Mar 9, 2021

The IES Advisory Panels work strategically with IES Staff to determine the need for addressing new lighting topics, and in aligning committees to ensure collaboration between technical committees. The Advisory Panel members act as mentors and collaborators to the committees, guiding them through the process of developing Standards, coordinating efforts between committees, and facilitating communication with IES staff. All technical committees are grouped under these Advisory Panels according to their respective areas of lighting science, practice, and applications. Each Advisory Panel Chair also serves on the IES Standards Committee.

Rajaram Bhagavathula

Dr. Rajaram Bhagavathula

Dr. Rajaram Bhagavathula is a Senior Research Associate in the center for infrastructure-based safety systems (CIBSS) at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). His research is focused on the understanding and improving the interaction between vehicles, built environment, and road users. Specifically, he aims to understand the effects of lighting, signage, advanced driver assistance systems on road user safety, behavior, and health. He is a primary investigator in a series of projects related to roadway lighting, including work zone lighting, the spectral effects of roadway lighting, conspicuity of cyclists, and pedestrian safety. Dr. Bhagavathula is also a member of IES’s Roadway Lighting Committee, Vision Science Committee, and Discomfort Glare in Outdoor Nighttime Environment Committee. Dr. Bhagavathula received a Ph.D. in Human Factors and Ergonomics from Virginia Tech.

Dan Blitzer

Dan Blitzer

Dan Blitzer is Principal of The Practical Lighting Workshop, a 28-year consultancy in lighting, marketing, and education. He brings 40 years of experience to issues of lighting technology and application, energy effectiveness and sustainability, as well as lighting education. Dan has developed and conducted lighting education for Signify as principal faculty at its Lighting Application Center from 2003-19, and for the American Lighting Association, the Building Energy Exchange, the IES, and various commercial clients. Dan has written seminars and guides to energy effective lighting, remote and face-to-face training materials, guides for the NCQLP exam, and the video and printed history of the Lightolier company. Most recently, he wrote the new IES Introduction to Lighting online learning course.* Dan serves on the Steering Committee of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Next Generation Lighting Systems design competition. He is a board member and past president of the Designer’s Lighting Forum of New York, a director and Treasurer of The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education, and the primary interviewer for the IESNYC History Project. Dan is a Fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society. He is Lighting Certified. Dan holds a BA in Economics from Columbia University and resides in New York City.

Shirley Coyle

Shirley Coyle

Shirley Coyle has been a member of the IES for 31 years and has served in several responsible capacities in the past: President of the Toronto Section, District Chair and Board of Directors. She serves on several IES committees including Roadway Lighting, Outdoor Environmental Lighting, and Street & Area Lighting. Coyle is also a committee member for several CSA Group standards committees on lighting including Roadway and Solid State Lighting.

Wilson Dau

Wilson Dau

Principal, Dau Design and Consulting Inc. Wilson Dau has over 26 years of experience in the lighting industry. He is an active member of the Illuminating Engineering Society, serving as the immediate Past-Chairman of the Office Lighting Committee, a past member of the Quality of the Visual Environment Committee, and a past Chair of the Computer Committee. He holds 22 patents for SSL related inventions. Wilson is Lighting Certified by the NCQLP (National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions) and a LEED Accredited professional by the USGBC.

Greg Ehrich

Greg Ehrich

Greg Ehrich is the owner of Premier Lighting- an innovative commercial grade lighting distributor that has been in business for over 25 years. In addition, Greg is an IES member with an LC designation, a Past-President of the National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors (NAILD), has NAILD LS1 and LS2 designations and serves on the DLC Industry Advisory Committee. In addition he is one of the owners of Get A Grip Management that runs them management of NAILD and is the Co-Host of the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast.

Dan Mellinger

Dan Mellinger

Dan Mellinger is a Principal with Energy Futures Group, a Vermont-based firm that works to advance clean energy policies. Dan specializes in the design, planning and administration of commercial and industrial energy efficiency programs and is a lighting technologies expert. He provides technical consultative services on efficient technology capabilities, market analysis, technology adoption, energy savings potential, industry standards, and training programs. Dan has consulted on hundreds of commercial efficiency projects across many jurisdictions nationwide and has designed and administered industry-leading commercial lighting programs. He received his degree in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University, is a licensed Professional Engineer, is a Certified Energy Manager, and is Lighting Certified.

Linda Sanford

Linda Sandford

Linda Sanford is the Senior Lighting Program Coordinator for PG&E’s Energy Centers and is a lighting designer and teacher of lighting as well. She received a B.Sc. in Environmental Earth Science (Stanford), a Master of Architecture (UCLA) and then an M.Sc. in Lighting (RPI), with a thesis focus on lighting for the elderly. She worked as a lighting designer for several years and for a bay area lighting manufacturer for 2 years, and has taught lighting design at local colleges for more than 15 years. Currently, at Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E’s) Pacific Energy Center, she actively manages the content and delivery of lighting classes that increase the adoption of energy efficiency and quality in lighting for buildings and the exterior. She is Chair of Education of the San Francisco chapter of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), serves on the national IES committees on Lighting for Seniors and the Visually Impaired, and on Sustainable Lighting. She is an Associate in the IALD (International Association of Lighting Designers) and is LC (Lighting Certified). She has spoken at interior design and lighting conferences and events, and she has published in lighting magazines.

Sandra Vásconez

Sandra Vásconez

Sandra Vásconez is a senior instructor in the Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She teaches lighting courses with an emphasis on lighting application and design to Architectural Engineering and Environmental Design students. Sandra has been at the helm of the Lighting Program at CU for thirteen years, is co-creator and co-director of the Rocky Mountain Lighting Academy, manages the Lighting Design Certificate offered to non-engineering students, and is faculty co-advisor of the CU Boulder IES Student Chapter. Sandra obtained her Masters of Science in Lighting from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She worked at the LRC as adjunct faculty, teaching graduate-level lighting courses and working as program manager. She later earned a Masters of Arts degree from the University of Denver in art history and museum studies. Besides her work and interests in lighting, she also has worked in museum exhibition design.
David K. Warfel

David K. Warfel

David K. Warfel is an overly sensitive, marginally materialistic, pseudo-tree-hugging Midwestern farm boy turned lighting designer. His hyper-sensitivity means he dims everything including his dashboard, and his marginal materialism means he loves high quality light fixtures, elegant controls, and French cuffs. He calms his enviro-consciousness by using energy-saving lighting solutions and wearing hiking shoes to work, and is always ready to roll up his literal shirt sleeves to solve client problems with baling wire and duct tape (although now he prefers gaffers tape). He uses the title “Convergence Designer” since he cannot decide what he wants to be if he ever grows up (unlikely at this point), and practices at the overlap of architectural and performance lighting. He’s as surprised as you are by the list of credits to his name that range from New York’s Carnegie Hall to the Las Vegas’ Luxor and MGM Grand casinos, from Chicago’s Hyde Park Arts Center and Museum of Science and Industry to residential and hospitality projects in Virginia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Nevada, Oregon, California, and Arizona. He has worked with award-winning firms Schuler Shook and CharterSills, and weathered the recession safely cloistered as the head of lighting design at the University of Illinois. David’s work has been featured in Lighting & Sound America, Lighting Australia, Live Design, and Theatrical Design & Technology, but he is usually reading Inspector Gamache novels or other similar educational materials.