In a nutshell, the nominator said, “Jake [Steinbrecher] brings a unique blend of material science, hands-on engineering skills, and creative design expertise to the lighting industry.” For more than 10 years, Steinbrecher has served as the key technical intermediary between Dow and its customers in North America, in addition to collaborating with peers across Europe and Asia, and is regarded as “The Application Expert” in the company. He works directly with customers across the entire lighting supply chain, from fabricators to lighting designers, to understand their materials needs and how to integrate them into product developments that push the boundaries of what lighting can do in transformational designs.
Steinbrecher’s partnerships with customers have generated eight new lighting-focused silicones, resulting in six patents for silicone-based lighting materials and two lighting industry awards; Dow Performance Silicones have also been a two-time finalist in the LEDs Magazine Sapphire Awards (2019 and 2020).
