R. Umashankar (Uma), RLA, LEED AP is the Executive Director, Physical and Environmental Planning for the University of California, Irvine and has dedicated the last twenty years of his career to higher education, both from within the University of California campuses of Irvine and Riverside, and in private consulting.

His experiences have helped shaped a comprehensive understanding of the many facets of campus planning, including the complex layering and reconciliation of vision, strategy, program, place, capital, compliance, and sustainability. Over the years, he has led and/or participated in numerous complex planning and design efforts tackling challenging issues and competing priorities.

As the executive director of physical and environmental planning, he leads UC Irvine’s campus planning office. Uma has a Batchelor’s Degree in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture (New Delhi, India) and a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.