IES Light For Life® Virtual Symposium 2025: Outdoor Spaces

Rick Utting is an independent consultant serving as a policy advisor for DarkSky International and Clanton & Associates Lighting Design and Engineering.  Rick is currently Vice Chair of the IES’s Outdoor Nighttime Environment Committee.  Focused on pedestrian vision and the environmental sustainability of outdoor lighting, Rick consults with advocate groups, communities, legislators, and other organizations regarding outdoor lighting best practices.

Hannah Moon holds a PhD in Zoology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her research focuses on the physiology and molecular aspects of vision in birds. She has more than a decade of international field experience in avian conservation, seven years of studies related to impacts of human infrastructure on Hawaiian seabirds and has served for three years as an advisory member of the Outdoor Nighttime Environments Committee of the IES. Hannah currently works as an independent consultant in New Orleans and is open to new opportunities.

Active in the lighting community for 20 years, James brings a unique blend of technical knowledge, real-world experience, and a passion for DarkSky preservation.  James champions the development of existing and new DarkSky Approved Lighting programs.  He is also the current chair of the IES RP-39 task group.
James began his career in lighting working with the Planning, Design & Construction Dept. at Cornell University.  In his time at Cornell James gained experience measuring and photographing built projects, collaborating with professionals on master planning, and creating site lighting standards for the campus.  Dedicating himself to lighting, James continued his career at Selux Corporation in Highland NY.  Here, James wrote multiple continuing education articles, developed award-winning DarkSky luminaires, and gained a strong appreciation for environmentally friendly lighting.
Being able to utilize his expertise in lighting to support environmental stewardship is extremely exciting to James.  Outside of work, he loves adventuring with his family and pursuing his interests in nightscape/landscape photography, rock/ice climbing, mountain running, and ski/mountaineering.  

Rod Wardle has more than 41 years in the sign industry. He is the Vice President of Manufacturing for Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO). Rod is an advocate for the responsible use of lighting for advertising and signage-based wayfinding.

Ari Isaak, GISP, CFLC, has more than 25 years of GIS experience and 17 years in the street and roadway lighting space. During this time, Ari has been involved in the audit, management, and conversion of approximately five million street lights across the U.S., including major projects in Chicago, Honolulu, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, and many others. He is the creator of EvariLUX, a tool that generates horizontal illumination maps across a city or project area. Ari is currently building Photometrics AI, which applies photometry to determine the optimum performance of lighting on networked lighting controls.

Shirley Coyle is President of Cree Lighting Canada and has worked in leadership roles for several lighting manufacturers over the past 35 years.  Lighting Certified since 2000, Shirley is a Past President of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and is active on several IES technical committees, including the Outdoor Nighttime Environments Committee and the Roadway Lighting Committee.  Shirley is also a Board member of CIE’s Canadian National Committee.

Richard Wainscoat has a PhD in Astronomy from the Australian National University. After working for a few years at NASA Ames Research Center in California, he moved to Hawaii in order to be able to use the large telescopes on Maunakea and Haleakala. He now leads efforts to find asteroids that may come close to, or impact Earth using the Pan-STARRS telescopes on Haleakala. He has been actively working to preserve the dark night skies over Hawaii's observatories for the last 20 years.

Charles joined architectural lighting designers, Jules Fisher & Paul Marantz, Inc., in 1983, and helped found FMS in 1997. From studios in New York, Seattle, and Austin, FMS has received 300 awards and completed 5000 successful projects on six continents, including Carnegie Hall, the Washington Monument, the Tribute in Light, the Hong Kong International Airport, the Portland Airport, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, the Peninsula Hotel in Paris, 41 buildings on the Shanghai Bund, the world’s tallest building - the Burj Kalifa, and the 2nd tallest - Merdeka Tower in Kuala Lumpur.  Mr. Stone is a graduate of Princeton University, a Certified Lighting Designer, LEED and NCQLP accredited, a Fellow and Past President of the International Association of Lighting Designers. He has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Edison Report and the ILAS (Mumbai). In 2025, Charles was named a Lighting ICON by the New York Designers Lighting Forum. 

Charles’s Traveling Light lecture tour, which explores light and culture, has visited 25 countries.  Mr. Stone is active in education and research as a member of the Advisory Board for the Architectural Lighting program at Oregon State University, the IESNA Lighting for Outdoor Nighttime Environment Committee, and the Lighting Detectives (Tokyo).

FIALD CLD IES LC LEED AP BD+C

Brad is responsible for various lighting and vision research projects at Musco Lighting in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He began his lighting career as a Lighting Designer for Musco in 1998 and became Lighting Certified (LC) in 2001. During his time at Musco, he has completed lighting designs for thousands of athletic fields, ranging from recreational to professional venues.
In 2012, Brad became a Senior Research Engineer engaged with vision research on the Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells (IPRGC)/melanopsin receptors and their role on perceived brightness. He has conducted numerous speaking engagements for the lighting industry and is currently the Chair of the Discomfort Glare in Outdoor Nighttime Environments (DGONE) Committee. He is also a member of several other IES Committees, including the Outdoor Nighttime Environments (ONE) Committee.
As senior research engineer with Musco Lighting, Brad has worked closely with DarkSky International for many years helping to establish benchmarks and best practices for exterior lighting that align with DarkSky’s purpose and goals. Brad has helped Musco’s decades-long mission of controlling and applying light in ways that significantly reduce glare, spill, and sky glow through educational sessions. He is a firm believer that the best outdoor lighting systems are designed in a way that’s equally focused on preserving darkness as on illuminating the intended area. Lighting at night, when necessary, can co-exist with protecting the enjoyment of observing the dark nighttime skies.