Staff Kudos recognizes College of Engineering staff members who go above the call of duty to help others throughout our college. The kudos are used to celebrate those who perform beyond expectations, provide exemplary service to students, staff and/or campus and any other notable contributions to the college or departments.

Did you witness an outstanding effort by a College of Engineering colleague? Consider recognizing the hard work and accomplishments of an individual or team with our online staff kudos form. We'll round up the staff kudos and share them here as well as in the Staff Scoop newsletter.

Latest Kudos

I appreciate the collaborative approach that Eric Blosch and Leon Szeto take in making our web environments the best that they can be!

- Lisa Nguyen

Taylor McDougall developed scripts to help with the migration to new AD security groups for administrative tasks saving COE IT staff members from performing numerous hours of manual work.

- Dean Bunn

Fatima Garcia is always a friendly face and up for laughs. Her warm and inviting demeanor and willingness to help allows for anyone to feel welcomed at the CEE. Thank you!

- Nicole Smith-DeCasper 

Brooke Noonan is always willing to make sure that I feel supported and empowered. Her collaboration and thoughtful consideration allow me to feel confident in my knowledge and skills. Thank you!

- Nicole Smith-DeCasper

Sabrina Oliver has been so accommodating and always willing to help answer all of my questions. Her patience and understanding are something to admire! I can never thank her enough!

- Nicole Smith-DeCasper

Molly Bechtel and Leon Szeto did an impressive job of developing and launching content for the heritage month recognitions. They did an exemplary job within a brief time span. Great job!

- Stacey Cook

I've thrown a lot of new funds and requests for information to Yesenia Cervantes-Tucker the last couple of months. She is always responsive, organized, and happy to help. She cares so much about our/her students. She is a wonderful partner.

- Alison Metzger-Jones 

Past Kudos

• Spring 2022

• I want to recognize Brian Donnelly and Penny Schafer for their ongoing partnership in establishing college-wide onboarding resources for managers/supervisors and new staff. Go team!

  -Molly Bechtel

  
  

  Since Cristina Deptula joined COE in August, she has contributed significantly to our department's news writing and publishing, which has increased our department's visibility.

  -Weijian Yang

  

  Shout out to Lisa Nguyen for hitting the ground running and leading new initiatives within the Marcomm team.

  -Leon Szeto

  

  Noah Pflueger-Peters' story "Out of This World" was ranked #2 most-read story in 2021 by UC Davis Magazine. Check out “Out of This World” here. Congratulations Noah!

  -Lisa Nguyen

  

  When I had to leave work for an emergency, Phil Young stepped up to cover for me in overseeing a crucial seminar with important guests from around the world. He faced every challenge thrown his way with patience and expertise, and he even stayed later than the timeframe given to him to help out with the next group! Thank you for being so flexible, Phil!!

  -Taylor McDougall

  

  I would like to give a big THANK YOU to Jeff Adams for being a great partner in crime for the past 6 months while we covered the academic personnel analyst position in the dean's office. We made it!

  -Inna Revzin

   

• Winter 2021

• Thank you to Francesca Ross for all of her hard work on hosting our first in-person alumni event in two years! Nothing like COVID-19 and the first rain in 200+ days to throw us a few curveballs ahead of the annual Alumni Celebration. Francesca’s can-do attitude helped us execute an awesome evening. - Alison Metzger-Jones

  

  I want to recognize Stacey Cook, Lisa Laughter, Melanie Clague and Elsa Rojas Perez for the awesome teamwork to host an orientation for student clubs and teams on funding, reimbursements and fundraising. This is the second time we’ve hosted this training together, and with it being on Zoom, we could record it and refer those who missed it to the recorded version. - Alison Metzger-Jones

  

  

  

  

  Gabriela Lee deserves recognition for her incredibly hard work on two projects in the development sphere: the September PluggedIn virtual event and a Crowdfund campaign for the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine. Gabriela is professional, does an excellent job anticipating needs and opportunities and always executes on everything she says she will. - Alison Metzger-Jones

  

  I want to thank Noreen Johnson for her organization and stick-to-itiveness. She and I have been working together for a year on a project that seems to be never-ending, but her patience and humor are so appreciated. Noreen- I promise, we will get this all sorted out, before we both retire! - Alison Metzger-Jones

  Noreen Johnson has been very helpful and instrumental to me transitioning into my new role in computer science. She's always willing to help and provide back-up support, and guidance on best practices so that I can continue to familiarize myself with the department's business processes. She is a very delightful person to work with and very professional. It's been a pleasure working along side her these past few months as I get settled into my new department! - Gabby Sanchez

  

  Huge thanks to Leon Szeto and Alex Villanueva. They're both absolute life savers who work hard, help me do my job more effectively and make our team much better. - Noah Pflueger-Peters

  
  

  Kudos to Rachel Steere for stepping up and leading the marketing and communications team in the absence of a communications director. - Leon Szeto

  

  Kudos to the marketing and communications team for continuing to do amazing work during the ongoing communications director search - Leon Szeto

  Big applause to Ruben Arevalo for saving the day and assisting with IT services and going above and beyond his duties. He willingly contributed to the success of the NIH (remote) Site Visit with positive insights. Ruben handles pressure well and with professionalism. Kudos to Ruben! - Eileen Panguito

  

  A huge thank you to the purchasing staff - Jill Kessler, Irma Cerna, Norma Andrade, and Pia Flory. I know your workload increased this quarter with everyone returning to campus, placing orders and traveling again. You are doing a great job. Happy Holidays! - Meshell Louderman

  

  

  

  

  I want to thank Rachael Rubinato in computer science. She has been holding down the fort in the front office this quarter and has also been putting in a lot of time working with faculty who arrived during the pandemic and this past summer, to get their offices and labs set up. Thank you Rachael for your hard work and for representing the department on a daily basis. I appreciate you and the support you provide. - Meshell Louderman

  

  Kudos to Penny Schafer, she has been a huge help and has helped me navigate several staff hires and other HR matters. I know she's been extremely busy this quarter, and I wanted to take the opportunity to say thanks and that I appreciate her help. - Meshell Louderman

  

