April 25, 2018
Architectural engineering students awarded Lighting Education Scholarships
Seven Kansas State University architectural engineering students — Jose Ramos-Hernandez, Daniel Traknyak, Trevyn Sell, Katherine Clark, Jessica Woody, Anna Zuercher and Kathleen Walker — have been awarded a total of $14,000 in undergraduate scholarships for 2018-2019 from the Besal Lighting Education Fund.
Nationally, the Besal Fund awarded a total of 15 undergraduate and graduate scholarships for the upcoming school year to deserving students with an interest in lighting design and the lighting industry.
Fred Hasler, associate professor of architectural engineering and construction science, is the K-State Besal Fund liaison and supervises lighting-related courses in the department.
Scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students through the Besal Fund are available only to those attending a qualified Besal institution. Kansas State University, through its GE Johnson Architectural Engineering and Construction Science Department, is one of only seven universities in the U.S. eligible, due to its extensive offering of coursework related to lighting and lighting systems design. The other qualified schools include the University of Nebraska, Omaha; University of Nebraska, Lincoln; University of Colorado at Boulder; Penn State University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and the University of Kansas.
The fund was established in the 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.
The Besal Fund is made possible by contributions from Acuity Brands Lighting Inc., its sales representatives and employees. Since the inception of the fund, more than $600,000 in scholarships have been awarded.