This issue’s member spotlight is on Justin Kobayashi – 3rd Year Emerging Professional
When did you first hear about the IES and what prompted you to join? I first heard about the IES when I initially started working as an Electrical Engineer at AECOM. From the very beginning, I wanted to learn more about lighting and my engineering mentors told me that the IES would be a great place to do that.
What is the best thing about the Society? Why do you continue to renew? To me, the best thing about the IES and why I will continue to renew into the future, is the educational opportunities. I have learned so much from the IES hosted webinars on different lighting topics and talking with other members. It’s a wonderful community and I’ve made great connections through it.
At what point in your career did you come to understand lighting as a career path for you? I think it was during my first ever project that I realized that lighting could be a career path for me. I was responsible for the lighting calculations and renderings on the project, and I quickly discovered how amazing lighting design is and that lighting design was an actual profession. From that point on, it’s been a goal of mine to do lighting design full time and now I have the amazing opportunity to do that while leading Clark Nexsen’s Lighting Studio.
When not serving the advancement of the art and science of lighting, how do you like to spend your free time? Hopefully this pandemic will be over soon, because I love to travel and do landscape photography. When I am at home, I enjoy playing my guitar or piano and if it’s a nice day outside, I like going biking or playing flag football with friends.