COmEt COmmEndations are an opportunity to recognize fellow College of Engineering employees who take actions that strengthen our community. Staff, faculty and other academic employees are encouraged to participate and recognize their colleagues.
Each month, three recipients and one submitter from the previous month will be randomly selected to receive a $25 gift card.
Randomly selected recipients will be highlighted in Engineering Weekly on the first Tuesday of the month. All other recipients of commendations will be recognized on the college's intranet on an ongoing basis.
Note: This program is for staff, faculty and other academic employees. See below for resources and ideas to recognize student staff, graduate and professional students and postdocs.
- Student Employee Appreciation
- Graduate/Professional Student Appreciation Week
- Postdoc Appreciation Week
COmmEndations Given
May 2024
Recipient | Recipient's Department | Reason for Commendation | Submitter | Submitter's Department |
Kari Gage | CS | Kari is not only the best supervisor i've ever known, but perhaps one of the best PEOPLE I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I started working in this department during what was probably the most difficult period of my life, and I've felt so supported every step of the way. Kari has done a phenomenal job building the CS undergraduate advising team, and an even better job managing and supporting said team. There's a long road ahead of us, but the CS/CSE program is in good hands under Kari's leadership, and I have a great deal of hope for the future; something I haven't had in a long time. Given the heavy workload of working in CS/CSE, and all that she's been through long before I was here, it's clear to me (and should be to everyone) that Kari doesn't receive nearly enough praise and recognition for the work she's done and continues to do every day for this department and for others. Kari is the ideal supervisor, and everyone else ought to learn from her example. The world would be a better place if everyone was like Kari Gage, and I aspire to be like her when I grow up. | Joseph Clifford | CS |
Ryan Anderson | CNM2 | It is with great enthusiasm that I recommend Ryan Anderson for a Comet Commendation. Amid significant budgetary constraints following the Phase I central cuts, where CNM2 faced a substantial reduction in operating budget, Ryan exhibited outstanding creativity and leadership. He proactively adapted to these financial challenges, implementing more efficient practices that allowed CNM2 to continue thriving under restricted circumstances. Moreover, under the guidance of Associate Dean of Research Raissa D'Souza, Ryan played a pivotal role in negotiating a crucial deal with OR. This agreement provided CNM2 with a short-term, no-interest loan, enabling the purchase of a new system essential for ongoing operations. Ryan's innovative approach and resilient attitude have not only sustained CNM2 during a challenging period but also set a remarkable example of effective leadership and adaptability. Ryan's achievements and the inspiring story of CNM2's perseverance are deserving of recognition. Celebrating Ryan's contributions through the Comet Commendation would highlight the impact of a can-do attitude in overcoming adversity. | Melanie Clague | Dean's Office |
Jessica Miller Hazard | CEE | Jessica witnessed one of our graduate students collapse on the third floor of Ghausi, and made certain that the student received the help that she needed. She accompanied the student to the bathroom, provided her with something to eat, and then moved her to her major professor's office. She stayed with the student until the fire department and ambulance arrived. Taking the time to support one another is at the heart of our Principles of Community, and I would like for Jessica's actions to serve as an example for all of us in the College. | Jeremy Mason | MSE |
Geoff Murry | MAE | Geoff is the mastermind behind our Industry v. Education event for our students to learn and plan for their goals after graduation. We have faculty, staff engineers, ICC liaison, and other industry partners provide their expertise and advice for our students. This has been an event many of our MAE students look forward to each year. Thank you, Geoff, for making this happen! | Brenda Luis | MAE |
Elsa Rojas Perez | Dean's Office | Again, Elsa went above and beyond to help ensure the success of the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine's 3rd Annual Symposium on May 14th. Her contributions to logistics were numerous, and greatly appreciated. Elsa is very proactive, a keen observer, and she takes action to solve issues whenever necessary, from registrations to catering, to pictures, and more. It's been a joy having Elsa's help at this event, and I really appreciate having her as a colleague. | Gabriela Lee | Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine |
Maria Arellano | CHE & MSE | Maria went above and beyond as acting Graduate Program Coordinator while I was out on leave for 2 weeks. I came back to a program running smooth and with no issues. Team members like this make working for Davis a wonderful experience! | Ryan Gorsiski | CHE & MSE |
April 2024
Recipient | Recipient's Department | Reason for Commendation | Submitter | Submitter's Department |
Catherine Cook | Dean's Office Communications | I have always loved Comet Commendations. I took an opportunity to reach out to some Campus partners about doing something similar for all of campus, and pulled Catherine into the conversation. Catherine was super responsive, made herself available to meet with the campus partners, and shared our College process and the benefits of this program for our campus partners to consider. I really appreciate Catherine's kind response to being pulled into this conversation and all that she does to keep the Comet Commendations running! Thank you Catherine! | Lauren Worrell | CEE |
