March 2014

Dan Rogers, LC, LEED AP
Lighting Technical Specialist at ICF International

Q: How did you first get started in the lighting industry?

I caught the “lighting bug” when I was a student in Penn State’s Architectural Engineering Program and a summer design intern with Hayden McKay. My first job after graduating college with a Bachelors of Architectural Engineering in 1995 was at Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design (CBBLD), where I had the great fortune to be on the design teams of two projects - Estuarine Habitats and Coastal Fisheries Center (1999) and Raleigh/Durham Airport Parking Structure (2001) that won Lumen Citations - and another project - Tourneau "Time Machine Store" (1999) - that received the Lumen Feltman Award. From there I worked at International Lights, then Edison Price Lighting, joining ICF International in 2007. As Lighting Technical Specialist, my primary role is to educate New York City-area lighting specifiers, suppliers, installers, and reps about NYSERDA’s Commercial Lighting Business Partners Program and assisting them as they implement effective, energy-efficient lighting projects and as they seek incentives to offset project first costs. As of this semester, I have added adjunct professor to my resume as I am teaching a course in Architectural Lighting Design at the Robert Busch School of Design at Kean University in Union, NJ.

Q: How did you first get involved in the IESNYC?

After I passed the NCQLP Lighting Certification (LC) exam in 2007, I reached out to Meg Smith (another member of the BOM) who was then the chair of the Section’s Programs and Education Committee and suggested she reinstate the IESNYC LC study group. She invited me to their next committee meeting and asked me to become her Education Committee co-chair; I accepted! Since then, I have either led or co-led the LC Study Group, growing it from a local face-to-face meeting to a nationwide web-based program to assist lighting professionals prep for the LC Exam. In addition, I co-chaired (again with Meg) the Control This! Event Committee and also served on a Lumen Awards jury.  I joined the BOM in 2011 and have served on it ever since. At the national level, I am a member of the IES Board’s Education Advisory Committee, the Education Review Council, as well as the IES Mentoring Program.  I am the author of the IES Technical Memorandum (TM-1-12), The Five Lighting Metrics, as well as Seminar (SEM-5-11) –Lighting Calculation Terms and Methods.

Q: In your opinion, what are the best assets of the IESNYC?

Our amazing, dedicated volunteers, without whom the IES NYC Section could not possibly serve our community in all the ways it does. Long time volunteers are the foundation of our section. There’s a short list of people who have given years of service to the section, and I am proud to sit with them on the BOM.  Shaun Fillion and Mike Barr are newer to the section, but they have quickly become keystones of several initiatives within the Section. And, finally, there is an incredible group of young, emerging professionals, including Jeff Hoenig, David Scheffer, Lisha Brown, and Erin Gussert who with their passion for lighting, are following in our footsteps. They have identified a way they can serve the community, and have stepped up and taken action.

Q: How do you see your role as a member of the BOM?

Lighting education is my passion. I champion the role of the Education Committee and make sure our programs are in alignment with the Board’s mission. It’s important to me that all of you who are reading this now know that I welcome your ideas about the seminar topics you think would serve you best and I will share them with the committee.