To the UC Davis community:
 
I want to start this month by recognizing that national decisions surrounding higher education continue to cause uncertainty and concern. Many members of our community feel particularly vulnerable and afraid of what’s next. Please know that I hear you and I see you. Across the University of California system and here at UC Davis, we are doing all we can to support you. Some of our efforts take place behind the scenes and out of the spotlight. Just because you don’t hear directly from me doesn’t mean I’m not working nearly around the clock on a variety of issues on your behalf. I am firmly committed to doing all I can to make sure we can continue to thrive and be resilient in times of constant change and challenges.
 
Most recently, I want to affirm our commitment to those in our community facing uncertainty due to recent federal action affecting their eligibility to stay in the United States. Your scholarship and presence are invaluable to our community. You are integral to who we are. We recognize this is a challenging time for many on our campus, so please know that our community is here to support you in any way we can. Resources for anyone needing support are available here.
 
Our students have a chance to make their voices heard for their next ASUCD leaders. Voting takes place between April 21-25. Learn more about the candidates and voting on the elections website, and be sure to cast your ballot. Make sure your voice is heard.

Aggie Square rising

After eight years of planning, collaborative effort and construction, I am thrilled to announce that Aggie Square is finally becoming a reality. On May 2, we’ll cut the ribbon, marking the opening of the first buildings and the beginning of a new future for research, innovation and opportunity at UC Davis. I invite you to the ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening celebration. We’re anticipating a big crowd, so be sure to RSVP soon. If you are traveling from Davis, consider taking the Causeway Connection bus.
 
As an electrical engineer and university leader, I have always believed in the unmatched power of connectivity to transform potential into success. Since my arrival at UC Davis, I have been committed to building bridges between our students and researchers with industry partners and deepening the connections between our Davis and Sacramento campuses.
 
Our public-private partnership at Aggie Square, with Wexford Science & Technology designing, financing and constructing the buildings on university property, will do just that. Together, we’ll link our UC Davis community with entrepreneurs and our neighbors to foster shared prosperity and spur innovation at UC Davis, across the entire region and beyond.
 
Students are already experiencing the benefits of these integrated connections. Working in collaboration with Assistant Professor A. Haven Kiers’ landscape architecture studio, students in Professor Timothy McNeil’s environmental graphic design course spent time at the site, developing simulated informational and wayfinding graphics for a course project. In their work, students Stella Barretto, a third-year design and cognitive science major, and Zoe Romine, a fourth-year design major, represented the history of the Oak Park neighborhood with brick and incorporated the motif of ride tickets from the old State Fair site where Aggie Square sits today.
 
They were particularly proud of their patchwork mosaic design showcasing the unity of UC Davis, Oak Park, local businesses and the lived history of residents. Both credit the course for providing a real client experience. Feedback from the Aggie Square team and working architects helped them envision how their coursework will transition directly into careers.
 
The site is filled with energy and optimism. Faculty and staff are rapidly occupying new labs and workspaces in 200 Aggie Square, a seven-story lab building, and 300 Aggie Square, an eight-story classroom and office building. Anova Aggie Square, a mixed-use residential building with 190 apartments, will welcome its first residents in June, and expanded parking is already available at the site.

Unlocking the power of an innovation ecosystem

Aggie Square is a new kind of development in Sacramento and for our university, one unleashing the power of UC Davis research in a sustainable innovation ecosystem. Creators, researchers and entrepreneurs will develop ideas side-by-side at Aggie Square, working together to improve the health and well-being of people and the planet.
 
Imagine a space where students can acquire fundamental knowledge in classrooms, collaborate with the nation’s most innovative faculty to address global challenges and gain essential hands-on skills like developing prototypes to solve these problems before presenting them to investors who can transform their visions into reality.
 
Even the architecture of Aggie Square is designed as a place for spontaneous connection. Its unique buildings and spaces, from shared labs to inviting places to gather, create a hub where researchers can harness unexpected synergies to drive groundbreaking innovation.
 
When those innovations move from concept to prototype, the newly renamed Tech Foundry, which will expand to Aggie Square in a new facility five times larger than its current space on the Davis campus, will take them to the next level. Tech Foundry helps UC Davis researchers and private companies with end-to-end design, development and manufacturing services, helping them to bridge the gap between concept and proof-of-concept prototypes.
 
Support for these innovations won’t stop there. UC Davis Health Venturesand Venture Catalyst are the university’s commercialization and venture-building arms focused on bringing human health innovation to life. Part of the UC Davis Innovation and Economic Development Office, they will offer programming and services on-site to help university researchers accelerate and translate their innovations for commercial purposes.
 
