
Professor Partha Dutta was invited by the National Academy of Sciences to sit on a panel tasked with developing recommendations for a strategy to develop a sustainable, long-term collaborative program between the U.S. and China in the area of energy and environment based on fundamental materials research at the nanoscale. Work on this report will be on-going.
May 16, 2013
ERC students and professors Chow, Wetzel and Karlicek publish ground-breaking research titled “Monolithic integration of light-emitting diodes and power metal-oxide semiconductor channel high-electron-mobility transistors for light-emitting power integrated circuits in GaN on sapphire substrate,” in Applied Physics Letters. See the full paper at doi:10.1063/1.4807125
May 15, 2013
Prof. Robert Karlicek gives an invited talk titled, “Smart Lighting – Lighting Systems that Think at the Smart Lighting 2013Conference held in Frankfurt, Germany.
May 15, 2013
The University of New Mexico announces that Electrical and Computer Engineering and ERC faculty member Meeko Oishi has won a Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Prof. Oishi’s work focuses on developing theoretical and computational techniques to make collaborative human-automation systems more reliable. This award will help to leverage Prof. Oishi’s ERC work in human factors of lighting and circadian rhythm.
May 10, 2013
Control systems expert and ERC faculty member Sandipan Mishra has won a Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Professor Mishra will investigate and develop new sensing and controls paradigms to help push forward the field of additive manufacturing.
May 8, 2013
Professor Partha Dutta is an invited speaker at SEMICON 2013 – LED Manufacturing Forum in Marina Bay Sands Expo, Singapore. Prof. Dutta presented Smart Lighting: The era beyond LED bulbs
April 30, 2013
Silvia Mioc, ERC Innovation Director, presented an overview of the Smart Lighting Center at the meeting of the Springfiled, MA IEEE Section.
April 24, 2013
Alex Dumitrescu, an ECSE RPI student and ERC Sustainability Club member, won first place for undergraduates at the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute at Rochester Institute of Technology’s second-annual student competition, held in Albany, NY.Alex took home a first place prize of $1500. Congratulations Alex!
April 24, 2013
Smart Lighting ERC and Light Think University launch Ready to Step Into the Light during LIGHTFAIR International in Philadelphia, PA, USA
April 1, 2013
Prof. Detlef Hommel, from the University of Bremen, Germany, presents at the Smart Lighting ERC Speaker Series: “InGaN quantum dots – from LEDs to single photon sources”
March 13, 2013
Smart Lighting ERC Director Bob Karlicek gave a keynote talk titled “Packaging Innovation: The Key to the Future of Solid State Lighting” at the 9th International Conference and Exhibition on Device Packaging (iMAPS), Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
March 08, 2013
ERC student Li Jia and Professor Radke’s paper, titled “Using Time-of-Flight Measurements for Privacy-Preserving Tracking in a Smart Room“, appeared online in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics.
February 2013
Smart Lighting ERC Director Bob Karlicek was appointed to and joined the Technical Advisory Board of the International SSL Alliance (ISA).
February 27-28, 2013
The ERC hosts the 4th Annual Industry-Academia Days More information
February 12-14, 2013
The ERC hosts a half-day workshop on Lighting and Human Performance at Strategies in Light in Santa Clara, California.
February 1, 2013
Professor Karlicek’s work with Transfer Devices Inc and Grad Student, An Mao, publish “Nanopatterning using a simple bi-layer lift-off process for the fabrication of a photonic crystal nanostructure” in Nanotechnology.
January 30, 2013
Smart Lighting Seminar Series: Students from the Sustainability Volunteer Club presented their experiences with the DCC Bulb Replacement project and the sustainability club. View Flyer
January 24, 2013
Smart Lighting ERC Director Bob Karlicek gave an invited talk titled “Possibilities for Smart Lighting and Smart Solar Integration” at the Electronics Materials and Applications Conference held by the American Ceramic Society, Orlando FL
January 10, 2013
Bytelight, a company started by former ERC Boston University students solves indoor GPS mapping and gets press in Wired Magazine.
October 30, 2014
ERC Professors Susan Sanderson and Ken Simons publish a new study of the LED lighting industry’s emergence that tells the story behind the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics and much more, revealing a half-century-long process involving many tens of thousand of researchers and technological and industrial twists and turns. Free download through December 5, or at Science Direct.
