UA Freshman Engineering Students Present Collaborative ‘Light as Material’ Projects

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Freshman engineering students have been hard at work designing working lights to enhance a few areas on The University of Alabama campus.

They will present their projects Tuesday, Nov. 10, and Thursday, Nov. 12, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in 240 H.M. Comer Hall.

The 40 students in this section of freshman engineering partnered with 20 art and 20 interior design students and then divided into 18 groups. The groups determined the areas, either indoor or outdoor, which they considered having potential for enhanced lighting. They then designed working lights for those areas. 

The project, entitled “Light as Material,” featured more aspects of lighting than simply further illuminating an area. The art and interior design students also made the project about design and light as art.

Some of the areas identified for the projects include:

• The bridge from the Ferguson Center to the parking deck
• The courtyard planter in the Science and Engineering Complex
• The bus stop behind the School of Medicine
• The Riverside Residential Complex bridge over Hackberry Lane

The presentations will allow students to practice presenting a proposal as they would to a client. They will show their working models and explain the design, costs and energy used. In addition to UA faculty, Fred Oberkircher, the former director of Texas Christian University’s Center for Lighting Education, will attend the presentations.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 2,700 students and more than 100 faculty. In the last eight years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.