  I can't say enough about the computer science staff. I am blessed to work with such a great group of people. Our faculty and students are in great hands. Our staff have been resilient in the face of a pandemic and their level of service never skipped a beat. They genuinely care about the service they provide and are supportive of each other. Happy Holidays to a great group of staff! - Meshell Louderman

• Fall 2021

• Shout out to the BME team for their flexibility as we transition back to campus.
  -Megan Villasenor

   

  A big thank you to Andrew Yao for all his help getting us through the Aggie Access transition. His leadership of the project for us is much appreciated!
  -Megan Villasenor

  

  Huge credit to Ryan Gorsiski for holding all things advising for undergrad and grad together during our recruitments. He had some help from the Engineering Undergraduate Office, but for the most part kept things moving and deadlines met during some pretty busy workload peaks! We appreciate all of your efforts!
  -Susan Lopez

  

  I want to thank and give big kudos to Gwen Caramanica for her leadership in assisting with new finance employees, their onboarding and training. Gwen is definitely the go-to person for how things are done in chemical and materials science engineering and happily shares her knowledge and experience with the team. She also managed to keep up with her work while training new employees and continuing to volunteer for college and campus committees! We love her commitment!
  -Susan Lopez

  

  Andrew Thron deserves special kudos for maneuvering the past year as manager of AMCaT. He is the one staff member for that entire lab. Andrew has done a remarkable job in dealing with the lab, all of the regular and COVID safety concerns, keeping our equipment running, dealing with campus and repair vendors with a closed campus and accomplishing that while gaining new users. His expertise and customer service ensured the lab was open when it could be and documentation records on use and loses were used in a proposal that gained us some much needed mitigation funding. Thank you Andrew!
  -Susan Lopez

  

  I would like to give a big shout out to Phil Young for working diligently on working in our new renovated teaching labs to make sure that the computers are up and running for the start for fall quarter. This endeavor has taken many man hours to pull together to ensure that both new and existing computers are functioning the same.
  -Carole Bustamante

  

  I want to thank Molly Bechtel for all of her assistance with the hiring and training of the new personnel in the communications area.
  -Carole Bustamante

  

  I would like to give kudos and congratulations to Lauren Worrell. Lauren was recently selected to receive the Grad Studies 2021 Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator Award for her amazing initiative in support of the CEE graduate program
  -Christal Wintersmith

  

  Congratulations to Rufa Pazyuk for co-chairing the UC Davis Advising Graduate Studies Conference! It was an amazing two days of learning and networking, and you did such a great job!
  -Lauren Worrell

  

  Kudos to Nena Herrera and Melanie Clague for co-chairing the Finance Staff Networking Group. Thank you for keeping us on task!
  -Gwendolyn Caramanica

  
  

  Kudos to Rebecca Saeturn for continuing to do a fantastic job despite UC Path continuously removing her access to various systems.
  -Gwendolyn Caramanica

  

  Kudos to Erik Peters, Dean Bunn and Nic Logan for being all-around IT superheroes. I’ve needed a bit of assistance with getting into a “flexible” routine. These gentleman have been a pleasure to work with, and they go way beyond just to make sure the tech I need is all working the right way!
  -Alin Wakefield

  
  
• Summer 2021
• "I want to give kudos to Jessie Catacutan for advocating on behalf of the COE Analysts at high level meetings. Thank you, Jessie, for everything you do to help BIA understand how decisions can have negative impacts on COE's ability to deliver on our primary missions of teaching and research, and for encouraging a holistic approach to administrative decision making." - Gwendolyn Caramanica
  
  "I want to thank Jessie Catacutan and Dave Griffiths for their help with our team’s return to campus. There’s some office shuffling and other logistics that need attention to detail, and we are so grateful for their organization and support!" - Alison Metzger-Jones
  
  "Kudos to Penny Schafer for all her hard work in interpreting Workplace Reimagined guidance and helping supervisors navigate the return to campus process. Penny’s straightforward approach, deep knowledge and calm demeanor are just what we need after more than a year of remote work. Thank you, Penny!" - Aditi Risbud Bartl
  
  “Kudos to Christal Wintersmith for receiving the 2021 Graduate Student Association Award for Excellence in Service to Graduate Students! Thank you for helping our graduate students through these exceptionally difficult times.” - Megan Villasenor
  
  "I would like to nominate Nick Logan, Erik Peters and Jason Fearing in IT for kudos. I’ve been plagued by several IT-related issues over the past two months and they have been super responsive, solution-oriented and accommodating to my schedule. I can’t imagine it’s easy to provide IT customer service for over a year to an entire college while working remotely, so I thought I would give a shout-out to let them know that I appreciate them. Thanks guys!" - Leigh Ann Hartman
  
  "I’d like to give a HUGE kudos to Aditi Risbud Bartl for a great job during the last four years in leading strategic communications. I have seen a lot of improvements and increased visibility for the college led by Aditi in collaboration with the college, campus, UC and external colleagues. I’m very grateful for her passion and numerous contributions that will benefit the college moving forward. Best wishes to Aditi in her new job as director of strategic communications of Stanford University’s information technology organization." - Jessie Catacutan
  
  "Kudos to Melanie Clague for successfully leading the college through fiscal closing and completing a full operational cycle within the COE."- Jessie Catacutan
  
  "Kudos to Penny Schafer for all of her guidance, extra effort and leadership in the human resource area the last seventeen months during the pandemic and her current work in the Workplace Reimagined area to help staff transition back on campus." - Jessie Catacutan 
  
  "Kudos to Sabrina Oliver for her innovative idea to create a QR code for the department resources page on our website! Posting this QR code in our buildings will allow our researchers to quickly access the latest updates and information to address their specific needs. Thank you, Sabrina, for keeping our resources page organized and accurate!" - Brooke Noonan
  
  "Big shout out to Lamia Braun and Alex Villanueva as inaugural co-chairs and Sabrina Oliver as one of the newly elected vice chairs of the College of Engineering DEI Committee! I’m super excited for these staff members to lead our college in conversations and actions around creating an inclusive climate for staff, students and faculty." - Lauren Worrell
   
  "I want to recognize all the wonderful staff members who stepped up to become chairs and co-chairs of the brand new staff networking groups. I can’t wait to see the support, collaboration, relationships and innovation that come out of these groups. Thank you to Rachel Lebrett, Christal Wintersmith, Melanie Clague, Nena Herrera, Sabrina Oliver, Leon Szeto, Reuben Arevalo, Shannon Chee, Joseph Menke, and Jose Mojica for your support of this new project and your amazing leadership!" - Lauren Worrell and Molly Bechtel
  