February 1, 2012
ERC’s Rensselaer professor and deputy director of the ERC, Partha Dutta, gives the opening keynote on the secon day of the Smart Lighting 2012 conference in Dusseldorf, Germany. He spoke about “Smart Lighting Systems Design and Applications”.
February 9, 2012
ERC’s Rensselaer professor Christian Wetzel received “Iluminating Ideas” award form DOE for “Significant Achievements In Solid State Lighting R&D 2011”. The award was given during the Department of Energy R&D Workshop in Atlanta, GA to a total of six collaborative contractors within the Department of Energy’s $114M/yr Solid State Lighting Program. RPI is the only university-based winner of the award.
February 13, 2012
“Innovating Smarter Lighting Systems and a Brighter Future at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.”
U.S. Representative Paul D. Tonko delivered the keynote address to help kick off the third annual “Smart Spaces: Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center Industry-Academia Days.”
February 13, 2012
Several ERC students were part of the team from Boston University selected as finalists in a $50k New Venture Competition. They will present their business plan for start-up “NexGen Arrays” to develop next-generation microarray slides that provide increased sensitivity for fluorescent assays, and allow label-free mass density measurements. Three prizes will be awarded on April 4, 2012, with first place winning $50,000. (http://www.bu.edu/itec/events/50k-competition/)
February 13 – 15, 2012
3rd Annual Smart Spaces: Smart Lighting ERC Industry – Academia Days, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
February 14, 2012
As part of the “Smart Spaces: Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center Industry-Academia Days”, ERC students competed in an elevator pitch competition. The winners of this competition were Brian Frey (RPI), Fangxu Dong (RPI), John Waldron (RPI), and Michael Rahaim(BU).
February 18, 2012
Exploring Engineering day for students in grades 3-6 and their parents.
February 21, 2012
Boston University ERC students, Margo Monroe, Alex Reddington, Jacob Trueb, and Joey Greenspun were named as 1 of 10 semi-finalists in the Prize for Primary Healthcare run by CIMIT and have been awarded $10,000 to use toward the final proposal deadline of June 3rd. First prize will be $150,000, with second and third place receiving $100,000, and $50,000 respectively. (http://www.cimit.org/grants-cimitprize.html).
March 14, 2012
Director Bob Karlicek was interviewed by the BBC and is quoted in this terrific article: “LED bulbs: The end of the lightbulb as we know it“
March 19, 2012
The second edition of the ERC Student Newsletter SPAM (Smart Lighting Periodic Advisory Memo) is available.
March 22, 2012
Smart Lighting ERC Industrial Speaker Series – Joseph DeNicholas, Texas Instruments: The Evolution of Electronics for Intelligent and Adaptive Lighting Systems
April 2-3, 2012
The Smart Lighting ERC is supporting the Smart Lighting Partnering Summit, in Santa Clara, CA on April 2, 2012.
April 10, 2012
The Smart Lighting Center is featured in the Business section of the The Albany Times Union.
April 21, 2012
Design Your Future Day: Eleventh grade high school girls with an interest and aptitude in math and science come to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for an exciting day of hands-on exploration in engineering, science, and technology.
July 10, 2012
Professor Christian Wetzel (RPI) presented new work on higher efficiency lighting and power device technology at Semicon West in San Francisco: “Energy efficiency and green technology with wide bandgap GaN-based epitaxy”. Energy from currently used LED’s is lost to heat through the back of the LED and/or imparted to the phosphor needed to provide the color or shade of lighting desired. The ERC is working on developing technology that would lessen the dependency on phosphors, optimizing the wavelength of the light and improve the efficiency of the LED.
September 7, 2012
The Sky Factory SkyMobile is a gallery on wheels that transforms interior spaces with illusions of nature using digital cinema virtual windows. The Sky Factory products help us visualize the ERC’s goals of combining illumination, communication and adaptive controls with video displays.
September 12, 2012
An article titled: Solid state lighting reduces energy consumption is published in the “Polytechnic”.
September 13, 2012
Sajol Ghoshal, Director, OSL Business Unit of AMS-TAOS USA presented a talk titled: Sensor-Processing Systems: A New Wave Of Environmentally Aware Lighting 10:30 am – 12:00 pm in the JEC 3117.
