On May 5th, the 2017 Annual Lighting Design Awards (LDA) ceremony was held in London. More than 1,000 world-class lighting designers, architects and manufacturers from all over the world attended the ceremony. Tianjin University (TJU) alumnus Jiang Shu was selected as one of the top 40 outstanding designers under 40 years-old on the LDA global selection list.

Jiang Shu is a senior designer at the world-famous architecture lighting design and consulting firm Auerbach Glasow, and previously worked at the world-leading lamp manufacturer ERCO in North America as a senior designer. She is also a member of International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES). She also holds the LC (Lighting Certified) of North American and the Green Building Association LEED GA certification of the United States.

The Lighting Design Award has its head office in London. Known as one of the three most authoritative international lighting design awards. Together with IALD Lighting Award from the Association of Lighting Designers and IES Lighting Award from the North American Lighting Engineering Association, the Lighting Design Award represents the highest worldwide design level each year. "40 under 40" is awarded jointly by Lighting Design Awards (LDA) and Lighting magazine, to encourage a new generation of lighting design talent.

Jiang Shu graduated from the School of Environment Science and Engineering of Tianjin University in 2007, and received an Engineering bachelor’s degree in Building Environment and Equipment Engineering. In addition to her outstanding performance while at the university, she also actively participated in various activities like the debating club and the Peiyang Arts Troupe. In December 2003, as a member of the Tianjin University Peiyang Chorus and a piano accompanist, Jiang Shu went to Malaysia with the group to participate in the first 21 Century International Choral Festival and the Peiyang Chorus won two gold and three silver medals in this competition and earned a great reputation for China.

After graduating from TJU, Jiang Shu gave up the opportunity of further postgraduate studies in Engineering and pursued further studies in architectural lighting design in HOCHSCHULE WISMAR in 2007.

Although she received no specific training in fine arts, Jiang Shu bravely made up her mind to transfer her major because of her love and longing for architectural art.

During the two years studying in Germany, she was exposed to advanced European design concepts and multicultural influences, and gradually showed her unique design talent and artistic gifts. In the summer of 2008, Jiang Shu got the opportunity to practice in New York's famous lighting design firm and participated in the design of several important international construction projects. In July 2009, Jiang Shu received a master's degree with a full score for her graduation thesis defense. The master's degree thesis was exhibited at the Light + Building Frankfurt Lighting Fair in 2010. The Frankfurt Lighting Fair in Germany is the world's largest lighting and construction electrical exhibition and one of the industry's most influential international exhibitions.

After graduation, Jiang Shu joined the lighting manufacturer ERCO and served at its North American headquarters. ERCO provides lighting equipment to the Roman Empire Plaza, the French Louvre and many other projects, as well as the National Palace Museum, the Great Hall of the People and the Shanghai Museum in China. During more than six years in ERCO, Jiang Shu started from the basic knowledge and concepts and quickly mastered how to achieve accurate and efficient lighting through optical control, vertical lighting, digital lighting and intelligent control and other technologies. She soon developed as a core talent for the company and was promoted to senior designer, leading the company's design team to provide professional lighting solutions for more than 300 projects, including the New York Public Library, Minnesota Marine Art Museum and so on.

Besides assuming design work in ERCO, Jiang Shu also closely assisted the company executives to develop marketing strategies and successfully complete the annual new product launches, lighting exhibitions, seminars and other activities for marketing and dissemination.

In the autumn of 2016, Jiang Shu joined the world's leading architectural lighting design and consulting firm Auerbach Glasow as a senior designer. In this company, Jiang Shu is mainly involved in the design of projects including the cross-bay transport hub of San Francisco, the Colon Grand Theater, Creative Art Building in San Francisco State University, the auditorium in UC Davis and so on. Among them, the cross-bay transport hub of San Francisco will become a landmark of the San Francisco City. The first phase of this project is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.

"For me, my undergraduate study laid a solid engineering foundation while my post-graduate study and experience allowed me the opportunity to boldly try different design methods and tools and experience the fun of creation." Jiang Shu successfully transitioned from science and engineering to design professional, from manufacturer to design firm, and she hoped that her experience will encourage other young people.

Jiang Shu is full of enthusiasm about lighting design and constantly absorbs inspiration from nature, architecture and music. In her view, lighting design is a perfect blend of art and science that requires combination of creativity and technology to provide customers with the most optimized solution, turning architectural vision into a beautiful, and functional lighting systems. Her designs reflect people-oriented thinking, using the link between light and materials to stimulate the senses of different users, and constantly exploring the charm of light and shadow.