Rachel Thornton | Dean's Office Development | In addition to being an overall great partner, Rachel helped me with a difficult printing situation. She was extremely responsive to my question, came over to my office to help me figure out what I was doing wrong, and gave me valuable insight into how the process works in the future. Thank you, Rachel! | Catherine Cook | Dean's Office Communications |
Sara Sweeney | CHE | Sara graciously offered her time to facilitate an Oasis note writing workshop for our office. She was kind enough to join us during our staff meeting and spend time leading exercises in note-taking best practices. Her kind and charismatic attitude made an otherwise plain workshop into an engaging discussion-filled time. | Leo Alamillo | EUO |
March 2024
Recipient | Recipient's Department | Reason for Commendation | Submitter | Submitter's Department |
Jessica Rodriguez | MAE | Jessica exhibited incredible flexibility this week as she was able to readjust to a demanding set of requirements from one of our funding agencies. In particular, Jessica was able to improve our center's online presence through finalizing a system for sharing videos of our latest projects to the public and to our stakeholders. The stakeholders asked us to develop a system and have it live within 48 hours, Jessica was able to meet this insanely tight deadline with all of her other responsibilities. Jessica has the uncanny ability to take on urgent items and complete them with the highest of quality, THANK YOU Jessica! | Dave Torick | MAE |
Nathan Benedicto | COE IT | Nathan generally goes above and beyond to be a supportive supervisor, take on responsibilities and making sure to be available to the team for anything they need. With staffing loses on our team, he's taken on more and more and it's greatly appreciated. | Reuben Castelino | COE IT |
Jose Mojica | EDSC | I want to express my gratitude for the outstanding support provided by Jose and the ESDC team during a recent campus-wide cybersecurity planning meeting. Despite last-minute changes and increasing demands, the team went above and beyond to ensure that our needs were met, providing additional tables, chairs, and rooms to accommodate our growing group. Their solutions-oriented approach and willingness to work late to implement the necessary changes were instrumental in making the event a success. Thank you again for all your help and support. Your hard work is greatly appreciated. | Steve Pigg | COE IT |
Cece Coyle | MAE | CeCe consistently demonstrates her commitment by efficiently and accurately supporting new grant proposals, even when they entail substantial document work within tight timelines. Notably, she responds to emails promptly and assists faculty in meeting sponsor deadlines effectively. Moreover, she goes above and beyond by providing detailed guidance and brief training sessions on the new account system to faculty upon request. Her unwavering support and assistance significantly benefit the department. | Seongkyu Lee | MAE |
February 2024
Recipient | Recipient's Department | Reason for Commendation | Submitter | Submitter's Department |
Andrea Abrahamson | CS | Andrea has gone above and beyond since she started with our department, but I am especially gratefully for all her hard work in the fall quarter when she was the only full time advisor for our department and managed our entire advising caseload while training two new peer advisors and coordinating/leading several meetings for advisors in the college. Andrea is such a valuable member of our team, and I do not know what we would do without her. Thank you, Andrea! | Kari Gage | CS |
Steve Pigg | COE IT | Steve has been supporting the Graduate Program Coordinators in trying to find/implement new ways to streamline our processes. In Fall, he helped create templates to use DocuSign with graduate student employment, which CEE now uses. The DocuSign platform has made the process of creating, sending, and tracking appointment notice letters much easier. Steve (with Nathan Benedicto) is now helping explore if SmartSheet could also be helpful in our hiring process. I'm excited to see how this new program can support our practices further, and really appreciate Steve helping connect us to, and get us started with, new tools for process improvement. Steve has been instrumental in identifying these new tools, securing any necessary licenses, supporting building out the tool for specific COE use, and helping those of us who need a little extra support in learning new technologies (like myself). Thank you for your continued partnership Steve! | Lauren Worrell | CEE |
Adrianna Owens | Dean's Office Communications | Adrianna recently assisted with developing HR Toolkit pages on the Intranet. From early discussions to publishing, she was very helpful with answering any questions we had, providing visual layout options and turning a brainstorming Word document into reality. Thank you, Adrianna, for all of your help! | Nora Abdo | COE HR |
Nickolas Logan | COE IT | I would like to send a shout out to recognize Nick for all the help he and his team have provided over the past few months. Nick is punctual, professional, and does whatever it takes to get the job done, and one well. I'm glad he is on the COE team! | Gabriela Lee | Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine |
January 2024
Recipient | Recipient's Department | Reason for Commendation | Submitter | Submitter's Department |
