IMAGE CAPTION: Rebeka Pech Moguel works in the photometric lab with Mark Jongewaard, an adjunct instructor. Photo credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder.
Shortly after taking on the role of lighting design manager at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Rebeka Pech Moguel realized she needed formal lighting training. To fulfill her goal, the Kansas City resident enrolled in CU Boulder’s Professional Graduate Architectural Lighting Certificate program.
“I wanted that technical knowledge,” said Pech Moguel, who has a BFA in photography and art history.
The certificate program is part of University of Colorado Boulder’s Lighting Education for Industry Professionals. Offered by the architectural engineering lighting program and designed for working professionals, the non-degree program empowers college graduates by equipping them with essential skills to enhance their contributions to their companies and advance their careers.
Program participants earn academic credit and a professional graduate Certificate in Architectural Lighting primarily through remote learning. The three-course structure includes two online courses with twice-weekly evening sessions throughout the academic year and culminates in a hybrid capstone course, featuring an intensive in-person week on the CU Boulder campus during the summer. The week offers hands-on practical training, covering aspects such as measuring light with laboratory equipment and utilizing software tools for light prediction in design.
Perri Neuner, right, an architectural specification sales manager for Acuity Brands, works with a classmate in CU Boulder’s lighting lab to evaluate the color rendering properties of lighting. Photo credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder.
Perri Neuner, an architectural specification sales manager for Acuity Brands, also completed the 2022-23 certificate program. Neuner previously completed a business marketing degree and entered the lighting field without a lighting background.
Neuner said she liked the program’s hybrid nature and that during the in-person workshop she witnessed firsthand how colors appear under different correlated color temperatures.
“While screen presentations are informative, it’s very different how the colors translate in person to the naked eye,” she said.
Participating in the program enhances her work in architectural lighting for various spaces including schools, hospitals, atriums and offices, she explained.
“The program equipped me to address inquiries from architects, engineers and lighting designers during product presentations, particularly aspects like color rendering, color temperature, LED configurations and lighting software,” she said.
For professionals unable to commit to a yearlong program and employers who seek near-term professional development for their staff, CU Boulder also offers an in-person, intensive, three-and-a-half day, Rocky Mountain Lighting Academy Short Course. This popular program, initiated in 2013, typically reaches maximum enrollment several months before the event.