Trailblazers & Icons: Eunice Noell-Waggoner

Eunice Noell-Waggoner spent the first half of her professional career as an interior and lighting designer for public buildings and commercial spaces. Along the way she became concerned about the environmental needs of the end users–the ultimate clients, especially older people. The second half of her career has been focused on addressing these needs through the Center of Design for an Aging Society, a not-for-profit organization she founded, which is dedicated to improving homes, public buildings, and public outdoor spaces to support dignity, independence, health and safety of our aging population.

Her current work through the Center of Design involves raising awareness within the design community through presentations, published papers, and working with national standard setting organizations, including the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), ASHRAE, Facilities Guidelines Institute (FGI), AIA Design for Aging Center’s Steering Committee, and the Low Vision Design Committee of the National Institute of Building Sciences, plus state and local agencies.

As the founding Chair of the Lighting for the Aged and Partially Sighted Committee of the IES, she directed the development of the first edition of RP-28 “Lighting and the Visual Environment for Senior Living”, which is now an ANSI Standard. She continues to serve on this committee.

Ms Noell-Waggoner coordinated the lighting design for two lighting research projects conducted by the Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Oregon Health and Science University, funded by the National Institute on Health. The research involved environmental light therapy for people living with Alzheimer’s disease.

She was the recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Service Award from the Illuminating Engineering Society.