Architectural engineering students awarded national scholarships
MANHATTAN — One graduate and four undergraduate Kansas State University architectural engineering students have been named recipients of 2021-2022 Besal Fund Scholarships, garnering one-quarter of the scholarships awarded this cycle for a total of $26,000 from the Besal Lighting Education Fund.
Awardees are Gabriella Radina, master's student, Manhattan; Ben Post, junior, Meriden; Hannah Allen, sophomore, Ozawkie; Kylee Badura, junior, Rossville; and Riley Linn, sophomore, Peculiar, Missouri.
Over the past seven years, K-State architectural engineering students have received $95,000 in scholarships from this fund, with $54,000 of that awarded in the last two years. Nationally the Besal Fund awarded a total of 19 undergraduate and graduate scholarships for the upcoming school year to deserving students with an interest in lighting design and the lighting industry in general.
"Once again the quality of our students stands out among the best of the best as they continue to be recognized with these competitive scholarships," said Fred Hasler, professor and John W. and Dorothy M. Burke architectural engineering chair, as well as K-State's Besal Fund liaison and supervisor of lighting-related courses in the department.
Scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students through the Besal Fund are available only to those who attend a qualified Besal campus. Kansas State University — and the GE Johnson Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science — is one of only six universities in the U.S. that is qualified because of its extensive offering of coursework related to lighting and lighting systems design.
The fund was established in honor of the late Robert J. Besal, whose career of more than 30 years in the lighting industry exemplified the high standards of knowledge, professionalism and service the Besal Fund aspires to encourage in today’s students. It was created to provide a continuing program to improve lighting education in illuminating engineering and to find and recognize top lighting students and encourage their pursuit of lighting industry careers.