Nickolas Logan | COE IT | Nickolas stepped in to assist with getting me up and running on a loaner laptop. I have worked with Nickolas on separate occasions regarding computer issues and would like to comment on his abilities to work at finding a solution. Nickolas persists in identifying a solution and I am grateful for the calm approach he brings to the task at hand. Thank you, Nickolas, for your assistance and "can-do" attitude. | Penny Schafer | COE HR |
Ammy Martinez | Dean's Office | Ammy spent the fall through January 2024 filling in to help support the college FEC, including polling, organizing meetings, note taking and more. This was above and beyond her already very busy schedule. | Richard Corsi | Dean's Office |
Jessica Rodriguez | MAE | Jessica has been going above and beyond to help the research admins with the transition to Aggie Enterprise. She has been hosting weekly office hours to help us with any questions and has been walking us through various processes in the new system. Thank you so much, Jessica! | Rachael Rubinato | CEE |
Elsa Rojas Perez | Dean's Office | I am writing to express my deepest appreciation for the outstanding efforts and dedication demonstrated by Elsa in helping to prepare our unit for the recent financial system change. Elsa went above and beyond the call of duty by helping to organize a retreat and preparing a quick-reference guide for financial users to reference at conversion. I'd like to thank Elsa for her exceptional service and for embodying the values of dedication, teamwork, and excellence that define our college! | Melanie Clague | Dean's Office |
Jessica Rodriguez | MAE | I want to give a great big thank you to all the COE analysts involved in Aggie Enterprise and especially to Jessica Rodriguez! Everyone is working hard to learn the new system and deal with the learning curve. Jessica is really stepping up by helping everyone navigate and work in the new system, as well as leading discussions about some of the challenges. Your efforts are greatly appreciated! | Craig Patterson | BME |
Jessica Rodriguez | MAE | I'd like to extend my gratitude to Jessica Rodriguez for her efforts during the AggieEnterprise transition. Jessica's willingness to share knowledge, provide guidance, and offer support demonstrates a true team spirit that has greatly contributed to fostering a positive and collaborative work environment, particularly during this transition period. Jessica's commitment to excellence extends beyond her regular responsibilities, as she's willingly invested extra time and effort to guarantee the success of our financial community's understanding of AggieEnterprise. Her proactive communication and consistent updates kept the team informed and reassured, which is helping to instill confidence throughout the College of Engineering's financial community. Jessica is a true asset to our team, and her dedication to ensuring the success of this critical initiative has not gone unnoticed. | Melanie Clague | Dean's Office |
November 2023
Recipient | Recipient's Department | Reason for Commendation | Submitter | Submitter's Department |
Erin Friscia, R. Paul Villaluz, Molly Bechtel, Rachel Thornton, Catherine Cook, Jessica Heath, Matt Marcure, Adrianna Owens, all who supported Alumni Celebration | Dean's Office, Communications + Development | Thanks so much to Erin, R. Paul, Molly, Catherine, Rachel, Jessica, Matt, Adrianna and everyone on the MarComm and Development teams for your work on Alumni Celebration. The event was a big success! We engaged 130 guests, including our seven Distinguished Engineering Alumni Medalists. We have received so much positive feedback. The evening was beautiful and fun. Thanks so much to each of you for your hard work to make this a special event! | Alison Metzger-Jones | Dean's Office, Development |
Felicia Smith | MAE | Felicia is our exceptional, incredibly competent and dedicated MSO. She has been working at the highest levels all the time. When I became Vice-Chair for Undergraduate Affairs, I became a lot more aware of how much, much, much work, sweat and blood she gives and gifts to the Department. If I need to pick examples, the care of always choosing the right TA for a given class (she remembers a lot of the names), and her extra work to smooth the transition to (the pending doom of) Aggie Enterprise. Thank you, Felicia!! | Valeria La Saponara | MAE |
William Doering, David Griffiths, Jose Fausto Portillo, Ryan Anderson, Kashyap Ganesan | Materials Science and Engineering, COE Facilities, CNM2 | I received delivery of a new x-ray diffractometer for installation in the Advanced Materials Characterization and Testing (AMCaT) Laboratory. The system was delivered as six separate crates, with the largest two weighing in at 0.5 and 1 ton each, and extending up to 7 feet tall. Getting these huge crates off the delivery truck as well as uncrating of the main unit, was quite a nerve racking experience given that Kemper Hall does not have a proper loading dock. It required a group effort to troubleshoot and I'm grateful that everyone came together to get the system into Kemper Hall safely without any damage. | Yayoi Takamura | MSE |
Norma Andrade | Dean's Office | Norma recently identified and helped resolve several key complicated errors and prevented these errors from disrupting business operations. Excellent work! | Elissa Roeser | Dean's Office |
Sara Sweeney | BME | Thank you Sara for your help in dusting off some UGEP policies and supporting the transition to new staff managing UGEP! | Jackie McPhillips Balcerak | EUO |
Dean Bunn | COE IT | Dean has been tremendously helpful in getting the Marketing and Communications up to date on all of the amazing people who make up the College of Engineering Community. This work supports our Community Vision while also making the process of adding individuals to the Intranet and Slack channel a breeze. Thanks, Dean! | Adrianna Owens | Dean's Office |
