The center for global leadership in applying engineering research to the science of lighting
Latest News
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.
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. […]
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. […]
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. […]
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.
Accolades
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) […]
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 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. […]
Upcoming Events
coming soon…
Spectra
Lighting & Health Workshop (for workshop partipants only)
Immediate Opening for GLASE Consortium Director
The Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE) program has an immediate opening for a GLASE Director. The director is expected to develop and execute a marketing plan to recruit and retain to recruit and retain industry consortium members; […]
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.
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).
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!
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
LESA by the Numbers (through 3/31/17)
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