This quarter, we are delighted to feature Yugandhar Retharekar, a fourth-year Computer Science major who has been working at Facilities Management (FM) as a Web Development intern since March of last year.

We are excited to feature Teri Greenfield as one of our phenomenal customers here at Facilities Management! Teri has been working with UC Davis for 18 years, and has worked as a Capital Project Analyst at Design and Construction Management (DCM) for 10 years. She previously worked as a data analyst in academic departments at UC Davis and institutional departments at UC San Diego.

Esmeralda Vanover, also known by her nickname, Es, has been working with Facilities Management (FM) for a little over eight and a half years, previously as a Principal Supervisor and now as Interim Operations Manager for Facilities Custodial Services.

This quarter we’re highlighting the masonry team! Our four-man masonry team at Facilities Management is always working hard to make our campus a better, safer place. Led by the skilled lead mason Wayne Morris, this team focuses on exterior flatwork concrete projects, safety-related concrete panel replacements, and the repair of road and path potholes. Their work is integral to ensuring a safe and accessible environment for the campus community.

The Central Heating and Cooling Plant, or CHCP for short, is absolutely critical to keep campus operations running smoothly every day. The CHCP produces all chilled water, hot water, and steam needed for heating and cooling most of the large buildings in core campus. The team that works tirelessly to keep the CHCP online is integral to the lives of the entire campus community. The team has over 100 years of experience between them, and is composed of 6 maintenance technicians and 10 operators, as well as Randy Housewright, Maintenance Supervisor and Joe Yonkoski, Superintendent.

The Facilities Management Landscape Architecture and Site Planning (FM-LASP) team recently completed the Physical Sciences District Framework Plan, a major design plan that aims to resolve long-standing safety concerns, enhance the campus environment, and create dynamic public spaces. We sat down with Mayton Xu, a licensed Landscape Architect (LA) on the FM-LASP team, and lead LA for this project, to learn more about this exciting redesign plan!

Building Management Services (BMS) is always working on new projects around campus. We sat down with Refik Smlatic, Inspector, Planner, Estimator for Facilities Management (FM) BMS, to delve into the background and details of an impressive project that has led to a complete overhaul of Hoagland Hall’s lighting system and aims to increase campus efficiency as a whole.

Our campus has long been known for its delightful greenery and natural beauty, but it’s easy to overlook the amount of care and planning that goes into making the UC Davis campus the lush space that it is. Beyond their beauty, campus gardens contribute to sustainability efforts, foster community engagement, and serve as living laboratories for educational exploration. The Gorman Museum of Native American Art, which opened its doors on campus just last year, recently got a garden makeover from Ryan Deering, GATEways Horticulturist, and his Sustainable Horticulture team.

Nearly a decade ago, campus leaders at UC Davis decided to invest in a small team of employees to reduce energy by optimizing building controls and systems. The concept was that UC Davis could fund such a team, if it could curb high utility bills — essentially having the team pay for itself with energy savings.