Author: Travis Tate

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Shop Spotlight: Electricians Keep the Score

Ah, sports! There’s speed, strength, balance, timing and guts… but there’s also that fun scoreboard that may keep kids occupied or hype up the crazies. Without the F&S electricians shop, those giant, colorful, engaging scoreboards wouldn’t operate. Although installed by Daktronics, a leader in scoreboards and video and digital signage, you need a primary source of electricity to light up the score, show hype videos, … Continue reading Shop Spotlight: Electricians Keep the Score

Travis Tate
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Shop Spotlight: Elevator Mechanics Talk Testing

When you’re an elevator mechanic, you’re always testing. That’s what these F&S experts do yearly at every one of the 360 cars, dumbwaiters, and chairlifts on campus. When testing, elevator mechanics basically want to make sure that governors, locks, brakes, and doors all operate as they should – the car shouldn’t go too high or too low, should stop at the right place when called, … Continue reading Shop Spotlight: Elevator Mechanics Talk Testing

Travis Tate
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We’re Doing WELL

The Sidney Lu Mechanical Engineering Building (MEB) completed a major transformation in 2022, including over 40,000 square feet added to instructional and research capabilities. It even got a new piece of public and interactive art. Leaders from the building and those in the mechanical science & engineering (MechSE) department, along with help from F&S, invested even more to reach WELL Platinum Certification. To accomplish WELL, … Continue reading We’re Doing WELL

Travis Tate
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Shop Spotlight: Painters ‘Mauve’ It at ISB

The previous color combination of interior painting at the International Studies Building (ISB) atrium, entryway, and main stairwell is either pink or mauve – a color combination popular in 1990, when ground was first broken there. But now, after the F&S painters finished up, the space is a little more welcoming to Illinois specifically, with new orange and blue tactfully chosen to accent the space, … Continue reading Shop Spotlight: Painters ‘Mauve’ It at ISB

Travis Tate
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Girl Scouts Tour Abbott Power Plant 2025

Girl Scouts from Champaign and nearby counties visited Abbott Power Plant in April to learn about the co-generation facility that provides heat and power to most of campustown. There, they interacted with demonstrations held by Grainger College of Engineering students, who showed how electricity and steam work, toured the production floor and other areas of Abbott with Utilities & Energy Services experts, and climbed on … Continue reading Girl Scouts Tour Abbott Power Plant 2025

Travis Tate
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Shop Spotlight: Card Access Opens Doors

The F&S Card Access team keeps campus safe, by changing lock and unlock permissions of individuals on campus. For example, when a new person is hired, they can get in the parts of a building they need to; just as importantly, names and identities can be removed from entrance and exit permissions lists. The i-card holds all the value, as it is the ‘key’ to … Continue reading Shop Spotlight: Card Access Opens Doors

Travis Tate
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2025 Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference: What’s So Cool About Chilled Water

At the 2025 Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference, Mike Larson, director of utility operations at Abbott Power Plant, described part of why the Urbana campus is so remarkable in utility and energy production and distribution: chilled water. Cold water, taken down to 42 degrees Fahrenheit at five chillers in Champaign and Urbana, is pumped throughout the campus in 26 miles of underground pipes to … Continue reading 2025 Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference: What’s So Cool About Chilled Water

Travis Tate
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2025 Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference: Keynote Recap

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a world-leader in teaching, collaboration, research and workforce development – and a conference has helped position Illinois as a leader within the state and region for those who perform similar work to F&S. The Illinois Chief Engineers & Facility Mangers Conference was a two-day gathering held in March, meant to spur discussion and find solutions to common issues at … Continue reading 2025 Chief Engineers & Facility Managers Conference: Keynote Recap

Travis Tate
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Shop Spotlight: Temperature Control Brings the Heat

Like most other past winters in Champaign-Urbana, a cold front hit campus hard in January 2025, causing temperatures to plummet to around 0 degrees Fahrenheit for days on end. That’s when the F&S Temperature Control shop does some of their most important work, bringing the heat to buildings, or parts of buildings, that may start suffering from cold. Most impressively, a combination of efforts helped … Continue reading Shop Spotlight: Temperature Control Brings the Heat

Travis Tate
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F&S Looking for University Construction Vendors: “We Invite You to Join”

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is always looking for more Illinois-based companies to perform the work of designing, building and maintaining facilities and land on campus. A team of attention-detailed F&S Capital Programs experts help businesses cross different thresholds to allow them to bid for work to be done. They are the ones to shepherd the project along, and help contractors earn the opportunity to … Continue reading F&S Looking for University Construction Vendors: “We Invite You to Join”

Travis Tate