September 19-20, 2012
Director/Professor Bob Karlicek gave an invited talk at the “Next Generation Nanotechnology for Solar Energy and Lighting Conference”, The top of Europe, Copenhagen and Malmo.
September 19, 2012
Smart Lighting Seminar Series: Nonpolar/Semipolar III-Nitrides for High-Efficiency Visible Optoelectronics
Prof. Daniel F. Feezell, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Center for High technology Materials, University of New Mexico.
October 10, 2012
“Smart Lighting ERC Speaker Series: Ultra-Efficient Solid-State Lighting” Presented by Jeff Tsao, Sandia National Laboratories and member of the ERC’s Scientific Advisory Board
October 16, 2012
ByteLight gets $1.25 Million in Funding for “GPS-like” Indoor Positioning System
According to ByteLight’s CEO, Aaron Ganick, “ByteLight’s technology was inspired, in part, by research on advanced LED lighting applications funded by Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center at Boston University. By exploring how LED lighting systems could simultaneously illuminate and transmit data, we realized there was an opportunity to create additional value added services when leveraging solid state lighting.”
Sustainability at Boston University
Boston University, a core partner in the Smart Lighting ERC, is also taking steps to install LED lighting across campus as part of sustainability initiatives. Visit http://www.bu.edu/sustainability/what-were-doing/energy/led-lighting-retrofits/ for more information.
October 2012
Rensselaer takes first steps toward delivering the right light, when and where you need it.
Phase I of the Smart Lighting Sustainability Club project is complete with the installation of 300 LED bulbs in the DCC 2nd floor and Great Hall saving 15,000 tons of carbon emissions! View DCC Bulb Replacement Project
October 17, 2012
Lessons Learned from Internships – Four ERC Students Present. Please join us for this seminar where ERC students will share their internship experiences. Each student will briefly discuss the company, their research and how it links with the ERC work, their biggest challenges and lessons learned.
October 30 & 31, 2012
The Smart Lighting ERC will sponsor an all-day session at the Advanced Energy 2012 Conference at the Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center in New York City.
October 12, 2011
Jason Eichenholz, CTO, Ocean Optics, spoke about “Spectral Sensing – Seeing More Than Your Eye Can See” as part of the Industrial Speaker Series.
November 6, 2012
Professor Karlicek delivers an invited plenary talk “Smart Lighting – More than Just Illumination” at the Ninth China International Exhibition and Forum on Solid State Lighting
November 8, 2012
Professor Karlicek will lead a workshop about Smart Lighting at the Asia Communications and Photonics Conference 2012
November 9, 2012
Congressman Paul Tonko tours the Smart Lighting Laboratories
Congressman Paul Tonko got a firsthand look at the leading-edge research and academic endeavors taking place in the Smart Lighting Laboratories. WMHT, the local public ratio station were so impressed they came back to the center to shoot a video featuring ERC labs and Dr. Karlicek.
November 11, 2012
Professor Karlicek is an Invited Speaker at The Illumination Engineering Society (IES) Annual Meeting and will give a talk titled: “Beyond Ordinary Illumination”
November 16, 2012
Dr. Majeed Hayat, Associate Director of the Center for High Technology Materials at the University of New Mexico and Smart Lighting ERC Faculty member has been elected a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA). OSA recognized Dr. Hayat “for pioneering the dead-space formulation of impact ionization and noise in avalanche photodiodes and developing non-uniformity correction algorithms for infrared sensors.” The OSA Fellow is awarded to OSA Members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics. This honor is reserved to no more than 10% of the total membership.
November 16, 2012
Rensselaer ERC student Brian Frey (Physics), took second place in the “Perfect Pitch” competition, winning a $2,000 prize at the NSF 2012 ERC Annual Meeting.
November 29, 2012
Local public television station WMHT features Smart Lighting ERC Director, Bob Karlicek in a short, 2 minute video titled: Engineering Better Lighting
November 30, 2012
Rensselaer Professor Shawn-Yu Lin Named Fellow of the AAAS.
Nano-photonics expert Shawn Yu-Lin, professor of physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a member of the university’s Future Chips Constellation and Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center, has been selected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
December 5, 2012
Professor Christian Wetzel’s paper titled, “Fish scale terrace GaInN/GaN light-emitting diodes with enhanced light extraction” is published in Applied Physics Letters.