CeCe Coyle | MAE | Our growing laboratory has burdened our department with countless administrative tasks throughout this year. Yet, in every instance, CeCe is incredibly responsive, helpful, and processes our requests swiftly. Our laboratory would not operate so smoothly without her efforts. We are grateful to have CeCe in our department! | Mitchell McCartney | MAE |
Jessica Rodriguez | MAE | Jessica is going above and beyond in helping the COE analysts prepare for the Aggie Enterprise go-live. She prepares and presents at our weekly meetings on top of doing her regular job duties. Thank you for all your help Jessica, it is appreciated! | Craig Patterson | BME |
Alin Wakefield | Dean's Office | The COE graduate programs asked the Dean’s Office to support an event to advertise our programs to current UC Davis undergraduate students for our admission. Although the request was made late, and there was a very short timeline between the ask and our admission deadlines, Alin (and Elsa) were able to put together a really great in-person event for the COE Grad Programs. I think I can speak for all the Grad Program Coordinators when I say we really appreciate all the outreach and recruitment efforts Alin and Elsa have done in support of our programs and thank you for helping with our last-minute requests! | Lauren Worrell | CEE |
October 2023
Recipient | Recipient's Department | Reason for Commendation | Submitter | Submitter's Department |
Pia Flory | Dean's Office | Pia has been part of the testing group for the new Aggie Enterprise system, in which she is taking the lead within our group to train our staff, she is very dedicated and creating how to guides for our processes and how they will map over to the new environment. Pia is training all of our team members individually on a weekly basis, she is sharing everything that she has learned with our group and keeps us all up to date. I truly appreciate Pia, her dedication to our teams and units is remarkable, Pia, I appreciate your hard work and dedication, everyday! | Norma Andrade | Dean's Office |
Kin Yen | MAE | We recently had a tour of our research center by the deputy director of research for our funding agency. This demo was critical in clarifying the work we do, as well as our business practices. Kin, one of our research and development engineers, worked on the organization and presentation of our 7,500 square foot vehicle integration space, getting the system into excellent shape for the tour on very short notice. In addition to this support effort, Kin also prepared and executed demonstrations of three highly technical research products. Kin's efforts were essential in the successful site visit for our center. | Ty Lasky | MAE |
Henry Grace | MAE | Henry has been a huge help in assisting with numerous faculty office moves this Fall. He has communicated and collaborated with me, making what could have been a tremendous undertaking something that has been streamlined and done in a timely manner. Thank you, Henry! | Jennifer Young | MAE |
Rebecca Bailey | ECE | Rebecca has helped organize the UC Davis Quantum Computing Workshop for High School Seniors, the first event of its kind on campus. She reached out to a broad number of NorCal high schools and helped bring in students from many different towns within 3h radius of Davis. She also helped implement reimbursements in a timely fashion. Thank you Rebecca! | Marina Radulaski | ECE |
Maureen Ramirez | CHE & MSE | We greatly appreciate Maureen's ability to provide support our CHE & MSE department faculty and colleagues. She is always helpful, willing to provide insight and advice, and is an excellent resource for grant account management, policies and procedures. Maureen is a great team player and most recently has single handedly taken on Chemical Engineering and the Materials Science Departments annual physical inventories for this year. There have been significant changes in the departments over the last few years and this annual inventory required significant updates. We are all grateful to have her in our departments and appreciate her very much! Thank you, Maureen, for all that you do! | Maria Horan | CHE & MSE |
Femi-Jide Akinmoladun | ECE | Jide helped organize logistics for the UC Davis Quantum Computing Workshop for High School Seniors. He suggested suitable promo materials for welcome packages, printed out handouts and was overall enthusiastic about the event organization. | Marina Radulaski | ECE |
Brenda Luis | MAE | Brenda's incredible work ethic, along with her creativity with student programming and social media management, has fostered the growth and sense of community among all of our MAE faculty, staff and students. She is a force of balance and support in the advising space. I couldn't have tackled the beginning of Fall quarter without her (or any other quarter for that matter). | Geoff Murry | MAE |
Michelle Walker | ECE | Michelle recently stepped up to serve as one of the co-chairs of the Advising Staff Networking Group. Right as she was taking over this role, another Grad Program Coordinator was retiring. Michelle was able to pivot one of our SNG meetings to include treats and a little celebration for our retiring colleague. It was so thoughtful! | Lauren Worrell | CEE |
Ruben Arevalo | BME | I want to thank Ruben for successfully completing another year of equipment inventory on-time! We had several custodial codes due this year and Ruben did a great job of completing inventory along with all the last-minute requests for IT support due to the new quarter. | Lisa Hayes | BME |