What began as a project to remove an abandoned cooling tower near Kerr Hall has transformed a once-overlooked corner of core campus into a new outdoor gathering space for the UC Davis community.
When Facilities Management Inspector, Planner, and Estimator Dan Goodwin began exploring electric steam generation at Animal Resource Service J1 in 2019, technical, electrical, operational, and financial challenges kept the idea from moving forward. Seven years later, changing facility needs and sustained collaboration have created a new path, one whose potential benefits extend beyond a single building.
The UC Davis Grounds Yard has supported campus operations for more than a century. Now, a series of security and aesthetic improvements is helping the historic work area better serve today’s Grounds and Landscape Services team.
The project didn’t begin with a dramatic emergency or a single defining moment; it started with a gap. Across campus, life-saving tools like AED cabinets and bleeding control kits were being purchased with good intentions, but without a clear path for what came next. Departments would acquire the equipment, only to face unexpected questions: where should it go, and who would install it correctly?
Every day at UC Davis, thousands of pounds of food scraps, expired produce, and organic waste are collected from dining facilities across campus. Most people never think about where that material goes after it leaves their plate. At the READ Facility, however, that waste becomes something entirely different: renewable energy.
UC Davis’ Robert Mondavi Institute (RMI) Teaching & Research Winery produces 30,000 gallons of wine annually. RMI promotes public understanding of wine, brewing, and food sciences through events and research within its winery and brewery facilities, as well as its Food Innovation Lab and sensory labs. As the first LEED-platinum-certified winery in the world, sustainability is a high priority for RMI.
In Spring 2025, a quiet but concerning trend caught the attention of the UC Davis Facilities Management central plant team: the campus chilled water system required frequent “top-offs.” In simple terms, more water than usual was being added to the system to keep it running, indicating that a significant leak was occurring somewhere underground or going unnoticed in a building.
No one knew where.
UC Davis has committed $20 million to campus security improvements — and made progress with updated outdoor lights, cameras, call boxes and building security — some of which were highlighted at the 16th annual Campus Safety Lighting Walk.
Students, staff, and community members headed out across campus on Jan. 21, 2026, for the annual UC Davis Campus Safety Lighting Walk, an evening event focused on identifying areas where lighting could be brighter or better maintained.
The seventh annual Global Energy Managers (GEM) workshop was held on November 13, 2025. This virtual workshop brought together facilities personnel, energy managers, engineers, researchers, students and faculty to discuss the latest developments in energy management. This year’s workshop focused on carbon reduction strategies and energy efficiency projects across the University of California. This year, the audience of over 150 attendees joined from regions spanning from the continental US to India and Japan.
