LRC’s Peter Boyce Awarded Prestigious IESNA Medal

The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) recently conferred its highest honor, the IESNA Medal Award, on Peter Boyce, professor of architecture and Human Factors program leader in Rensselaer's Lighting Research Center (LRC)." The award is given each year to recognize those who have made “meritorious technical achievement that has remarkably furthered the profession, art, or knowledge of illuminating engineering.” Boyce will receive the award, considered the highest honor in the lighting profession, in August at the Honors Luncheon at the IESNA Annual Conference in Chicago.

Boyce was chosen for the Medal Award based on his 35 years of work that has set the standard internationally for research on the impact of lighting on human performance and behavior. He has published research on a wide range of topics, from security and emergency lighting to visual performance and shift work. His influential book, Human Factors in Lighting, is one of the most widely referenced books on the subject of lighting and human behavior. Boyce has also left his mark by helping to shape a new generation of lighting professionals through his years of classroom teaching and thesis mentoring.

“I have been fortunate to have known and collaborated with Peter over the last 20 years and can say without qualification that Peter is one of the few living icons in our industry,” said Mark Rea, director of the LRC.

Prior to joining the LRC in 1990, Boyce worked as a research officer for the Electricity Council Research Centre in England. As a professor and leader of the Human Factors Program at the LRC, Boyce directs research projects, writes reviews, teaches, and advises students. He has written more than 150 articles and recently completed the second edition of Human Factors in Lighting. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Reading University, England.