Alex Garcia, senior programmer in the CALS Office of Information Technology, received the Core Value Staff Award for Problem Solving at a ceremony Nov. 5 celebrating research, extension and staff excellence at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).
The award is given to the team or individual who exercises sound judgment to make decisions and meet deliverables; demonstrates innovative, creative and informed risk-taking; anticipates obstacles and generates alternatives; and negotiates to find and orchestrate win-win solutions.
Garcia has been instrumental in the development of many of the applications used in CALS. These programs standardize processes, automate tasks and improve the efficiency of the faculty and staff. He was the chief architect of several linked systems to help researchers manage greenhouse and farm space requests, bill for services and track funding approvals.
In 2016, he worked with CALS departments to develop a system to streamline a laborious paper process required to certify federally funded research. Ninety-three percent of department managers rated the system an improvement, estimating that the system saved them more than 150 hours of work.
"Since then, most colleges across the university have adopted the system so that approximately 70 percent of the certifications at Cornell are reviewed using this system," said Kathryn J. Boor, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of CALS.
"This award is a testament to Alex’s hard work and exemplary performance in support of the Cornell CALS mission. Thank you, Alex," said Boor at the ceremony.
► Meet all of our 2018 Research, Extension and Staff Award winners
