Henrik Clausen has been involved in lighting for over 30 years. He is the founder of the Fagerhult Lighting Academy and currently holds a position as professor in Lighting Design at AAU in Copenhagen. As an accomplished keynote presenter, CEU provider, and former on-air CBS design expert, Deborah Burnett shares insights as to how the body and brain are directly impacted by the built environment. Henrik is going to be a regular, and for his first kick at the can, we’ve brought him together, with ...
Jan 24, 2022•20 min•Ep. 292
Christopher Lewis is a graduate of Colorado State University Tech Journalism Program with studies in TV/Web/Broadcast. After many successful years working for others, Mr. Lewis founded Evergreen Applied Technologies in 2014. Chris talks about his early success in E-commerce (selling while you sleep!), the history of LED’s, and the balance of always being honest but still needing to sell. Chris is currently working on the concept of moving people through a space via AI controlled lighting - also ...
Jan 17, 2022•44 min•Ep. 291
Art is the President/Owner of the National Institute of Crime Prevention (NICP, Inc.), a global training and consulting company specializing in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Art contradicts Michael’s anecdotal assertion that lighting up an area like a prison yard makes people act like criminals, with some solid stats that lighting up a high crime area actually reduces crime. But that could be at the cost of light blasting into your bedroom at night. Can we find a balance? Web: w...
Jan 10, 2022•43 min•Ep. 290
C. Webster Marsh brings 14 years of applied experience with lighting and controls and is the owner of Penumbra Controls, where he provides lighting controls design and specification for a wide range of project types. Ron oversees Port’s Architectural and Theatrical Lighting Design & Installation departments, as well as our Lighting Control Systems and Equipment Sales teams. In this first episode of our Conversation Series, Web and Ron discuss design and integration of controls, plus going th...
Jan 06, 2022•25 min•Ep. 289
Al Uszynski is an experienced executive with over 25 years of experience in the lighting industry. He is Principal of inside.lighting, an online media company that provides valuable insights and information to lighting industry professionals. Just like the title says, Al, Michael and Greg review 13 lighting predictions made by industry professionals you’ll know, like Trevor Palmer, the President of Acuity and Daniel Salinas, the interim Executive Director of the IES. Keep this episode linked in ...
Jan 03, 2022•47 min•Ep. 288
Founder of Equilume Ltd, Dr. Barbara Anne Murphy is Head of Equine Science and Programme Director of the BAgrSc Animal Science-Equine degree at University College Dublin. Her research has led to a revolution in the Thoroughbred industry. By administering blue light with the Equilume Light Mask, you can cue certain circadian and biological rhythm’s in your thoroughbred champion in order to breed at the optimal time, all while keeping your horse happy and healthy. In fact, many of the principles D...
Dec 30, 2021•39 min•Ep. 287
Following teaching at the University of Florida, opening a roadside restaurant with a neon theme, apprenticing at a neon shop, opening his own custom neon sign business, and collecting old neon signs, he finally opened the Neon Museum of Philadelphia. Len tells us about the fascinating culture of neon, the dwindling supply of glass and artisans and how neon is quickly being superseded by LED.
Dec 27, 2021•50 min•Ep. 286
Ruth is a lighting consultant with a background in engineering, lighting design and academia. She’s passionate about the role of daylight and sunlight in bringing buildings to life, and the impact of daylight exposure on the health and wellbeing of building occupants. Ruth, Michael and Greg discuss the challenges of measuring negatives and positives. That is, you can measure the effects of taking away flicker or blue light, but how do you measure the effects of improving people’s health with hum...
Dec 20, 2021•54 min•Ep. 285
David Warfel is Midwestern farm boy turned lighting designer, author, and educator who passionately shares the gift of light. David has extensive experience in lighting design, from theater to Las Vegas to cruise ships to pizza joints. In his own words, “there’s nothing magical about design.” His ideas are reasonable and sensible and aimed at making lives better. You want nice interior lighting, this is your guy.