  "Kudos to Geoffrey Murry for his contributions as a facilitator during the 2021 UC Davis Academic Advising Conference. Congratulations on your well-deserved STAR award!" - Felicia Smith
  
  "I would like to give a warm welcome to our new graduate program coordinator, Vanessa Paz. We know she will be a great addition to the MAE department!" - Felicia Smith
• Spring 2021
• "I would like to give kudos to Marji LeGrand, Trina Wilson, Joyce Cleaver and Andy Richmond for their extraordinary efforts in making sure that our undergraduate students that applied for our ECE Mini Grants were made available and awarded. Thank you!" - Carole Bustamante 
  
  "Many thanks to Brian Donnelly for his partnership through this academic year on the college intranet, course instruction content for departments, processes for data and so much more. You have many projects to keep tabs on and we greatly appreciate your good humor and willingness to help out." - Aditi Risbud Bartl
  
  "Many thanks to Megan Villasenor and Molly Bechtel for serving on the campus’ Workplace Reimagined Workgroup to consider flexible working arrangements through a more strategic lens. We appreciate the extra time you’ve taken to advocate for our staff despite the “moving target.” - Aditi Risbud Bartl
  
  "I would like to give kudos to Alex Villanueva for ensuring that the 90+ budget slides were on brand. It was a lot of work, but they turned out great! Thanks Alex!" - Ammy Martinez
  
  "I’d like to give kudos to Molly Bechtel for doing a great job organizing the staff development workshops." - Leon Szeto
  
  "Thank you, Manju Kaul, for being such a great mentor! I am so thankful for the knowledge you've shared with me over the past year. I am truly grateful for all of the time you've spent training me. You've made such a difference to me and I couldn't have made it through such a transition without you. It's been such an honor to work with you!" - Melanie Clague
  
  "Shadaya Litt, Lisa Laughter, Geoff Murray deserve recognition for their dedication, hard work, and willingness to extend themselves in support of our students. Most recently, they helped me develop a Qualtrics to assess students’ experience and interest in virtual advising." - Stacey Cook
   
  "Gratitude to Geoff Murray and Shadaya Litt who served as co-chairs of the Engineering Advising team meetings. Their leadership included planning agendas, facilitating meetings, and ensuring all advisors were informed about advising matters within the college and on campus in general." - Stacey Cook
   
  "Francesca Ross is an expert at organizing events and producing professional quality Zoom webinars, presentations, and meetings. Thank you so much for your help with our yield events, webinars, and much more!" - Stacey Cook 
  
  "I wanted to give a shout out to Jide Akinmoladun for always being on top of sending our team the news and events for ECE, especially since it's a new type of role for him, and for just being pleasant to work with." - Noah Pflueger-Peters
  
  "Kudos to Nick Logan in IT Support. Nick is always so helpful when I have issues with anything on my computer. If he’s not sure how to fix it, he makes sure to find out from someone else who is more experienced with that program or software. He will work on the problem until it is working to my satisfaction. And through the whole exchange Nick is upbeat and smiling." - Nancy Davis
  
  "I wanted to pass my kudos to Shadaya Litt and Lisa Laughter for their strong sense of responsibility and stepping into several EUO projects, and managing them very well." -Lili Mirshahzadeh
  
  "I would like to give a shout out to my co-workers Jordan Dade and Shadaya Litt. I am so grateful to have such dedicated and caring peers. We continue to be challenged by the workload and working at a distance with kids in school, etc. I am inspired by and appreciate their hard work and dedication to students. I am thankful for our Zoom work parties and realizing I am not alone in this. They are both always so willing to jump in and help out whenever I drum up the courage to ask." - Lisa Laughter
  
  "I would like to recognize Leon Szeto in Marketing and Communications for being all-around awesome. He has been so helpful, responsive, and reliable whenever our office needs help. He is so skilled (and speedy!), and I am so grateful to have him on our COE team!" - Jordan Dade
  
  "I want to give a huge kudos to Rufa Pazyuk in Civil and Environmental Engineering! She filled in for me for 4 months while I was out on maternity leave. Knowing that the CEE Graduate Program was in such capable hands while I was gone, and coming back to have everything in order really allowed me to enjoy the time with my new baby. Thank you on behalf of the graduate students for your incredible support of them, and making sure their time at UCD is a positive experience. You are such an asset to our department, and I feel so fortunate to have you as a colleague!" -Lauren Worrell
  
  "I am so thankful for the Marketing and Communications team—my team of superstars!—for their tremendous efforts through a difficult and unpredictable year. In the last year, we wrote more than 200 unique news stories, increased our social media engagement across all channels, executed 40 internal and external events, launched the new college website, pushed to improve communications between staff and leadership and so much more. Proud of each of you for the hard work you do every day to increase our college’s visibility and reputation." - Aditi Risbud Bartl
  
  "A great big thank you to Kristin Mendoza-Fabiani and Fatima Garcia for their assistance while we recruit for our research administrator. I am grateful for their willingness to help and for their contracts & grants support during this stressful time." - Nena Herrera
  
  "Kudos to Kristin Mendoza-Fabiani and Sabrina Oliver for both of their efforts in updating the department resources page of CEE’s website. Kristin proactively took the lead in gathering and organizing the various resources, and worked closely with her colleagues to ensure the content was comprehensive and informative. Sabrina did a great job in organizing the content on the website and bringing it all together in a thoughtful and user-friendly manner. Thank you both for working together on this project and for a job well done!" -Nena Herrera and Brooke Noonan
• Winter 2020
• “Every unit in the college deserves kudos right now, as we are all struggling and doing our best in tough times. The College of Engineering is carrying on because of teamwork. I appreciate how kind and compassionate everyone is here, lifting when we can, taking breaks when we can, and looking out for each other. We will continue to do amazing things as long as we work together.” – Ken Gribble
  
