Closing Gaps Between Spec and Field
Katherine Stekr, STEK Design Co; Jeannine Wang, Acuity Brands
Virtual
Thursday, April 8, 2027
10:15 am – 11:15 am ET
Credits TBD
Intermediate
Designing patient-room lighting that supports healthy outcomes, through biophilic principles and circadian rhythm alignment, takes real effort: assessing the space, performing melanopic calculations, and confirming compliance with professional standards. Designers often struggle with limited tools and inconsistent methods for circadian-supportive lighting. This session explores the process from two angles: a lighting designer explains what’s actually involved in creating emotionally resonant, circadian-compliant systems, while a manufacturer shares how they’re equipping designers with better data and validation methods, including early results from a university-led, non-clinical study. Together, they’ll discuss how these insights can broaden holistic design practices and strengthen light’s restorative potential.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the challenges lighting designers face in designing healing spaces for their clients in meeting all applicable design standards while addressing psychological and physiological needs of occupants.
- Identify the key metrics, calculations, and design effort required to evaluate and validate a circadian-supportive lighting system for patient rooms against current standards, including how designers can make confident, well-supported design decisions given the tools and methods available today.
- Learn how manufacturers approach working with designers to aid their process in creating a lighting experience that combines biophilic and circadian supportive lighting, utility and function, and emotional resonance across a broader range of applications and product systems.
- Review findings from a university-led, non-clinical study evaluating experiential outcomes and understand how manufacturers aim to reduce the workload for designers and simplify programming complexity for end-users.
Speakers
Katherine Stekr
Founder and Principal
STEK Design Co
With nearly two decades of lighting design expertise, Katherine Stekr leads STEK Design Co with a unique blend of technical precision and artistic vision. Her work goes beyond illumination—she transforms spaces by thoughtfully integrating light into the built environment.
Katherine is known for her collaborative approach and ability to navigate complex project challenges with clarity and creativity. She partners closely with clients and design teams, ensuring that each project reflects a shared vision while meeting practical and technical demands.
A strong advocate for holistic design, Katherine is committed to creating environments that are not only visually compelling but also responsible and enduring. Her work reflects a deep respect for the people who experience these spaces, resulting in designs that feel intuitive, balanced, and impactful.
Jeannine Wang
Director of Technology-Innovation + Architectural
Acuity Brands
Jeannine Fisher Wang is a lighting technology leader focused on translating advanced research, design practice, and product innovation into market-ready solutions that improve occupant experience and building performance. As Director of Technology Solutions within the Nexus Group at Acuity Brands Lighting, she leads efforts to accelerate adoption of next-generation lighting platforms across application, design, market transformation, and emerging technology initiatives.
Across more than 35 years in lighting, Jeannine has held leadership roles spanning product design and engineering, marketing, communications, education, and market transformation. Before joining Acuity, she served in senior technical and marketing roles with leading architectural luminaire manufacturers, where her work contributed to LED and OLED solid-state lighting recognized by the IES Progress Committee, the Next Generation Luminaires Design Competition, and LightFair International’s Most Innovative Product of the Year Award.
Earlier in her career, Jeannine served as Senior Program Engineer at Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco, where she taught and managed lighting energy efficiency education programs, evaluated emerging lighting technologies, and supported policy development with the California Energy Commission and California Public Utilities Commission.
Her professional foundation also includes lighting design and electrical engineering practice, award-winning project work including an International Illumination Design Award Special Citation, and eighteen U.S. patents.
Jeannine earned a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering from Penn State University and an MBA from Dominican University of California. She is a California Registered Professional Engineer in electrical engineering, Lighting Certified by the National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Profession, and EDAC Certified, and she serves in advisory roles for the IES Photobiology Committee, the WELL Light Concept Advisory, and the LEED Indoor Environmental Quality TAG. Through this combination of technical expertise, market insight, and standards leadership, she brings an authoritative perspective on lighting’s role in design, wellness, and high-performance buildings.