MESA helps Quad Knopf serve the Central Valley

From Bakersfield to Roseville to Reno, the Quad Knopf Company helps design, plan and build to improve the infrastructure of Central Valley communities—and MESA is helping to fill the company’s need for quality engineers.

“We’ve had great success in the quality of students from MESA,” said Korinna Pedrosa, Quad Knopf marketing manager. “It’s been a good resource.”

As Quad Knopf has made the Central Valley its specialty area (past major projects have been located in areas such as Visalia, Bakersfield, Fresno, Victorville, Corcoran, Lakeport, Reno, Roseville and Dinuba), engineers from the region who are familiar with Valley communities can be a great asset. About half of the civil engineering graduates from the MESA Engineering Program (MEP) at CSU Fresno are hired by the company.

MESA graduate Nicolyn Hernandez is one of those engineers. “It’s hard for people from the outside to come to the Valley,” said civil engineer Hernandez, who graduated from CSU Fresno in 2003 and has been with the company for four years.

As a student at Bakersfield High School, Hernandez had never considered engineering as a career option. But once she joined MESA (her sister, also a MESA student, introduced her to the program) and learned more about engineering, she knew she had found her career path.

“MESA opened me up to engineering,” Hernandez said. “I saw that I could do anything with a civil engineering degree.” She went on to CSU Fresno as an engineering major and joined the MEP to continue her MESA involvement.

“MEP helps educate students so they know what’s available (in engineering),” said Hernandez. “Companies need people who are from the local areas because they come back (to the Valley).”

She likes Quad Knopf’s energy and involvement in the Latino and broader community, and its support of MESA. “We know Quad Knopf is here for everyone. They try to find people who are a good fit for company positions.”

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