December 11, 2012
Professor Christian Wetzel’s paper titled, “Effects of oxygen thermal annealing treatment on formation of ohmic contacts to n-GaN” is published in Applied Physics Letters.
December 12, 2012
ERC RPI Materials Science student, Mark Durniak, is awarded a Fellowship under the Sandia National Labs “Excellence in Engineering Graduate Research Program.”
December 13, 2012
Smart Lighting Industrial Seminar Series: Dr. Ravi Bhatkal, VP Energy Technologies, APPHA, Cookson Performance Materials presents: Thermal and Electronic Interconnects in LED Packaging and Assembly.
February 8, 2011
Second Annual Smart Lighting ERC Industry – Academia Day
The second annual Industry-Academia Day for the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center was held at Boston University on February 8, 2011. Researchers and graduate students from three core partner institutions, Rensselaer, Boston University, and the University of New Mexico, gathered to discuss research and advances in smart lighting systems, sources, sensors, and controls. Presentations from invited speakers, a poster session and BU laboratory tours were also part of the agenda. A Strategic Planning Retreat followed the public day. The event was attended by representatives from 30 industrial organizations, including member companies. Together, about 130 people filled to capacity the 9th floor venue of BU’s Photonics Center.
February 25, 2011
Dr. Partha Dutta, Smart Lighting ERC Deputy Director, was a guest speaker at the Nitride Seminar Series at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He spoke on “High Efficiency Phosphors for Full Spectrum Solid State Lighting Technologies”. Read More
March 24, 2011
A seminar titled “The Four Pillars of Successful Startups – and Where to Go from There” in the Entrepreneurial Series was presented at core partner University of New Mexico.
Topic: The Four Pillars of Successful Startups – and Where to Go from There – What every entrepreneur needs to know about building a sustainable company”, Barbara Kline, The Breakthrough Center.
Abstract: There are four pillars upon which successful startups are based: passion, leadership, adequate funding and technical savvy. But startups have to grow – or die. Ms. Kline will discuss how these Four Pillars interact – in theory and with examples – to create a viable venture, as well as the steps necessary to make sure the company is well positioned to take the next step – 2nd Stage Growth.
March 31, 2011
The first joint seminar with the Center for Future Energy Systems and the Lighting Research Center was held at Rensselaer. James Gaines from Philips Lighting talked about “Solid State Lighting – White Light for General Illumination”. Read More
April 26, 2011
Professor Partha Dutta, center deputy director, speaks about Scalable Manufacturing and Business Challenges in Nanotechnology at the MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco. He will also be part of an almost full-day special forum discussion on Thursday, April 28, that will close the conference. The topic of discussion will be: “How to start and grow a successful start-up company, a survival kit for entrepreneurs” Conference Information
April 28, 2011
The Smart Lighting ERC welcomes Epistar as the latest industrial member.
May 5, 2011
The ERC welcomes Silicon Core Technologies as an Affiliate Member.
May 17, 2011
The National Associated Press published a story on LEDs and the Light Fair trade show held in Philadelphia, which quotes Bob Karlicek, director of the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center. The story was featured in a variety of publications including Wall Street Journal, CBS, ABC, and NPR.
July 15, 2011
The Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center successfully passed its NSF third-year renewal site review!
July 25, 2011
ERC holds workshop at the High Impact Technology Exchange Conference
Smart Lighting ERC Education Director Ken Connor held a Mobile Studio Workshop at the High Impact Technology Exchange Conference in San Francisco, CA. Mobile Studio enables hands-on exploration of STEM education principles, devices, and systems utilizing a small, inexpensive ($150) mobile hardware and software platform. When connected to a PC, it provides functionality similar to standard lab equipment (oscilloscope, function generator, etc.). It can also be programmed to provide smart functionality (e.g., to control the states of digital outputs by monitoring analog signals). Additional information can be found here.
HI-TEC is a national conference on advanced technical education where technical educators, counselors, industry professionals, and technicians can update their knowledge and skills. Charged with Educating America’s Technical Workforce, the event focuses on the preparation needed by the existing and future workforce for companies in the high-tech sectors that drive our nation’s economy.
September 12, 2011
Professor Satoshi Kamiyama, Meijo University, spoke about New Materials and Technologies for White LEDs.
