Abby Jean Scanlon
Lighting/Electrical
Getting to Know AJ
Abby Jean (AJ) Scanlon is finishing her last year at Pennsylvania State University studying Architectural Engineering with a specialty in Lighting/Electrical Design. She will graduate with an Integrated Bachelor/Master’s degree. AJ hales from Ogunquit, a tourist town on the coast of Maine. She is an avid reader of fiction novels; a dabbler in poetry writing, and a swing dancer.
AJ quickly found the creativity and excitement involved in lighting design and started her career with an internship after her first year with the Brinjac Lighting Studio in Harrisburg, PA. Since then, she has completed three internships in lighting design and a study abroad semester in China, and attended conferences such as IES National Conference 2014, Lightfair 2014, and IALD Enlighten Americas 2015.
AJ aspires to bridge the gap between lighting designers and lighting control designers. Internships and networking opportunities impressed upon AJ the importance of controls in lighting design especially with today’s energy codes. AJ finds it frustrating that today’s designers do not take initiative to educate themselves on how to design control systems themselves, as most designers leave the design to the control manufacturers. For her final internship, AJ chose to intern at Lutron Electronics to gain an understanding of lighting controls and current building codes. AJ intends to work as a lighting designer at a firm that will value her pursuit of knowledge and interest in integrating lighting design and controls. She hopes to inspire her peers to appreciate the depth that controls design can add to a lighting designer’s work.