Dec 16, 2021•47 min•Ep. 284
Hannah Moon is a PhD Candidate at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa in Dr. Megan Porter’s vision lab. Her work focuses on understanding the physiological and molecular aspects of light perception in birds and has won multiple awards at scientific conferences. In other words, she’s trying to understand what birds are seeing. As you’ll hear, it goes beyond just the molecular structure of the bird's eyes. And yes, it’s but another species that can’t make it to the sea because of our nonchalance to...
Dec 15, 2021•53 min•Ep. 283
Todd Straka currently serves as global industry director for UL’s Lighting and Electrical Products Retail business. Michael and Greg grill Todd on product safety, the verification processes, labeling, surveillance and enforcement, and counterfeit labels. This stuff will make your head spin but this episode will give you a better understanding of the topic.
Dec 09, 2021•48 min•Ep. 282
Dr. Meredith Kernbach is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg in the lab of Dr. Mya Breitbart. For her doctoral dissertation, she studied how light pollution may affect zoonotic disease dynamics, specifically West Nile virus in House sparrows. Dr. Kernbach has found that even low light levels have allowed sparrows to hold the disease longer which means more mosquitos acquire it. And you can guess what that means for us. Turn off your lights!
Dec 08, 2021•56 min•Ep. 281
Dr. Andreas Jechow is an interdisciplinary physicist with a broad expertise in photonics, the science of light. Earlier in his career Andreas worked in laser physics and quantum optics, for example on imaging the "shadow of a single atom" with lasers. In 2015, Andreas transitioned to environmental sciences where he applies his knowledge of light in research on light pollution. Some of the fascinating studies Andreas is involved in include the impact of light on bats and insects and also on aquat...
Dec 01, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 280
Active in the lighting business since 1982, Clay is the Owner & Managing Member of Starbeam Lighting and he served on the NAILD Board from 1997 to 2005 and as President from 2002 to 2003. In this podcast, Clay gives a brief history of Starbeam Lighting. We discuss loyalty and pricing, how training evolved, from reading the old catalogues to LS Evolve. Clay gives us some insight into where he thinks horticultural and human centric light will be going. And of course, he recommends you join NAI...
Nov 30, 2021•38 min•Ep. 279
Dr. Sam Illingworth is an Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University, UK. He is a leading expert in using poetry to develop a dialogue between scientists and non-scientists. Sam write’s books, tweets, blogs, composes poetry, podcasts, creates games and still finds time for running. If you want to engage your left AND right brain, give this episode a listen.
Nov 24, 2021•56 min•Ep. 278
Mary Beth was the Manager of the GE Lighting Institute in Cleveland, Ohio for 18 years. She was responsible for the overall operation and curriculum development for this training and education center that hosted over 4000 visitors a year. Mary Beth and Michael and Greg take a little trip down nostalgia lane recalling the days of the Edison Awards and training at the institute. She might be retired from GE, but Mary Beth hasn’t stopped. You can still learn a thing or two from the professor....
Nov 24, 2021•45 min•Ep. 277
B.D. is a proven leader and team builder, successfully navigating an ever changing high-tech business climate. He is currently running SaticShield, the country’s leading clean power manufacturing facility and Montana’s most proficient solar company. You might not have heard about dirty electricity and you probably haven’t thought about the impact of dirty electricity on lighting and electronics and human health. No one really knows what electricity is but B.D. sure does understand how to clean i...
Nov 18, 2021•47 min•Ep. 276
Gail Walker is the founder of Nantucket Lights, an all-volunteer citizen advocacy group recently formed to combat the growing light pollution on Nantucket, the island off the coast of Massachusetts that is a popular summer destination for many. A former litigator for the U.S. Department of Justice, she began working on light pollution issues there after retiring a few years ago. Gail discusses with Jane how she uses her litigation skills to convince people on Nantucket Island to take steps to pr...
Nov 17, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 275
Brian Huff is President of Adventure Lighting in Des Moines, Iowa. Brian is your new NAILD Board Member, although this isn’t his first time serving. From the perspective of a family owned lighting distribution business, he gives us his point of view on sales, distribution, sustainable lighting, the future of the replacement process and, of course, his plans while serving on the NAILD board. Welcome Brian.