  "Big kudos to Susan Lopez and Meshell Louderman for managing the Shared Services Purchasing team for the last few years. Susan and Meshell have tremendous responsibilities in their own departments as CAOs and it was amazing that they were willing to take on an additional role during a time of transition. Thank you for all you’ve done for the dean’s office and continue to do for the college!" - Aditi Risbud Bartl 
  
  "Kudos to Susan Lopez and Meshell Louderman for managing Shared Services Purchasing while also handling their demanding jobs! Shared Services Purchasing improved in many ways under their leadership. We appreciate their service and dedication to process improvement!" - Steve Pigg
  
  "I would like to thank all ECE Staff for their positive attitudes and being flexible each and every time that we had to make changes and for stepping up and agreeing to take on new challenges when we have lost staff. You are amazing!" - Carole Bustamante
  
  "Rachel Steere is absolutely a dream to work with. I have the pleasure of working with her for the college website revamp, design showcase, and now with campus recruitment. She helps keep me on track and she is always positive and so quick with her work. I am consistently impressed with how fast and well done her products are." - Natasha Coulter 
  
  "Kudos to Dave Griffiths for ordering me a new, ergonomically friendly chair for my home office and delivering it to my porch. Thanks for the excellent response and customer service!" - Leigh Ann Hartman
  
  "Kudos to the Shared Services Team, Pia Flory, Norma Andrade, Denise Bray, Irma Cerna, Jill Kessler, and Kathleen Sanchez, for their hard work, excellent customer service and dedication. I appreciate the time you’ve spent working together to find solutions to complex problems. Your combined efforts prove that Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM)!!" - Melanie Clague 
  
  "Huge shout out and thank you to the BME admin team for their amazing dedication to the department this past year. They have all done a great job adapting to the constantly changing circumstances. Their commitment to ensuring things continue running smoothly and “all hands on deck” attitude about rotating into the office to take care of the mail/packages is much appreciated!" - Megan Villasenor
  
  "Alex Villaneuva recruited and trained a team of four students to help with redacting faculty applications to address implicit bias in faculty recruitment as part of a request from campus. Alex and the students processed more than 900 applications between December and early January to ensure departments could hire the best possible candidates for our college." - Jessie Catacutan
  
  "Kudos to Everett Wilson for timely submitting the annual US News and World Report survey data well before the December 18, 2020 deadline and less than six months into his position as the Director of Strategic Analysis and Decision Support. Best wishes with the annual American Society for Engineering Education survey due in January 31, 2021." - Jessie Catacutan
  
  "Kudos to Molly Bechtel and Penny Schafer for their excellent work in communicating and condensing the two staff surveys from the AOFTF (Administrative Officers for the Future) program and the Staff Experience Survey (led by campus Human Resource) including presentations to college leadership and managers in December and January.” - Jessie Catacutan
  
  "Kudos to Ryan Anderson for his positive leadership and endless effort as director for the Center for Nano-MicroManufacturing (CNM2) including managing the replacement of the main exhaust fan (fabricated by a company in Michigan) and the new AggieAccess project." - Jessie Catacutan
  
  "I wish to acknowledge all College of Engineering staff for all their hard work over the past 10 months. I am proud to be a part of the collective COE staff. I've heard some amazing stories about how staff worked together to prepare instructors, students and other staff for online classes, remote advising, zoom meetings, email management and more. Staff have been there for each other, within their own departments and for others within the college. We all came together and figured out how to navigate this pandemic the best way we could. We've all dealt with stress, anxiety, frustration and overload a time or two or three. It really has been a roller coaster of a ride. We all did a great job and everyone deserves a pat on the back. I'm looking forward to being back on campus and seeing everyone again. Hang in there and we'll get through this together." - Meshell Louderman
  
  "I want to thank Aditi Risbud Bartl and Molly Bechtel for caring about the well being of the staff in COE. I appreciate their efforts in improving the staff experience within the college and giving staff an opportunity to have a voice. I know the Staff Town Halls haven't been easy to plan and navigate and the AOFTF Project/Survey was a lot of work. I appreciate your concern for COE Staff and the experience we have here on campus and within the college. Thank you for being a champion for the staff. Don't give up." - Meshell Louderman
  
  "Thanks also goes out to Rachel Steere, for putting together the Staff Scoop. This is a great opportunity to highlight staff and acknowledge the hard work of those around us (both inside and outside our departments). Thanks Rachel for tackling this project and ensuring we have an opportunity to give thanks and acknowledge those we work with." - Meshell Louderman
  
  "Another group thanks goes out to Susan Lopez, Pia Flory, Norma Andrade, Irma Cerna, Jill Kessler, Kathy Sanchez and Denise Bray. It's been an amazing 2.5 year ride. Susan and I have officially stepped down as Co-Managers of the COE SS Purchasing group. I've enjoyed working with you all. It's been a long journey. We've made a lot of progress in the past 2.5 years. I am proud of the SS Staff and what they've accomplished. They have had to deal with physically moving locations multiple times; learned to work with new managers; and spent a lot of time streamlining workflows and process mapping. They've adapted to new systems (internal and external) and quickly adapted to handling a paper intense environment to a paperless environment overnight in reaction to the pandemic and the campus closure. Together, this group has been resilient and hard working. Susan has been a great teammate throughout this time. We really worked well together. Thanks Susan for allowing me the opportunity to work with you. I look forward to the continued growth and success of this unit under Melanie Clague's direction."  - Meshell Louderman
   
   "I've praised the CS staff in the past, but I have to thank them again for being such a great group of people. They truly make my job so much easier. They are all caring people with a service minded attitude that contribute towards the success of our department. They haven't skipped a beat in the midst of the pandemic. They quickly and easily transitioned to working at home and it's been business as usual. Melinda has been our rock and takes care of many daily details related to instruction and safety. I appreciate Jeff's help going to campus periodically to take care of "Department chores" and for being our resident academic personnel expert. Rachael has been a quiet force dealing with facility issues behind the scenes. Jessica and Alyssa have adapted to online advising for the Graduate Group seamlessly. Sara and Cassady started in their new roles in our department (and on campus) at the beginning of the pandemic. The pandemic did not stall their acclimating to the campus, college, and department. Jason has been a steady constant in UG advising and along with Sara and Cassady, quickly transitioned to remote advising without a hitch. Jane and Noreen continue to work many hours helping faculty with all of their proposals and awards and have spent many more hours navigating UCPath and all of the extra work that it has created for the departments. Ken, Jim, and Anatoli have been great at ensuring staff and faculty have what they need to successfully work remotely and continue to ensure our IT needs are met on top of extra work related to IT security. A huge thank you to all of you! You are appreciated!" - Meshell Louderman
• Fall 2020
• "Kudos to Penny Schafer for her help in implementing the new COVID-19-related leaves for college staff and for her excellent management of the numerous vacancy management programs." - Jessie Catacutan
  
