Bryan Boulanger, Ohio Northern University civil and environmental engineering department chair.

Since childhood, Bryan Boulanger, Ph.D., has been entranced by the night sky. And not just any night sky, but the kind that鈥檚 as unadulterated as can be by artificial light emanating from a factory or city or even a seemingly unobtrusive trail bulb. The kind that dazzles you with its own celestial light show. His parents would load him and his brother into the family minivan and head from their Connecticut home to the American West, where they would camp and explore the great outdoors.

Years later, while working as an engineering professor in Texas, he was reminded of his love for the night sky during a trip with friends to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in the western part of the state. The group snuck into the full campground and, in near-freezing temperatures, unrolled their sleeping bags, zipped up and gazed up. 鈥淚 saw stars I hadn鈥檛 seen in a really long time since I was a kid camping with my parents鈥 during one of their impressionable summer trips, said Boulanger.

The Texas trip did more than amaze, though. It inspired Boulanger, whose research had been focused on environmental contaminants in water and soil, to alter his career path so that he could serve the sky in ways that few others in the world have.

鈥淲hile I was lying there in the park, I realized it鈥檚 such a shame that I can鈥檛 see any of this (sky) back where we live in College Station, Texas or back where I grew up,鈥 says Boulanger. 鈥淭he next thing that came into my mind was the fact that my career profession was to blame for not being able to see it. I thought, 鈥榃ell, I can probably do something about that.鈥欌

Now the chair of Ohio Northern University鈥檚 civil and environmental engineering department, and as the Engineering Centennial Alumni Endowed Chair, Boulanger has accomplished such impactful work that the , which is the leading organization combating light pollution worldwide, bestowed upon him its 2022 Nocturnal Habitat Protection Award. To illustrate how big of a deal this is, the award had previously been given to Australia鈥檚 Department of Agriculture, water, and Environment (an agency equivalent to our EPA) for their pioneering regulatory guidance on light pollution.

鈥淏ryan is passionate about using engineering and education to protect nocturnal habitats and has spent much of the last decade working to do that,鈥 the IDA states on its awards page.

鈥淏ryan has dedicated himself to making a difference, and he is passionate about using engineering and education to protect nocturnal habitat.听 This has led to an amazing impact on millions of acres in North America, and it is wonderful to see his hard work recognized with this award,鈥 says T.J. Smull College of Engineering Dean John-David Yoder, Ph.D.

Mapmaking

Boulanger joined ONU鈥檚 engineering faculty in 2012. After settling in, he found that 91直播provides him with opportunities to pursue purposeful academic endeavors minus the red tape involved at larger research institutions. So, he started turning into a reality his dream plan: 鈥淲ork on cool projects in cool places with cool people.鈥

The night sky, and its increasing need for protection, continued to beckon.

What鈥檚 referred to as 鈥渓ight pollution鈥 is excessive or poor use of artificial light, which can harm plants, animals and humans. Anthropogenic (caused by humans) light 鈥渃an wreak havoc on natural body rhythms in both humans and animals,鈥 explains National Geographic. Sleep interruptions can interfere with melatonin production, leading to headaches, stress, anxiety and other symptoms. Some studies also show a connection between reduced melatonin levels and cancer. The American Medical Association supports light pollution reduction and research examining the risks of exposure to light at night, including blue light emitted from phones and computer screens.

For animals, so-called 鈥渟ky glow鈥 can interfere with migration patterns, wake-sleep habits and habitat formation. Underwater lighting and lighting that鈥檚 near bodies of water can also impact aquatic species.

Light pollution is 鈥渟o pervasive people don鈥檛 even realize it鈥檚 a thing,鈥 Boulanger points out.

There is no shortage of night sky preservation work throughout the world. But where to start?

Boulanger knew the National Park Service (NPS) has a Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division. He ended up connecting with representatives from Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and Teton Science School to talk about potential night sky projects he could tackle with his students.

