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Alfiya Orman, a master’s student in civil engineering, sees lighting as a critical aspect of architectural design. In the College of Engineering’s recently constructed Lighting Lab, Orman had access to cutting-edge tools for manipulating different aspects of light to assess its impact on built environments.

In April 2023, Orman, whose pronouns are they/them, shared their research on spectral lighting simulations at the Graduate Engineering Research Showcase. Leading up to this event, they and eight other master’s and doctoral students spent several weeks working with a professional presentation coach to design, create, and practice to deliver a highly polished and engaging research talk to a broad audience.

“The research showcase was a fantastic opportunity,” said Orman, who earned a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering in 2022 from ����Ӱ�� State after transferring from a community college. “The coaching I received absolutely helped prepare me for my first presentation at an international conference.”

A few months later, Orman repeated their presentation at the International Commission on Illumination’s Innovative Lighting Technologies conference, the world’s largest lighting conference, held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. They walked away with the Best Student Paper award.

“Thanks to the showcase training, my talk was more creative and had a better flow, and I felt more organized and less intimidated speaking to a technical audience,” Orman said. “It was such a wonderful experience.”

After graduating, Orman plans to continue their research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Advanced Lighting Lab.

Watch to learn more about the Graduate Engineering Research Showcase.