  "Kudos to Lance Halsted for making sure we are staying compliant with safety, keeping up on all of the changes and for making sure our students received the items that they would need for summer session classes. Kudos to Jennifer Torres and Christina Reyman for stepping up for the last four months and handling all of the accounting needs for the department while your teammate was out on leave. Kudos to Penny Schafer for being an extended part of the department team, and guiding us through myriad HR issues with your proficiency and compassion. Lastly, kudos to Amie La Prise thank you for all of the many leave challenges that you have worked on during this unpredictable time." - Carole Bustamante
   
  "Thank you to the G52 strategic planning team Dean Bunn, Molly Bechtel, Alex Villanueva, Jason Fearing, Penny Schafer, Craig Patterson and Lauren Worrell for their work on various staff programs, the September 2020 college staff survey and improvements on the onboarding of all college staff." - Jessie Catacutan 
   
  "A big shout out to Nancy Davis for her leadership and oversight of the Engineering Undergraduate Office. She is an incredibly valuable resource for the college and I super-appreciate her service to the students, staff and faculty. She took on the role of director with much grace and good-heartedness. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for our office and our staff. And a general thank you to all the major advisors for all their efforts and diligence with advising new students throughout the summer through Aggie Advising. So grateful to have such a talented team of advisors who care about their work and their students." - Lisa Laughter
   
  "Kudos to Manju Kaul for her fiscal closing leadership, COVID-19 management and reporting, and AggieBudget transition leadership while onboarding and training Melanie Clague. Kudos to Melanie Clague for her tremendous production, operational documentation and service mindset while learning new systems and processes remotely during COVID-19." -Jessie Catacutan 
   
  "A big thank you to Norma Andrade for helping us stay afloat while we were short-staffed. She did amazingly well with very little training. I could not have survived the last three months without her fantastic help. Thank you also to Grace Woods for single-handedly wrangling, negotiating and documenting the final details of the Fall Graduate Student support. I would also like to give a shout-out to Dean Bunn for posting interesting and meaningful content on Slack. It helps me feel informed and less isolated." - Gwendolyn Caramanica
   
  "Big thank you to Francesca Ross for putting together safety kits for all college staff and thank you to David Griffiths for delivering them." - Jessie Catacutan
   
  "Dave Griffiths applied his knowledge and connections to save us more than $10,000 in research funds. He quickly worked with facilities to identify a less expensive solution to procure power for the new high-performance computing cluster, HPC2. These funds can now better directly support the work of multiple research groups in the college. Thanks, Dave!" -Steve Pigg
  
  "Kudos to Ammy Martinez for her work scheduling the interviews for the BME chief operations officer and director of safety as we were able to find two great additions to the college so quickly." - Jessie Catacutan
   
  "Many thanks to Jason Fearing for taking the initiative to develop Zoom training modules for the college. These videos are a wonderful resource for all staff and faculty in our remote work setting and Jason’s soothing “radio voice” makes it a pleasure to learn." - Aditi Risbud Bartl
  
  "Thank you to all of the department managers for their outstanding, thoughtful, passionate and selfless leadership throughout COVID-19 especially during the remote instruction transition. They constantly prioritized increased workload while advocating, understanding and managing the adverse impact of COVID-19 to staff and their respective families." - Jessie Catacutan 
  
  "I would like to submit a kudos for Alex Villanueva for creating the COE Zoom backgrounds. I liked them so much, I got online and ordered a larger green screen for my new office setup. Even my Star Wars backgrounds didn't have me motivated for the purchase and that's saying something from this geek." - Dean Bunn
  
  "I would like to give a shout out to Stacey Cook and her inclusive manner in working to bring both the EUO and departments together so that we become a closer team with a vision of ensuring our students receive the best education possible." - Carole Bustamante
  
  "Kudos to Ryan Anderson and the CNM2 team for keeping the cleanroom running during the pandemic. The team is providing 24/7 access to researchers despite limited staffing and reduced operations on campus. Thanks for all you are doing for the college." - Aditi Risbud Bartl
  
  "Kudos to Lance Halsted for his efforts in making sure that our undergrad students received the kits that they needed for their classes and the process that we have established for shipping and kudos to Phil Young for continuing to maintain the high level of IT support for both students and faculty during the busiest time of the school year while we are working remotely." - Carole Bustamante
  
  "I’d like to give kudos to Stephani Shone and the COE Receiving team of students!  They have stayed open all these months and assisted us with some special requests in order to keep the research and business at hand moving while we work from home. This is all very helpful and so appreciated!" - Susan Lopez
  
  "Kudos to Brian Donnelly and Eric Blosch for the redesigned design.engineering.ucdavis.edu, the webpage used by the development team to promote the ESDC expansion to prospective donors on short notice. They were supportive, easy to work with and clear up front about what could and could not be executed. They went above and beyond. I’m so pleased with the final product- it looks fantastic!" - Leigh Ann Hartman
• Summer 2020
• "Thank you to Jose Mojica, Dave Griffiths and the ESDC staff for working together to create the Plexiglas for Ammy’s desk in the Dean's office as a pilot for COE. I think it looks great and will work well for Ammy and COE guests in the future." - Jessie Catacutan 
  
  "I’d like to give kudos to Kristina Batchelor, marketing specialist in BME, for exemplifying what a great partnership can look like between departments and the dean’s office. Kristina wrote two terrific articles for the college’s magazine that goes to alumni and engineering deans nationwide and participated enthusiastically on a hiring committee for my team. Whether it’s news announcements, e-newsletters, or any other communications-related project, Kristina is always willing to work together with her thoughtful and diligent approach." - Aditi Risbud Bartl
  
