The IESNYC Congratulates the 
2025 IESNYC Thesis Award Recipients 
Hyesoo Chun, Veronica Gonzalez and Kai-Di Peng 

July 2025

The 2025 IESNYC Thesis Awards celebrate outstanding academic work in lighting design and research, highlighting the creativity and dedication that drive innovation in the field. This year, the IESNYC is honored to recognize Kai-Di Peng, Hyesoo Chun, and Veronica Gonzalez for their exceptional work and creative vision. Each recipient receives a $2,500 award, along with the recognition and encouragement of the broader IESNYC community.

2025 Thesis Award Recipients

Hyesoo Chun
MFA Lighting Design at Parsons School of Design
(The New School)

Chun received the award for her thesis, “More isn’t always enough: challenging the perception of safety on NYC subway platforms.”

Originally an interior designer, Hyesoo found herself captivated by the gap between how spaces looked and how they felt under light—particularly after working in offices where harsh, cool lighting undercut otherwise beautiful interiors. Her thesis questions the MTA’s assumption that brighter stations automatically feel safer, arguing instead for lighting quality. Through site analysis and perception-based surveys, she explored how balanced distribution, reduced glare, and thoughtful contrast can more effectively improve the perception of safety in public transit spaces, advocating for a qualitative, luminance-informed approach to lighting design.

“Receiving the IESNYC Thesis Award has been incredibly encouraging,” she said. “It came just as I was stepping out of school, reminding me I’m not doing this work in isolation. It deepened my passion for architectural lighting design and made me feel more connected to this amazing community. The IESNYC creates something hard to find elsewhere—a space for growth and exchange that nurtures a real sense of belonging and serves as a bridge between students, emerging professionals, and the larger lighting industry.”

Veronica Gonzalez
Masters of Professional Studies in Lighting Design at the New York School of Interior Design 

Gonzalez was recognized for her thesis, “Playful Layers: Children's Home.”

Like many in the lighting world, Veronica encountered the field by chance early in her career and quickly fell in love with all it had to offer, recognizing it was the path she wanted to pursue. Her thesis reimagines a home tailored for children aged 8 to 12, whose average height and perspective call for a fresh approach. By layering light at varying heights and incorporating vibrant colors and luminaires of different scales and finishes, Veronica’s design creates a multi-sensory environment that blends functionality with playful exploration. Her work encourages children to interact with the space, fostering warmth, comfort, and imagination.

“In the professional world, it’s rare to have the freedom to create without constraints, but thesis work gives you that space to dream,” she said. “Recognition from the IESNYC helps validate the work and passion we put in. Lighting designers often don’t receive the same visibility as architects, so this means a lot — it’s a chance to share our ideas with others.”

Kai-Di Peng
Master of Science in Architectural Sciences (Lighting) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Peng was recognized for her thesis, “Development of a 3D-Printed Optic for an LED Accent Light Used in Museum Applications.”

With a background in architecture and firsthand experience seeing how profoundly light shapes space and health, Kai-Di sought to explore lighting more deeply through the Lighting Research Center’s master’s program. Her thesis rethinks the optical design of the traditional framing projector, which typically uses four mechanical “fins” to crop light to the shape of a painting—inevitably wasting any light blocked from exiting the fixture. Instead, Kai-Di developed a custom optical element that redirects light precisely onto the target area. Using LightTools to raytrace and design a lens tailored to a specific COB LED module, she created and hand-finished a 3D-printed prototype, along with a printed lens holder to mount it for testing. Through iterative adjustments to the lens geometry and careful measurements of luminous flux transmittance and beam shape, her work demonstrated how additive manufacturing and optical design can reduce waste and optimize museum accent lighting. 

“It's a great honor to receive the IESNYC Thesis Award,” Kai-Di shared. “It’s a recognition of the value of research in general, and of the subject I worked so hard on.” She also highlighted how meaningful the IESNYC community is for emerging professionals: “The IESNYC is a great advocate, providing students and EPs a stage to show their talent and hosting events where we can learn from predecessors and make valuable connections in the professional field.”

ABOUT THE IESNYC THESIS Awards
The IESNYC Thesis Awards is an annual monetary award given to students selected by their professors for demonstrating excellence in lighting design and/or research, and represent the intellectual insight, rigor, and quality standards as set forth by their respective school departments and each student’s thesis committee. Recipients must be a degree candidate in a graduate-level lighting program at the New York School of Interior Design (NYSID), Parsons School of Design at the New School, or Lighting Research Center (LRC), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) School of Architecture. Recipients have the opportunity to present their thesis projects to the New York City lighting community at a special presentation event and eligible for consideration to be sent to the IES Annual Conference and present their work.

*Nominations are submitted by each school’s program director