Students and researchers can also work alongside region-based innovators at Wexford’s Connect Labs Sacramento. The 50,000-square-foot space offers pre-built and furnished labs, offices and support spaces designed for startups — like those coming out of UC Davis — to expand into their own spaces without incurring the enormous expense of leasing or building and furnishing an entire facility.

Expanding opportunities for our students

Aggie Square will deepen our university’s commitment to ensuring students engage in work across disciplines and gain the expertise to succeed in their careers. Students are already exploring some of these powerful opportunities for interconnected work.
 
A cornerstone project — and the first entirely hosted on-site — is Quarter at Aggie Square, in which a cohort of undergraduate students and a dedicated faculty team focus on a multidisciplinary, themed curriculum.
 
One program, Biomedical Engineering, offers an unprecedented opportunity for students to take courses on-site and participate as observers in surgical rotations at UC Davis Health. Saahil Sachdeva, a fourth-year biomedical engineering student, participated in the experience during his junior year and was a peer mentor this spring.
 
He credits it with connecting him to a career-building internship in a lab at the National Institutes of Health, preparing him for graduate studies and a career in medical device engineering. He says that the most powerful part of his experience was interacting with surgical patients, which made him realize that his career would go beyond simply leveraging and creating the latest technology and extend to responding to the unique needs of each patient.
 
Aggie Square will also expand opportunities for students in the Continuing and Professional Education program. Leveraging the site's capabilities, it will expand hands-on teaching opportunities, continue partnerships to provide training and externships in high-demand health care careers and offer expanded lifelong learning opportunities for students across the Causeway. Please stop by their booth at the May 2 celebration to learn more.

Exploring the frontiers of knowledge

New opportunities for students are in the planning stages right now. With 60% of the Aggie Square site devoted to UC Davis research, teaching and innovation initiatives, we are extending our footprint and building stronger connections between our campuses.
 
Next fall, the Master of Engineering in Medical Device Development, the first graduate degree program specifically designed for Aggie Square, will admit its first cohort of students. Students in the program will develop skills to produce engineering concepts into scalable, market-ready devices, culminating with a capstone project that transforms UC Davis research into practical designs.
 
For the first time, our UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine — ranked once again as the No. 1 program in the country — is expanding outside its Davis campus. The UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, renowned for its innovative animal DNA testing and genetic services, is planning to be a part of the Aggie Square community to accelerate life-changing discoveries and advance human and animal health by connecting with industry partners and other UC Davis researchers.
 
The School of Medicine is another key partner at Aggie Square. About 350 of the school’s researchers are relocating to state-of-the-art spaces that will foster novel research, education, community and private-industry collaborations. The school’s multidisciplinary research teams and affiliated centers will conduct collaborative studies focusing on public health, health policy, emerging technologies in neurosciences, cancer, surgical biomedical engineering and musculoskeletal research. The Department of Veterans Affairs, a longstanding and crucial school partner, will be a significant research collaborator at Aggie Square.   
 
Aggie Square will also enhance educational opportunities for biomedical and health professions students and clinicians with leading-edge anatomical and surgical training capabilities, as well as continuing education programs. 

Showcasing the power of partnerships

Strong connections depend on being good neighbors. From the outset, the development at Aggie Square prioritized collaboration with the neighborhood. Aggie Square is intentionally designed to embrace the community by providing dedicated spaces for interaction, meeting facilities and displays of local art.
 
The Community Benefits Partnership Agreement guides this work. It commits to supporting affordable housing, a community fund, workforce development, community access and connections to nearby businesses.
 
As we move toward the ribbon cutting, this development highlights the power of public-private partnerships to achieve incredible results for our university, community and economy.
 
UC Davis plays a powerful role in driving those economic benefits. A recent Economic & Planning Systems Inc. analysis found that our university creates 61,700 jobs and drives $9.57 billion of economic impact in the region. Aggie Square, which will generate $500 million in regional economic output and support 3,200 jobs annually, will propel that impact even further.
 
That partnership is at the heart of the Sacramento region’s emergence as a hub for life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceutical development. With Sacramento already ranked No. 2 in the country for life science growth and No. 3 for diversity in STEM, Aggie Square is positioned to lead us into this future.
 
The grand opening is just the beginning of a new era of opportunity and interconnected prosperity for UC Davis and the entire region. In the coming months and years, I look forward to sharing more stories about our efforts to turn the ideas coming from UC Davis into practical innovations that serve our neighborhoods, state and world.
 
Our core belief in the power of connection, whether supporting each other during these challenging times or envisioning a healthier, more prosperous world, defines us as Aggies and points the way to a brighter future ahead.
 
I hope you’ll join us on May 2 as we start this next exciting chapter together!

Sincerely,

Gary S. May
Chancellor