{"id":86489,"date":"2026-01-15T18:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=86489"},"modified":"2026-02-13T23:47:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:47:51","slug":"out-of-sight-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/out-of-sight-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Out-of-Sight Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"
Key component upgrades bring reliability, sustainability and safety improvements to Eastern\u2019s Rozell Physical Plant.<\/h6>\n

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Weaving his way through a warren of ductwork, piping and electrical conduits, past boilers and chillers, condensers and blowers, Matt Deppa, chief engineer at EWU\u2019s physical plant operation, pauses in front of a 10-inch programmable logic control display. After a quick look, he turns toward a visitor. \u201cHere\u2019s the thing,\u201d Deppa says, his voice rising to be heard above the rumble and whirr of machinery, \u201ca lot of people really don\u2019t know what we do in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A cooling tower at EWU’s Rozell Physical Plant Building.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn here,\u201d is EWU\u2019s Rozell Physical Plant building, an unprepossessing structure perched above the corner of Elm and Washington streets. What they \u201cdo\u201d in there is operate and maintain the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems that keep Eastern comfortably habitable through every season of the year.<\/p>\n

Now, thanks to a combination of a $20 million state budget appropriation and targeted grants, Deppa and the rest of the Rozell crew are two years into a multi-faceted overhaul, one that includes key structural and component changes. The goal? To boost the reliability, sustainability and safety of Eastern\u2019s heating and cooling systems for decades to come.<\/p>\n

Upgrades already in place include two new high-efficiency, low-emission boilers that provide safer, more consistent heating with less fuel. There are also five new liquid-cooled \u201cchillers\u201d \u2014 massive units that cool water used by campus buildings for air conditioning \u2014 along with four new cooling towers that boost the chilling system\u2019s performance. Electrical upgrades include moving high-voltage switches previously located in Eastern\u2019s tunnel loop, to safer, above-ground locations.<\/p>\n

For the crew members who operate and maintain this dizzyingly complex array of infrastructure \u2014 many of whom, like Deppa, learned the trade while serving on ships with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps \u2014 changes in the 1970s-era facility were welcome indeed.<\/p>\n

On a recent tour, Steve Schmedding, EWU\u2019s facilities engineer and senior project manager, joined up with Deppa to show off the new additions. Schmedding, a Navy veteran, explained how identifying modernization priorities, then obtaining funding and moving forward, has been a 10-year-long process. \u201cOur plans are in a binder that\u2019s 80-pages thick, at least,\u201d Schmedding says. He estimates that work on the whole of the plan is just over half-way to completion.<\/p>\n

For his part, Deppa says showing off the fruits of this planning is something he\u2019s always happy to do. Usually that means tours for students, faculty members and community groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great when people are interested,\u201d Deppa says. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely proud of the work we do here.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Key component upgrades bring reliability, sustainability and safety improvements to Eastern\u2019s Rozell Physical Plant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":86491,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-86489","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-campus","stories_categories-featured","stories_tags-fall-winter-2025-26"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_byline":false,"display_featured_image":false,"display_date_published":false,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_override_title":"","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false,"page_persona_bar_default_tab":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86677,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86489\/revisions\/86677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}