Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak visited the University on Wednesday afternoon, with his tour providing him a view of three key aspects of the University’s mission. Sisolak was accompanied by President Brian Sandoval and Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Melody Rose.

Sisolak visited the Pennington Student Achievement Center, the Laxalt Mineral Engineering Building and the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory.

At the Pennington Student Achievement Center, he toured along with student ambassadors some of the resource centers that are available and accessible to all students at the University.

His visit to the Laxalt Mineral Engineering Building featured a tour of a battery lab led by Materials Science and Engineering Professor Dev Chidambaram, where students and researchers are developing alternative energy sources for transportation.

Gov. Sisolak then met with Dr. Mark Pandori at the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory, where Pandori and his team have helped lead the State’s COVID-19 testing effort.

“I want to thank President Sandoval and those at the University of Nevada, Reno for setting up this incredible visit today. I am constantly impressed by the beautiful campus, brilliant faculty, remarkable students and valuable programs that the University provides,” Sisolak said. “I also took great joy in visiting Dr. Mark Pandori at his lab! He and his team have been instrumental in Nevada’s response to COVID-19. They made test kits by hand, processed thousands of tests at a time and have been sequencing COVID-19 variants to help keep Nevada safe.”

“We all know that Governor Sisolak has been incredibly busy throughout the pandemic, so this visit today was very special for our campus,” Sandoval said. “We loved having the Governor on campus. I appreciated the opportunity to show him around personally. We appreciate Governor Sisolak’s leadership and his ongoing support for the people and programs of our University.”