鈥淎t that time in 2015 there were probably five or six National Park Service units who had become dark-sky parks,鈥 Boulanger says, referring to the IDA鈥檚 designation for land, public or private, 鈥減ossessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment.鈥

What resulted was a collaboration between Yellowstone鈥檚 landscape architect and the IDA to develop a comprehensive inventory of the park鈥檚 artificial lights. Boulanger worked with John Barentine, who was then IDA鈥檚 program manager, to educate himself about how to identify and mitigate artificial night lighting. 鈥淲orking with John, I realized from the IDA鈥檚 perspective that early on a lot of this work had been done by astronomers. Tucson was selected as IDA鈥檚 home because there was an observatory there and as Tucson took off as a city the quality of the night sky was diminished by all the lighting. Folks at the observatory were concerned鈥 They started to really think about how lighting should be if we鈥檙e going to protect the night sky,鈥 he explained.

When Boulanger began meeting with NPS workers, many were cognizant of lighting鈥檚 negative effect on the night sky, but didn鈥檛 know what to do about it. To tackle the lighting problem, they needed to understand what all was located in their neck of the woods in the first place. Pencil and paper were still being used to map out where lights were and their characteristics, such as bulb types and height from the ground. Boulanger and several 91直播engineering students changed all that, making the inventory process far easier and quicker.

As some of the 鈥渃ool people,鈥 students have been integral to Boulanger鈥檚 dream plan. They were able to rapidly inventory Yellowstone鈥檚 lighting using a digital data platform that Boulanger created. A software workaround he discovered enabled data, including photos, to be collected in a customizable form even when people are off the grid, in the wilderness.

Two years before their Yellowstone inventory project launched, it had taken Grand Canyon National Park鈥檚 full-time inventory worker, with pencil and paper, a year and a half to catalogue less than 5,000 light fixtures throughout the park. 鈥淲e were able to do more than 5,000 fixtures in Yellowstone in six weeks,鈥 says Boulanger. 鈥淭hat got a lot of attention, the fact that we can move through, we can take data in the field and have it turned into a report all within six weeks-worth of effort.鈥 Yellowstone, mind you, encompasses nearly 3.5 million acres, making it larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

Along with acquiring valuable hands-on professional experience via a sustainable service project, participating students were able to see one of the world鈥檚 most visually stunning regions; the park is home to more than 500 active geysers, has the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states, and includes about 290 waterfalls.

Remarkable student capstone projects resulted. Further integration with IDA and NPS goals, standards and ongoing education occurred. The inventory work expanded into areas in Canada and has reached beyond the parks to transform and benefit municipalities and corporations.

鈥淲hat began as a single project with Yellowstone National Park to help them better understand their exterior lighting has since evolved into projects with 28 other partners across the U.S. and Canada,鈥 the IDA notes. 鈥淗is contributions have led to 11.7 million acres of designated dark sky places, with another 4.4 million acres pending.鈥

Designing Differently

Having succeeded so spectacularly, Boulanger鈥檚 dream plan was bound to evolve. This makes him simultaneously happy and also slightly sad.

鈥淔ortunately, what started as a cool project to do with the students and the national parks has continued,鈥 Boulanger says. 鈥淯nfortunately, I鈥檓 no longer doing that type of work with students anymore鈥 because, from a more complex engineering standpoint, he鈥檚 now being called upon more for his lighting design and retrofitting expertise.

From an ecological perspective, night sky protection initiatives are now shifting their focus from eliminating artificial light altogether after sundown to using artificial light in ways that better mimic nature. After all, Boulanger points out, the night sky is never entirely dark. Sans cloud cover, a full moon can seem to shine almost as brightly as the sun, the stars emit their own luminosity, and astrological phenomena such as the Aurora Borealis and meteor showers light up parts of the sky at times.

Can outdoor lighting be removed in areas or be replaced with more warm light sources? Can fixtures be designed to direct light downward instead of outward and upward? Can movement and timing features be used to reduce the amount of time a light is on? Can landscapes be redesigned to better accommodate safety concerns and provide more directional guidance? Foremost to keep in mind are form, function and purpose. For instance, it鈥檚 important to understand why a light was installed in the first place.