  "Dave Griffiths is always willing to pitch in and help out no matter the need or request and he always does it with a smile and friendly attitude! I love coming to work knowing that I get to collaborate with Dave on all of our challenges. I know that I can go to Dave with questions and together we’ll figure it out (and have fun doing so). It’s a benefit that I get to work with Dave – especially during trying times – he makes my work life better." - Jonathan Klane
  
  "Kudos to the ECE staff for receiving a Team Star Award for their execution of our first off site event.  ECExpo was very well received from industry and our Industrial Affiliates Committee. Hopefully we will be able to do more of these types of events in the future." - Carole Bustamante
  
  "Shout out to CHE and MSE staff who, like many other units and departments, have adapted to working remotely and managed to assist both departments in separate virtual Senior Send Off and Grad Recruitment events, safety Phase 1 and 2 planning, Spring quarter instruction, and the current fiscal close responsibilities! They've all done a wonderful job of staying on top of everything and pulling off some great events. If I were stranded on an island and could choose a team to survive until rescued, it would be this one!  They ROCK!" - Susan Lopez
  
  "I want to give a huge kudos to the CEE financial team, Fatima Garcia, Nena Herrera, and Kristin Mendoza-Fabiani, for their proactive and organized efforts which resulted in a successful fiscal closing process for our department. I also want to thank them for their participation on our recruitment panel for a new Research Administrator. Their valuable contributions are what makes this team excellent!" - Brooke Noonan
   
  "Kudos to Jessica Hazard, our CEE Lab Manager and Safety Coordinator, for her diligent efforts in helping to coordinate the Phase 1 and 2 research ramp up for our labs. She was proactive about communicating with faculty and researchers on their needs and then took the initiative to create a shared SOP for all of the lab users. Jessica also did an exceptional job preparing the labs for our recent CUPA inspections, ensuring all of the training records were up to date using DocuSign, and putting in extra hours to clean and organize the labs. Well done, Jess!" - Brooke Noonan
  
  “I want to give a staff kudos shout out to Bill Doering! Bill supported the entire COE safety culture and risk team by corralling us and coordinating our CUPA (hazardous waste) inspections to ensure a successful round of state inspections for all of Engineering. Knowing Bill, he’ll say that it wasn’t much and he was just doing his job but I know better. This meant a lot to the whole team and made a significant difference. Thanks Bill!” - Jonathan Klane
• Spring 2020
• "BME would like to thank Steven Lucero for all his work in TEAM with the Med Center during the COVID-19 crisis. For a look at his work please click here." - Julie Hirota
  
  "I would like to give kudos to the facilities team, Dave Griffiths and Stephani Shone, who have been on campus every day during the shelter-in-place. They are keeping our receiving area open and running, our buildings safe and functional, and working with campus to ensure our construction projects continue to move forward in a timely fashion. They are a small team doing a tremendous amount of work without complaining or seeking recognition. Thank you for all you do for the college!" - Aditi Risbud Bartl
  
  "Bill Doering is our lab manager for undergrad instruction and the departments (CHE and MSE) safety coordinator. During these past few weeks of transition to working remotely and online instruction, Bill has been involved in so many aspects of coordinating and ensuring things happened. He has set up experiments for video delivery, ensured instructors and TAs had access and assisted with research lab ramp-down where necessary. There are too many details to list here, but I wanted to give him a shout-out for the great work he always does, especially under our current circumstances! I can always count on him and so can our students and faculty!" - Susan Lopez
  
  "My COVID19 superheroes are Grace Woods and Maria Arellano, who did an amazing job converting our graduate recruitment campus event, scheduled days before the closure, into a virtual event in hours! Grace coordinated and managed the entire process and did a remarkable job and Maria assisted while training - as this was her first recruitment event. Ryan Gorsiski, having only two months experience with UC and our departments has been instrumental in getting things in order and collaborating with the advising team to ensure he and our students would be ready before the start of our virtual spring session. Maria has proved to be a very valuable team member and I truly appreciate her willingness to adapt to learn whatever is needed for the unit!" - Susan Lopez
  
  "I want to give huge kudos to the IT staff for helping the Engineering Undergraduate Office staff get the equipment (computers and cell phones) needed to be able to work remotely. This happened in a very short amount of time. Nick Logan helped me find a piece of equipment that allows me to use all of my external equipment (mouse, keyboard, headset) with my laptop." - Nancy Davis
  
  "Kudos to all of the staff in the Engineering Undergraduate Office for adapting to a new way of working, and especially meeting with students in academic difficulty remotely. Thanks to Lisa Laughter and Natasha Coulter for figuring out how to set up our systems so students could meet with an advisor for express advising available online every afternoon Monday – Friday. Lisa and Natasha also worked to find a way to keep our peer advisors working, with a new platform for them to do general advising for all engineering students." - Nancy Davis
  
  "I want to acknowledge all of the computer science staff for their flexibility, resilience, patience and adaptability as we transitioned to remote work at home due to the campus' suspended operations status because of COVID-19.  I'm very proud of this group. They transitioned seamlessly and quickly. Thank you to: Ken Gribble for establishing morning coffee talks via zoom to interact with fellow CS staff so we can stay in-touch; both Ken Gribble and Jim Moersfelder for mapping out the IT plan for transitioning to remote work; Anatoli Fedorenko for quickly deploying 3 brand new laptops in record time for our UG Advising Staff to use at home; Jane and Noreen for assisting faculty with their reimbursement forms for COVID-19 related expenses as well as assisting with their travel reimbursements within OPP; Jeff Adams for the countless hours of setting up 20+ faculty recruiting visits, then cancelling arrangements and setting up zoom meetings instead; Rachael Anders for handling all of the food orders for the faculty recruiting visits (and then cancelling most of them), handling welcome celebrations for new staff, planning the department's monthly luncheon and coordinating the department's Graduate Group Decision Day events (all at the beginning of March); Sara Chilimidos and Cassady Ogedegbe who just started in CS, just weeks before COVID-19 shut down the campus, who have quickly adapted to our department, the campus/college and to working remotely and handling remote advising; Jessica Stoller and Alyssa Bates for transitioning to remote work so seamlessly; and Melinda Meeker for returning to the office to pick up packages from COE Receiving, watering plants, and retrieving/scanning documents for colleagues so they didn't have to come to campus. A special thank you goes out to Jason Sison for helping to produce masks with his personal 3-d printer in response to the need within the healthcare industry.  Jason also performed a Beatles song on his keyboard, recording it for the staff to hear, as a "Happy Friday" gesture. CS has awesome staff. I'm proud of this group and fortunate to work along side them every day." - Meshell Louderman
  
