Peterbilt Truck Parts and Equipment and Silver State International Donate Engines to TMCC
Peterbilt Truck Parts and Equipment and Silver State International donated the latest ISX 15 and ISL9 engines with Allison Transmissions to Truckee Meadows Community College’s (TMCC) Diesel Program at the William N. Pennington Applied Technology Center. Through generosity and community partnership, the state-of-the-art components offer students firsthand experience with a relevant brand used in medium and heavy-duty vehicles. A ceremony was held outside on Aug. 28 with a snow-white cab posing proudly on the pavement leading to the building’s entrance.
Students, faculty, and staff attended to accept this gift of modern equipment, express their gratitude, and inspire Northern Nevada’s next generation of mechanics. Peterbilt Chief Executive Officer John Philips, TMCC President Karin Hilgersom, and Diesel Technology Instructor Kyle Smith gave remarks on the significance of this contribution, bolstering its training for a skilled workforce capable of employment upon certificate completion. Realistic materials used in the classroom reflect industry standards within the discipline, ensuring these apprentices gain an integrated education for future careers.
“Thank you, Mr. John Philips, for this generous donation. Thank you, Charlie Brown, for being the advisory board chair. Of course, thank you to our amazing faculty: Kyle Smith, Jeremy Coggin, and Svend Hellested. Having an outstanding program connecting to the industry takes a village. I’m so grateful. Shout out for the green TMCC lizard color on the shirts. That rocks!” said Hilgersom.
“I remember entering the industry without training or experience and floundered. I didn’t know how things worked, and I made mistakes. Jeremy and I have designed this program to remove the most common errors students make when entering the workforce. Donations like this from Peterbilt and Silver State support help students transition from not knowing anything to confidently and quickly becoming productive employees,” remarked Smith.
TMCC Undergraduate Researchers Present Their Science at INBRE Annual Statewide Meeting
Undergraduate research is a gateway to the visible universe on a global and local scale. In Nevada, the IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) is a haven for those curious about molecular, biodiverse, and environmental phenomena infusing our state’s ecosystem.
On Aug. 20–21, undergraduate researchers presented their research in sessions at the Whitney Peak Hotel. Some students presented printed posters of their work during a 1-hour poster session, and others gave Student Lightning Talks–five minutes each—then a group of students answered questions for 15 minutes.
Kiley Smith, Megan Ramirez, and Jackson Rockwell presented their poster titled Biodiversity of the Great Basin Desert in Museum Specimen Collections. Their mentors were Biology Professors Drs. Megan Lahti and Cecilia Vigil.
Jackson Rockwell and Megan Ramirez stand proudly beside their extensive research poster board at the INBRE statewide meet.
“My portion of the research has been investigating the fungal biodiversity of the Great Basin, starting with cataloging data of mushroom specimens collected to verify which are within the TMCC Natural History Museum (NHM) collection. After finalizing the informational sample spreadsheets, photos and labels are taken and added. This allows us to overlay the results in an ArcGIS [a geographic input system] software file to create detailed visual maps of biological variety, present preserved findings for teaching students, and insight into the mixture and density of organisms within this region of the Sierra Nevada,” said Rockwell, remarking on their substantial analysis.
“Going to school with the expectation that a great job position will fall out of the sky once graduation hits is a fantasy. To get where you want in the world is by exposure. Not pen and paper, but communicating through interactions with others sharing similar intentions. Joining a scientific extracurricular while pursuing studies will get you to where you want in life much more efficiently. INBRE has been a light year of preparation for the real world,” continued Rockwell.
TMCC student Phillips Nguyen gave a talk, Assessing Human Impacts in Urban Green Spaces, and had a poster with co-author Andie Gozza titled Monitoring Water Quality in Evans Canyon and Rancho San Rafael. They were also mentored by Lahti and Vigil.
“Every day is a blessing working with the people in this program. Getting paid to do what I love is the greatest experience ever. None of this would be possible without my mentor Scott McClellan, my academic advisor Dr. Jon Reddick-Lau, and my friend Jennifer Steven,” said Rockwell.
Website Refresh New Look Comes with Bonus Enhancements
You may have noticed the TMCC website’s sleek visual upgrades and user interface recently, constructed to navigate seamlessly between pages with convenient information, news, and resources available at the touch of a mouse click. A welcome video plays upon connecting as links to academic programs, steps to enroll, Financial Aid, campus tours, college statistics, class searches, and upcoming events appear, beckoning you to explore what our institution can offer. Our familiar lime, cider, and frosty-hued text paint the domain, so you’ll notice details in each section, like “2,789 Degrees and certificates awarded to students in 2024.” It’s a familiar, intuitive road map to beginning or continuing your higher education journey.
The internal efforts of Web Services superstars preserve our cyberspace so you can go from registering to earning credits. Over a year in the making, this project first identified areas to improve after a meticulous review, including accessibility, analytics, and responsive or mobile display speed optimization. Next came the design phase, crafting and refining mock-ups until they met their standards. From there, the time-intensive development stage. Countless rounds of review, testing, bug fixes, retesting, and repeat. Following a successful trial run, it was smooth sailing to final production. Deliberately waiting until the semester was underway to avoid disrupting the start, the website refresh went live on Sept. 12.
Front-end features include:
- A revamped homepage with updated photo sliders.
- Seasonal content block.
- A homepage-only banner for important announcements.
- Improved emergency alert functionality with more customization.
- Full-screen YouTube video playback.
- Event downloads for Google Calendar and iCal.
“Shout outs to the incredible team who made this possible. Conrad Wong and Dallin Crane—their tireless efforts, countless hours, and endless patience were the backbone of this project. Through every round of testing and feedback, they never complained. Our student workers—Alaine Obra [who graduated last June] and Dylana Camacho [graduating this June] played a crucial role in supporting the project,” said Cal Anderson, Web Services Director.
“We’ve been working with the KWALL [digital agency] support team, who played a pivotal role, bringing their expertise to the table as we tackled bugs and fine-tuned the site to achieve a polished final product. Thanks also to Kate Kirkpatrick and the Marketing and Communications Office team for their continued and consistent support. This refresh is just the latest milestone in the ongoing evolution of the TMCC website, with much more to come,” continued Anderson.
For more information, please visit the Diesel, Biology, and Web Services websites.