鈥淣ow, when I鈥檓 in the field, I鈥檓 making design recommendations for every light fixture they would need to replace,鈥 and helping them consider lighting alternatives, says Boulanger. But, as always, the work involves more than recommendations. Luckily, students are still a large part of his night sky efforts.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to do more projects here in the office,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e have the data collection, the characterization and the recommendation about how to improve park lighting down to a science, or at least down to an approach.鈥 The primary questions to now answer are: What does it mean from a science point of view to have a naturally dark sky, and how can humans accommodate the needs of themselves and nature when it comes to artificial lighting?

鈥淚f we鈥檙e designing a pathway for the park service, can we use a light-colored path and dark-colored edge in order to define that and have people safely navigate? Can we use lighting that responds to humans being in the environment rather than having something that鈥檚 just on all the time? How do you manage parks like Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, which is along the 鈥淎urora Route,鈥 but also has numerous fixtures that emit unnecessarily bright light, Boulanger wonders.

Municipalities and even rural areas are facing different problems that Boulanger is beginning to address, too. This semester he is working with two undergraduate student researchers and leveraging students in his elective course offering to lay the framework and develop the data for what will be a first-of-its-kind national night sky scorecard. Using publicly accessible satellite imagery, they鈥檙e examining the amount of light released from every U.S. county, comparing it to the population, and giving each a ranking. It鈥檒l be another way of increasing awareness about light pollution and helping those wanting to reduce it. It鈥檚 a different, more complex inventory endeavor.

One fact that will be evident in Ohio: the biggest cities aren鈥檛 the only contributors of artificial light at night. Large greenhouses, for instance, can be huge light polluters, too.
Each park, each city, each geographical space has different lighting at night, different needs and different priorities.

Boulanger and students intend for their light pollution map to create a baseline of current night sky quality 鈥渟o that we can understand what we have to protect, maybe over time see what we鈥檙e losing, and optimistically look at what we鈥檙e reclaiming.鈥

Boulanger鈥檚 elective courses this semester also has students collecting and studying lighting ordinances throughout Ohio. Along with researching key night sky-related information, learning this aspect of public policy will be essential to students who, as future engineers, will need to know a thing or two about how government, bureaucracy and politics play a part in projects.

Residents of Clark County, Ohio recently leveraged Boulanger as a consultant to pass a lighting ordinance. The impetus to do so came from a Traci Cardinal who lived next to a factory that had installed overly bright lights in its parking lot. Cardinal鈥檚 work inspired her to run, and win an elected seat on Clark County鈥檚 Democratic Central Committee. Boulanger said he is also working with Cardinal to engage the City of Springfield, which wants to upgrade its lighting to be more environmentally responsible.

鈥淚 have more work coming in the months and years ahead,鈥 Boulanger says.

As the years progress, Boulanger鈥檚 night sky interests and experiences are consequently revealing to his students the different professional avenues that they may not have considered. Avenues, for instance, that pertain not just to light, but to water, to other natural resources and to sustainability practices that can have a monumental quality-of-life impact without the 鈥渨ow鈥 factor of, say, building the world鈥檚 tallest skyscraper. Like with his night sky protection quest, opportunities abound to truly make a difference.

That difference can start right at home. Outside of the classroom, Boulanger is emulating his parents鈥 by instilling in his own children a love, understanding and appreciation of nature.
鈥淚 think this work to me has always been about legacy,鈥 says Boulanger. 鈥淲hen I stop doing this, what鈥檚 going to be left behind? My kids are getting older but I still have a 5-year-old and so someday I want her to be able to go someplace and actually see a naturally dark sky. I take them places now in hopes that they鈥檒l remember what it鈥檚 like. I鈥檓 hopeful. This is about legacy for me and wanting to leave something a little better off than when I started.鈥

Interested in ways to reduce your own light pollution? Visit the IDA鈥檚 Light Pollution Solutions page.

The Engineering Centennial Alumni Endowed Chair was established with contributions from 488 91直播engineering alumni to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the T.J. Smull College of Engineering in 1982-83. Dean Lawrence Archer, BSCE 鈥47, played a major role in the success of the campaign, along with Dr. Robert Higgs, who chaired the campaign and was its largest contributor, and Dr. Robert Sandberg, who died as the campaign concluded.