September 14, 2011
Leo Schowalter, CTO, Crystal IS spoke about Improved Performance UV LEDs, in the kickoff event of the Industrial Speaker Series which is in its second year.
October 6, 2011
Robert Casper, Camille Dan Family Research Chair, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto and SAB member spoke about Shift Work: The Dark Side of Light, as part of the Industrial Speaker Series.
October 7, 2011
Tomoko Akai, Leader of the Advanced Glass Group, AIST, Japan spoke about Sustainable Lighting: New Requirements, as part of the Industrial Speaker Series.
October 14, 2011
Patrick Masson, CTO, UMassOnline spoke about Collaboration and Fostering Co-creation through the use of enterprise wikis, as part of the Industrial Speaker Series.
November 7, 2011
ERC’s Boston University professor Hatice Altug article on “Large-Scale Plasmonic Microarrays for Label-Free High-Throughput Screening”, was featured on the cover of Lab on a Chip. Publication
November 9, 2011
Suppression of Non-Radiative Auger Processes, Dr. Alexander L. Efros, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC. Flyer
November 16, 2011
The Bright Future of Smart Lighting, Presented by Dr. Francis Rubinstein, Lead, Lighting Research Group, Building Technology Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as part of the Industrial Tutorial Series. Flyer
January 4, 2010
Silvia Mioc joins the Smart Lighting ERC as the Director of Industrial Collaborations
Dr. Silvia Mioc received her PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and her MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. Her professional experience spans displays, medical devices and optical technologies, in settings ranging from academia and national labs to startups, large companies and non-profits. In addition, she has been involved in working with state, local and regulatory agencies, and has lobbied federal legislators for sustained increased funding for R&D and Math and Science Education. She speaks 5 languages, and has done business in Europe and Asia.
Dr. Mioc comes to RPI after having been with Corning, Inc. since 2006 as a Business Development Manager in the Display Future’s Emerging Markets and Technologies group. In that role, she was a key player in bringing to the corporation the understanding of the latest developments in the display industry in order to feed and support early R&D projects in the pipeline. Among other responsibilities, she led the strategic external engagement with academia and industry. She also organized complex series of events targeted at increasing the visibility of Corning Display Futures group and establishing a dialogue with key thought leaders in the industry.
Prior to Corning, Dr.Mioc spent 8 years in the medical devices industry in both technical and business development roles. She worked in Colorado for the pulse oximetry division of Datex-Ohmeda, a Finnish company that became part of GE Healthcare in 2003.
In parallel, she has been involved with the Colorado Photonics Industry Association (CPIA), a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the environment for optical technologies in Colorado. She has been active in the organization since 2001, being its president from 2003 to 2006. She spearheaded expanding program reach to strategically exploit synergies with biotech, medical devices, nanotech and defense/homeland security sectors, and formed numerous win-win partnerships with service providers to increase member benefits. Under Silvia’s leadership, CPIA steadily grew its impact, visibility, and reach at state level, nationally and internationally. Additionally, she led the transition of the association from an all-volunteer base to employing an executive director through funding secured via a grant from the state of Colorado.
January 4, 2010
Robert Karlicek is the new director of the Smart Lighting ERC
Dr. Robert F. Karlicek, Jr., a globally-known LED industry expert has joined RPI as Professor in the Electrical, Computer and System Engineering department and Director of the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center. Prior to joining RPI, he spent over 30 years in industrial research and R&D management positions with corporations including AT&T Bell Labs, EMCORE, General Electric, Gore Photonics, Microsemi, Luminus Devices and SolidUV. His technical experience includes epitaxial growth of high performance LEDs and lasers, advanced device fabrication and high power LED packaging, thermal management, control systems design and applications in solid state lighting as well as other novel LED uses such as IR and UV LED applications.
Dr. Karlicek is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops. He obtained his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and has over 40 published technical papers and 24 U.S. patents.
May, 2010
ERC present at the Santa Barbara Summit on Energy Efficiency in Santa Barbara, CA: Novel Applications of LEDs for Energy Savings A Systems Level View
June, 2010
Bob Karlicek, ERC Director, presented at the OIDA Green Photonics Forum, Santa Clara, CA: Smart Lighting:A Second Wave in Solid State Lighting?