  "Thanks to Jose Mojica, Sherry Batin, Shawn Malone and David Kehlet for going above and beyond to create incredibly special and personalized stewardship gifts for our donors. They come to us with creative ideas and execute everything to perfection. We are so grateful for their partnership!" - Development and External Relations team
  
  "Adil Abbuthalha will be leaving the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering  effective May 31, he has been the Senior Editor and Communications Specialist for the last 1 ¼ years. He has seen to it that the department has a presence in LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and he has taken the photos for most of our major events including the ECExpo. Please join us in wishing Adil well on the next part of his journey and if you would like to keep in contact or see what pictures he has taken recently please follow him on Facebook. Thank you Adil, we look forward to seeing all the great things you will do!" - Carole Bustamante
  
  "A heartfelt kudos and gratitude to the MAE staff for keeping a can-do attitude and positive team spirit while keeping our academic, business/finance, IT and safety operations running as smoothly as we can during these challenging times. Also, a special appreciation to our extended teams for their continued diligence, patience and attentiveness to our service requests: COE Shared Services, IT, Purchasing/Accounts Payable, Stephanie Shone and her team and the AUSSC team, in particular to Nikki Nguyen who handles our Aggie Service cases." - Felicia Smith
  
  "Our department would like to send a huge kudos to Reuben Castelino for his role in helping our faculty, staff and students in the transition to remote working operations and remote instruction in spring. As our IT unit lead, Reuben has shown the highest technical competence and caliber by answering challenging questions and coming up with solutions at very short notice. We are grateful for his leadership in finding innovative solutions to online instruction and work, and for his collaborative and empathetic work with our faculty, staff, and students in providing resources to meet our diverse needs. Thank you, Reuben, for your profound impact on the learning experience of our students this quarter!"  - Amit Kanvinde and Brooke Noonan
• Winter 2019
• "I would like to recognize and thank the CEE Feature & Fun Planning Committee – Fatima Garcia, Jessica Hazard, Lauren Worrell, Rachel LeBrett, Reuben Castelino, Rufa Pazyuk, Sabrina Oliver and Victor Jones – for their enthusiasm and efforts in organizing a fun event for the college staff!" - Brooke Noonan
  
  "I’d like to send kudos to Lili Scheiber for leading the Staff Advisory Committee’s charge in the nomination and selection process for the Outstanding Staff Awards. And Kudos to Noah Pflueger-Peters for dressing up as Gunrock at DEAM. It’s not an easy task and he did a great job!" - Alison Metzger-Jones
  
  "I would like to give a shout out to Marji LeGrand for her idea of the ECE Winter Refresher for undergraduate students. This is the first major event that we have put together for them. I would also like to give a shout out to Fred Singh as he became a new first-time father in December." - Carole Bustamante
  
  "The department would like to highlight Eileen Panguito. Eileen serves in multiple capacities from hosting seminars, supporting the chair and has most recently began taking on course scheduling. With all that going on, she's filling in as an executive assistant while we look for a replacement of a recent retiree. Eileen handles all her work with grace and professionalism." - Julie Hirota
  
  "The department would also like to highlight the work of the contracts and grants team: Craig Patterson, Inna Revzin, Lisa Zaragoza, Alex Chacon-Munoz and Lisa Cervantes. Throughout the UC Path conversion, the team developed over 30 department procedures to codify and standardize department processes." - Julie Hirota
  
  "A huge shout out to Jason Sison in computer science. Jason has been holding down the fort on the undergraduate advising side of things for four months now. We are recruiting for 2 additional advisors, however, until we fill these positions Jason has been handling the workload of 3 advisors. You are doing a great job Jason.Your hard work is not going without notice. Thank you for hanging in there!" - Meshell Louderman
   
  "During the Fall Quarter, Natasha Coulter helped CS get through mandatory advising of our undergraduate students. Thank you so much Natasha for all your help. You have a good rapport with students and you were able to jump back into the swing of things here. We couldn't have made it through Fall mandatory advising without you.Thank you!" - Meshell Louderman
  
  "I’d like to give a shout out to Irma Cerna with COE’s Shared Services Unit. We recently had a large equipment order - vendor not in KFS, multiple account allocation that wasn’t fully allocated and we only gave her approximately 6 business days to complete it! Irma worked with Equipment, Tax Accounting, and Procurement and we met the deadline! It didn’t qualify as “urgent” according to UCD’s policy, but Irma jumped in and rushed it for us. We understand that this can’t be done all the time, but we truly appreciate that she was able to do it for us this time! Teamwork!" - Lisa Cervantes  
  
  "I would like to give kudos to Eveline Gibson who has done an excellent job covering our advising services for the undergraduate and graduate programs during extended vacancies in our student services team." - Felicia Smith 
  
  "I am super grateful for Veronica Stanton and Lili Scheiber for their support with securing rooms for our 2019 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Medalists’ visit to campus. Thank you for sharing your departmental space." - Molly Bechtel 
   
  "Jason Fearing and Nick Logan on the IT team are stars! Thank you both for your work to keep our team up and running. Special kudos to Jason for his leadership on the MarComm photo/video storage project!" - Molly Bechtel 
• Fall 2019
• "I’d like to give Kudos to Alex Chacon-Munoz, an analyst with our department. Alex has done a remarkable job managing all of the BME pre-awards for successful and timeline submissions. As a newer member of BME, he’s jumped in, learned the business and has become an integral part of the operation." - Julie Hirota
  
  "I want to send a special thank you to Elsa Rojas Perez. I had reserved 1003/1007 for a faculty retreat happening over the weekend. I needed to get a key before I left for the day. She got me the key in between her meetings that she was holding in another building. I think she probably had to literally run back and forth. I really appreciate her attentiveness to the situation and for ensuring I had everything I needed for our retreat the next day."  - Meshell Louderman
  
  "A shout out to Jason Fearing for responding quickly to help me with my Box sync issues and for helping me to migrate to Box Drive instead. Thanks Jason!" - Meshell Louderman
   