Nov 11, 2021•38 min•Ep. 274
Hilding Neilson is an interdisciplinary scientist currently working with the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto and is Mi’kmaw from the Qalipu First Nation band. Hilding is working at the intersection of science, astronomy and Indigenous knowledge. He tells us some fascinating Indigenous stories about the constellations, and how many more have been lost and overshadowed over time by what he refers to as “Astro - colonialism.” Hilding also tells ...
Nov 10, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 273
Meet your new NAILD board member. Devin Wall is the President of Louvers International where they manufacture commercial and industrial light fixtures, light fixture components, and do complete plastic fabrication. In this episode, the guys discuss Louvers history in manufacturing lenses, solutions to headaches from poor lighting, and growth in the UV disinfection play including “disinfection theatre.” Listen to this episode and we think you’ll agree that Devin is an excellent addition to the NA...
Nov 05, 2021•34 min•Ep. 272
Dr. Tyler Nordgren is an artist, author, astronomer, and night sky ambassador. He holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cornell University where he did work on dark matter as well as a B.A. in Physics from Reed College. In this episode, we discuss the role of his artwork in public education about the night skies, how inhabiting Mars is a longshot with questionable benefits, and you won't want to miss Tyler's description of solar eclipses and why they are so important for humanity.
Oct 28, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 271
Nam has over 20+ years of experience in technology product development across various industries: Military, Automotive, Medical Devices, and now Lighting. Nam joined Cooper Lighting in 2013. Nam has been working on augmented reality. This is like Pokemon Go for the lighting industry. It’s going to make sales easier than ever. https://www.cooperlighting.com/s/lightarchitect/index.html .
Oct 28, 2021•47 min•Ep. 270
Megan Porter PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her research program is focused on understanding the evolution of animal eye diversity, particularly from a molecular perspective. In this episode, Megan tells us about the vastly different vision perceptions that animals have from humans and the massive impact light pollution has on their vision. Wait till you hear about the Mantis Shrimp.
Oct 27, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 269
Enjoy this quick one with your hosts Michael and Greg. The boys talk about how to get back to dark night skies with everything from advocacy to guilt and shame. Could we eventually see enforcement through regulation? The Chinese manufacturers are going to love it!
Oct 26, 2021•20 min•Ep. 268
Long-time friend of Get A Grip On Lighting, Spencer Miles ruminates on his time on the NAILD Board, what he’s going to do with all his free time now, and where he sees the future of lighting going. Oh - and he was convinced to sell smoke detectors - and it’s going well!
Oct 21, 2021•43 min•Ep. 267
Douglas Arion, PhD is the founder and director of Mountains of Stars, a public science outreach and education program that engages the public with ‘ environmental awareness from a cosmic perspective ’. In this episode, Douglas logically explains why all other living creatures are equal to humans. He warns us of the pitfalls of the plethora of satellites that are going to be orbiting earth. And you’re going to want to order the Galileoscope, a VERY affordable telescope that Douglas helped create ...
Oct 20, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 266
Alan is Senior Vice President at Satco. Alan is “graduating” from NAILD’s Board of Directors this year. He looks back on his time with the board, the relationships forged, and the opportunities presented. Alan talks about his post-board future with Satco and if you’re ever in Long Island, he would be happy to take you for cold cheese pizza.
Oct 19, 2021•35 min•Ep. 265
Dr. Micah Brodsky is a wildlife veterinarian who focuses on marine animal medicine, research, and conservation and is the Director of Conservation Medicine at Hawaiʻi Marine Animal Response and a lecturer at the University of Hawaiʻi. Dr. Brodsky tells us about the dire consequences of light pollution on Wedgetail Shearwater birds, sea turtles and Monk Seals, to name a few, in Hawai’i. As he says, it’s not Disney out there!
Oct 13, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 264
Dan Blitzer is Principal of The Practical Lighting Workshop, founded in 1993. The firm provides consulting services in marketing, strategy, communication, and education and serves both manufacturers and non-commercial clients. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone with more experience in the industry. He’ll tell you his mother told him to be a teacher but he wanted to be in sales. Well guess what he does now? And having learned himself from the best, Paul Hafner, you won’t be able to find a bet...
Oct 07, 2021•43 min•Ep. 263