August 2, 2010
Bob Karlicek, ERC Director, presented an invited talk at the SPIE Optics and Photonics in San Diego, CA: Smart Lighting: New Roles for Light in the Solid State Lighting World
August 4, 2010
Bob Karlicek, ERC Director, presented an invited talk at the Lester Eastman Conference in Troy, NY. Lighting: Past, Present and Future
August 5, 2010
ERC graduate student Alp Altar from Boston University receives best student presentation award for the paper “Light tunneling in multi-layered plasmonic crystals” at SPIE Optics and Photonics conference in San Diego, CA.
August 19, 2010
SiC Systems, Inc and the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) awarded National Science Foundation Grant to develop Increased Efficiency Green LEDs
GOLDEN, COLORADO, and TROY, NY, August 19, 2010. The National Science Foundation awarded a $200,000 grant to SiC Systems, Inc. to partner with the Smart Lighting ERC in order to develop LEDs with increased efficiency.
SiC Systems’ unique ability to produce large area, 6″ Silicon Carbide substrates in different crystallographic orientations will be combined with the Smart Lighting ERC’s capability to develop advanced LEDs with higher performance than those routinely available today on sapphire substrates. While high power blue GaN LEDs are widely used now for solid state lighting applications, there are still significant barriers in developing efficient GaN LEDs at other wavelengths that will be needed to achieve high performance lighting systems with high color fidelity.
By combining advanced Silicon Carbide structures from SiC Systems with innovative LED growth and fabrication technology under development at RPI in Professor Wetzel’s group, this team will explore new approaches to driving GaN to higher levels of efficiency at a broader range of operating wavelengths than can be obtained today with conventional LED growth on sapphire substrates.
Additionally, this collaboration will train and engage graduate and undergraduate researchers in an area of great technological importance, both at SiC Systems and at the ERC. SicSystems Inc. anticipates as many as 25 new jobs will be created with the increased demand from this technological break through.
The awardees would like to acknowledge the SBIR/STTR and ERC programs for providing the funding.
September 15, 2010
Smart Lighting ERC Held the Inaugural Event for the Industrial Speaker Series
The Smart Lighting ERC Industrial Speaker Series at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a seminar series aiming to present an industry perspective on smart lighting technologies and markets. In addition, in line with the ERC mission to teach students about life in industry, each speaker will be sharing their personal story of how they came into industry and how their career path has influenced their life.
The events are open to all RPI faculty and students, not only participants in the ERC. In addition, presentations will be made available live via Adobe Connect to the core partner institutions Boston University and The University of New Mexico, outreach partner schools Howard University, Morgan State University and Rose Hulman Institute of Technnology, as well as to the industrial members.
The opening of the series took place on Wednesday, September 15, 2010. Annette Finsterbusch, founder of Applied Ventures, the investing arm of industrial member Applied Materials, talked about “Investing in Solid State Lighting: the Past, the Present and the Future”. In front of a standing-room-only audience, Ms. Finsterbusch discussed the investment landscape of the lighting industry, focusing on the recent past and present opportunities. She also discussed how today’s early stage technology development fuels the future investment opportunity pipeline, and the key aspects of successful start-up companies that investors are looking for. The seminar ended in a lively questions and answers session with members of the audience. Graduate student Kayvan Rafiee from the Mechanical Engineering Department said “This was such a wonderful event and one of best talks at RPI I have ever been to!”
The next events in the series are presentations by the Industrial Advisory Board member Dr. Matt Stough from Osram Sylvania on October 13, 2010, and Scientific Advisory Board member Kevin Dowling, VP of Research and Development from MC10 on November 17, 2010.
October 13, 2010
Dr. Matthew A. Stough from Osram Sylvania talks about “Thinking Differently about LED Lighting”
Industrial Speaker SeriesThe second event in the Industrial Speaker Series filled again the room for Dr. Matthew Stough’s discussion of Osram’s view of the future of solid state lighting. Dr. Stough is a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of the center. The event was transmitted live to 9 remote sites.
Click here for the event flier that includes abstract.
November 13, 2014
Smart Lighting ERC Director Bob Karlicek presents “Lighting Systems that Think – Towards Autonomous Lighting Optimization and Control” at the 2014 Holst Symposium, organized by Philips Research and held at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, the Netherlands.