Alexandra Rivas is a fifth-year student employee who is double majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering and pursuing double minors in Sustainability in the Built Environment and Construction Management and Engineering. Alexandra worked for UC Davis Conference and Events Services before accepting a position in the Energy and Engineering Office as a Green Buildings intern in the fall of 2020.   

As part of the Green Buildings Team, her goal is to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for existing campus buildings by assessing the building’s features. Alexandra’s role has been to research the indoor environmental quality of project buildings by using the facilities databases, researching green products and alternatives, and performing calculations on their performance. An example of this type of research and calculations in the current project building is that one of the LEED credits requires documenting all the light controls, windows, and blinds in the rooms to check that occupants are receiving quality lighting during regular work hours.  

One of Alexandra’s favorite parts of her job is the supportive and collaborative environment. She likes working with the other teams in ECO, such as the communications team who help promote Sustainability on social media with fun and compelling messaging. Alexandra works with campus partners outside of the ECO department who help achieve the LEED credits by providing building information or taking them on walkthroughs. Alexandra states, “I get to learn something new from everyone involved, and I feel motivated working with a group who shares similar goals.”  

Alexandra is hoping to use her degree to design and build sustainable solutions that address ongoing global problems. She is interested in working on the civic infrastructure that engages environmental and social sectors like mitigating climate change and enhancing social equality. Alexandra is also involved in other campus organizations like CALESS (Chicanx and Latinx Engineers and Scientists Society) and Engineers Without Borders. She works on the Peru Project Team to improve La Huaylla in northern Peru’s failing water distribution system. In addition, with free time, you may find her watching the European soccer league or basketball, swimming, spending time outside, or in true Davis fashion riding her bike.