The IESNYC is proud to announce that Yun-Hsuan Tsai have been selected as one of two recipients of the 2023 IESNYC Merit Scholarship. This year’s selection process was highly competitive, with two exceptional candidates. As a result, the committee made the rare decision to award two recipients, supporting each of them financially with a $12,500 Merit Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to full-time, graduate degree candidates in architectural lighting, enrolled in an accredited college or university in New York State.

The two outstanding recipients share a common passion for architectural lighting and energy and despite coming from different backgrounds, they have been united by their desire to expand their knowledge and skills in the lighting field and contribute to its growth.

Yun-Hsuan Tsai, enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts Lighting Design program at Parsons, was inspired to pursue her studies in architectural lighting and energy due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I realized the importance of the home environment and wanted to enhance people’s quality of life through my design,” says Tsai.

She has demonstrated her leadership skills through her ability to cohere a community to strive for a mutual goal. Tsai plans to gather students from the lighting community and related fields to discuss critical issues and maximize the impact and potential of architectural lighting and energy.

Yun-Hsuan Tsai began her lighting design journey in theater and graduated from the department of Drama and Theater at the National Taiwan University in Taiwan. Joining the MFA lighting design program at the Parsons School of Design in 2022, she is now a New York-based lighting designer with extensive experience in architectural, theatrical, exhibition, and photography lighting design projects. As a creator and designer with an interdisciplinary background in art, literature, and sociology, she is dedicated to integrating humanistic care and aesthetic pursuit into her works.

“As a double major student in lighting design and interior design, Yun-Hsuan embodies one of the principal emphases of the Parsons lighting design program – interdisciplinarity,” says Craig Bernecker, Professor of Lighting Design and Director of the MFA Lighting Design program at Parsons School of Design. “Moreover, her experience as a theatrical lighting designer during the pandemic ultimately led her to address issues of sustainability, equity and social justice in lighting design, other principles close to the Parsons lighting program.  As such, Yun-Hsuan is an ideal representative of the lighting program and will be an ideal contributor to the lighting profession in New York and beyond.”

Congratulations to Yun-Hsuan Tsai! Click HERE to read more.