  "I have to send a huge THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE CS STAFF. For some time now, they have all been stepping in to help cover for staff who have been out of the office for varying reasons and lengths of time. All at a time when workloads are at an all time high and there is lots of change on campus. I am grateful for such a cohesive, responsive, and service minded group of staff. CS STAFF ROCK!" - Meshell Louderman
  
  "I’d like to give a Shout Out to the ECE Staff for continuing to be active supporters of our students and providing a little fun into their day. Let’s continue to show our support." - Carole Bustamante
  
  "Thanks to all Engineering Undergraduate Office Staff for supporting me through this transition time and for taking on workload that they don’t typically do. And kudos to Mayra Zamora for shining in her interim role as an undergrad advisor." - Nancy Davis
• Summer 2019

• "When a deadline is tight, the CoE IT team makes it right! Jason Fearing, Brian Donnelly and Dean Bunn came to our rescue! A space assumed to be cleared and ready for renovation work, was found with many computers, keyboards and cable connections still in place just before demolition was to begin.They were short staffed and our request was entirely last minute, but they made it happen. Jason, Brian and Dean rushed through the doors with carts in hand and within a very short time the room was empty. Thanks to them, when the demo crew arrived everything was ready to go! We appreciated their quick response and their great attitudes!!" - Susan  Lopez
  
  "I’d like to recognize Stephani Shone on the facilities team. Stephani’s attention to detail, thoughtfulness and ability to think on her feet helped make my office move seamless. She anticipates your needs and concerns before you can even voice them, and thinks ahead to issues that may arise. I also greatly appreciate Stephani’s good cheer and sense of humor, even when faced with challenging situations. We are so lucky to have Stephani in the college!" - Aditi Risbud Bartl
  
  "I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the Computer Science Staff for all their hard work this past academic year. Every one of them is an asset to the department and contributes to the success of our department every day. Each one of them has their strengths and all of them work hard on a daily basis to provide great customer service to the students, faculty, and other customers who we interact with on a regular basis. This past year has been a challenging one with continued on-boarding of 8 new faculty in the past 2 years and record numbers in both UG and Grad students. CS Staff Rock!" - Meshell Louderman
   

  "The ESDC staff would like to thank Elsa Rojas Perez for her immense amount of patience as we all struggled to understand the Aggie Travel system. Thank you Elsa for answering our inquiries and visiting us in the shop to fix our confusion." - Shawn Malone, David Kehlet and Sherry Batin

• Spring 2019
• “The College of Engineering Shared Service Staff (Norma Andrade, Denise Bray, Irma Cerna, Pia Flory, Jill Kessler, and Kathy Sanche) who are responsible for purchasing and account payables for the entire college are doing a great job! They have overcome many obstacles in the last 8 months, since moving back to the campus from Cousteau Place. They've worked through supervision and staffing changes, location changes, campus closure, process changes and new systems. With each change, they’ve adapted and continued to work hard. We are very proud of where this team is, given the many obstacles they've overcome." — Submitted by Meshell Louderman and Susan Lopez
  
  
   “I'd like to publicly thank the CS Staff Advisors (Alyssa Bates, Thao Pham, Jason Sison, and Jessica Stoller) for all their hard work this past year. The past 12 months have been exceptionally trying for our department as we have dealt with many distressing students, an enormous workload, and a lack of resources. While the Grad and Undergrad areas have their own challenges within their respective programs, one thing has been constant; lots of students. This group of talented professionals have worked hard, and often times work together, to brainstorm ideas on how best to overcome challenges and how best to communicate change and respond to possible distressing students. I am grateful to have these four amazing staff on our team. I also want to acknowledge the hard work that all the COE Department Advisors do on a daily basis. You all Rock!!” — Submitted by Meshell Louderman
  
  “Justin Hall is like a super hero. He is everywhere, all the time, trying to keep the people and places in our college happy and safe by coordinating and managing the many, many, many requests and projects. With a smile and gentle tone both in person and in email, he makes you always feel valued and heard. He is always following up and checking in to keep things moving as well. I don’t understand where all the work fits in his 8 hour day, but I’m probably not supposed to comprehend how a super hero handles things.” — Submitted by Susan Lopez
  
  “Kudos to: all of the advisors, faculty, and staff across the college that assisted with Decision UC Davis, including the folks in the EUO departments; Francesca, Molly, and Noah from the MarComm team; Mayra Zamora for all her work with the commencement speaker interview/selection scheduling, UGEP, Ghausi award selection, and so much more!; Natasha Coulter for all her work on the Senior Design Showcase, including wrangling all the teams to get signed up; All the staff who assisted with the Undergraduate Research Conference, but especially Shadaya Litt for being the COE point person; Jordan Dade and Nancy Davis for presenting at next week’s UC Academic Advising Conference, hosted by UC Santa Cruz; Lisa Laughter for all her efforts for the college related to staff wellness and Joao Pedro Monteiro Pajaro, and Lauren Uyesaka, our soon to be graduating student peer advisors.” — Submitted by David B. Spight
  
  “Lisa Ronco is an awesome grad advisor and was chosen to be the recipient of this year's Award for Excellence in Service to Graduate Students! What an honor to be recognized by our graduate students. She is currently on maternity leave and we look forward to her return in August.” — Submitted by Felicia Smith
• Winter 2018
• “Today, Dean Bunn and Jason Fearing stepped in quickly (during the lunch hour) to help us get computers set up for our student assistants (in Shared Service: Purchasing). This wasn't their project, but they stepped in, in the absence of their co-workers, so that our students had minimal down time. Their quick response and thorough job is much appreciated.” – Submitted by Meshell Louderman
  
  “Shadaya Litt has had a huge job, coordinating things for the ABET review and site visit. She's been organized and tried to keep departments on task for a successful review. I know she's put in a lot of work on this project.” – Submitted by Meshell Louderman
  
  “Rachel LeBrett has done an outstanding job in helping out with the preparation for the ABET visit. She has helped in putting together course binders with so much attention to detail and coordinated with faculty on missing items, to make sure the materials are all ready for the review. She has put in extra hours, worked through lunch, and came in on a planned vacation day to help make sure these were all ready in advance of the review.” – Submitted by Lauren Worrell