Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center opens registration for February Academia Days conference

Most of us give little thought to the lighting in our spaces, whether in our offices, a retail environment or our homes. But sensor-controlled digital lighting is creating a host of new applications that will impact how we feel, work and sleep. The Smart Lighting ERC is defining revolutionary lighting platforms that holistically integrate advanced light sources, sensors and adaptive controls to respond to human needs and move lighting beyond the bulb. Lighting of the future will consist of Smart Lighting Systems that See and ThinkTM, and will improve our health, safety, productivity, and energy efficiency. At this annual conference, the ERC will bring together leading researchers, students and industrial representatives, to showcase its research, innovation and educational activities. Topics include autonomous lighting controls, horticultural lighting with feedback control, illumination for health and well-being, and digitized light for high speed wireless communication. Other highlights will include the role of industry in the ERC’s innovation ecosystem and the “Perfect Pitch” showcase, where graduate students present their research in ninety seconds. Attendees will have time to interact with ERC students, faculty and leadership during a poster session and laboratory tours. The event is open to the public on February 11, 2015, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, NY, and on the morning of February 12, 2015 for laboratory tours at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The conference continues with in-depth discussions about the research, open only to Industrial members of the ERC. For further details or to register for the conference, visit the ERC’s website: http://smartlighting.rpi.edu About the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) The Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, with additional support from New York State, engages faculty members, graduate students, research staff, and undergraduates to work on research leading to smart lighting systems with adaptive and controllable properties that will change the way society uses lighting. As an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional center, it joins academia, industry, and government in partnership to produce transformational engineered systems, along with engineering graduates who are adept at innovation and primed for leadership in the global economy. The Smart Lighting ERC is headquartered at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and partners with Boston University and The University of New Mexico to achieve its objectives. Visit the ERC website at: http://smartlighting.rpi.edu/ About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the nation's oldest technological university. The university offers bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology, architecture, management, and the humanities and social sciences. Institute programs serve undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals around the world. Rensselaer faculty are known for pre-eminence in research conducted in a wide range of fields, with particular emphasis in biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and the media arts and technology. The Institute is well known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.