CoEng Advisory Board Members

Melissa Branch

Owner / Principal Engineer, Big City Engineers, LLC

Anchorage is home to Melissa, despite having grown up as an Air Force brat. She graduated from Bartlett High School and obtained her civil engineering degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage in May 2000.

Melissa recently found herself following her father's advice again (he's the one who encouraged her into engineering). She made the leap and is now the proud owner and principal engineer of Big City Engineers, LLC, a boutique civil engineering firm. Melissa prefers site design, working with a team of architects and other engineers to design sites that complement the building use and connect the site to the community. She has worked on several projects at UAA, including the ANSEP and Integrated Science buildings and appreciates the full circle of growing the university that helped mold her.

Melissa brings connection, accomplishment, and integrity with her as an engineer and an active member of the community. She is passionately involved with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) - mentoring new leaders, raising funds for scholarships, assisting the UAA Collegiate Section, and participating in SWE's many outreach events. Besides SWE, she is a long-standing member of the Anchorage E-Week Steering Committee, helping celebrate engineering in Alaska. She has recently shifted gears from fundraising chair to scholarship chair, giving away the money she worked so hard to help raise. She was honored by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce as one of 2009's Top 40 under 40.

Melissa's most challenging project to date is motherhood. Her son, Dominic, was born in July 2013 and keeps both her and her husband, Robert, on their toes.

Daniel Burton

Photo Coming Soon

Daniel Burton

Lead Engineer, Anchorage Infrastructure Engineering Group

Bio Coming Soon

Dr. Jack Colonell

Principal, JMColonell Associates

Joseph M. (Jack) Colonell, PE, PhD, F.ASCE, has more than four decades experience as a consultant, business manager, and teacher. As a consultant, he has provided engineering and environmental science support to industrial and governmental clients throughout Alaska, the Lower-48, and several locations abroad. His consulting practice has focused on design and performance monitoring of coastal and offshore resource developments with the objective of ensuring their safety and engineering integrity, while also assessing and mitigating their potentially adverse environmental effects. Jack is an experienced business operations manager, having served in that capacity for three environmental consulting firms in Alaska for more than 20 years, including establishment of project offices in Azerbaijan and Venezuela, where he was responsible for conducting business in accordance with local regulations and customs, and for recruiting, hiring, and managing the local staff.

Prior to his consulting career, Jack was Professor of Civil & Ocean Engineering at University of Massachusetts Amherst, and of Marine Science at University of Alaska Fairbanks. As an academic, his research interests included ocean waves, coastal processes, and estuarine hydrodynamics. Jack developed and taught the inaugural course in Coastal Engineering at both UAF and UAA, and subsequently, as Adjunct Professor at UAA. He has published numerous papers on his research and consulting activities.

Jack earned BS, MS, and PhD in civil engineering, respectively, from Univ. of Colorado, Washington State Univ., and Stanford Univ. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied coastal engineering at Delft Technological University, Netherlands. He is a registered Professional Civil Engineer in Alaska and Washington. He is a Fellow and Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and he also holds Diplomate status in Coastal and Ocean Engineering from the ASCE Academy of Coastal, Ocean, Port and Navigation Engineers.

Matt Emerson

Senior Vice President, RESPEC

Matt Emerson serves as Senior Vice President at RESPEC, whose other services include Mining & Energy, Water & Natural Resources, and Data &Technology. Matt’s career spans over 35 years in Alaska’s construction and engineering industries.

Starting as a structural engineer at PDC Engineers in Alaska, he progressively rose to become the company’s president. When RESPEC acquired PDC Engineers in 2020, Matt assumed his current position. Under Matt’s leadership, RESPEC engineers are actively supporting Alaskan infrastructure projects and resource development.

Committed to giving back, Matt participates in non-profit initiatives, including a key role in re-establishing the Structural Engineers Association of Alaska. In addition to serving on the UAA CoEng Advisory Board, Matt volunteers in several state and local AEC organizations. Matt also enjoys coaching youth sports and supporting Alaska’s music and arts community.

Mark Frischkorn - Vice Chair

Mark Frischkorn

Mark Frischkorn - Vice Chair

Vice President, Principal Mechanical Engineer, RSA Engineering, Inc

Mark has been working in the building design and construction field in various capacities since 1990, including a time in USAF Civil Engineering, as well as time as a building maintenance mechanic and a building controls contractor . He has been with RSA Engineering, Inc since 2000. RSA Engineering is a mechanical and electrical consulting firm that has been providing designs around Alaska since 1983. As a Vice President of the firm and a Principal Mechanical Engineer, Mark is responsible for business development as well as managing mechanical projects and is extremely capable of designing and leading projects including HVAC systems, plumbing systems, fire protection systems, and building automation systems.

Mark has served on the Municipality of Anchorage IFC code review committee since the 2003 code cycle. Since 2005 Mark has been the instructor for the mechanical design portion of ES A411 Northern Building Design at UAA, the course that Architects and Engineers take for licensure in Alaska. Mark graduated with a Bachelor in Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1990. Mark is a registered mechanical engineer in Alaska and Idaho, and is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, the National Fire Protection Association, and the International Code Council.

Virginia Groeschel

Project Manager, Civil Engineer, Alaska District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

Virginia graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering (2006), and a Master of Science in Project Management (2020). Virginia has 20 years experience in civil and transportation engineering, along with construction. Her engineering expertise includes primarily airport and roadway design, water and sewer design, project and construction management, airport planning, along with utility conflict analysis and coordination.

Virginia’s community volunteer work includes: Region 8 Governor of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and past president (vice president, treasurer, secretary) for the ASCE Alaska Section and ASCE Anchorage Branch as well as Past-Chairwoman for the US Fencing Association (USFA)-Alaska Division. She is a Past-President and Co-Founder of the Engineers Without Borders UAA Student Chapter. As a graduate student, Virginia was the UAA Robotics team Project Manager and Engineer Mentor, helping the team qualify for the first time to the international robotics competition, the University Rover Challenge. As a competitive fencer and coach, she volunteered as a fencing instructor with the local Anchorage Woodland Park Boys and Girls Club Sports Program. Virginia is also active as a parent-volunteer at her son’s school parent teacher association (PTA). Virginia is the 2014 UAA Alumni of Distinction Emerging Leader recipient and is currently the President of the UAA College of Engineering Alumni Chapter.

Virginia is an Alaskan grown engineer, growing up in Kodiak, Alaska when her father was stationed at the Kodiak Air Station Base with the U.S. Coast Guard. She now lives in Anchorage with her husband, Mark, and son, Stefan. Virginia currently works for the Alaska District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a Project Manager/Civil Engineer in the Army Projects Section.

Paloma Hawn

Director, Estimating, Pre-Plan, and Program Engineering, GCI

Paloma Hawn is a Telecommunications Engineering Director at GCI with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alaska Anchorage. She brings extensive expertise in designing, implementing, and optimizing RF Satellite systems, with a particular strength in ground station technologies. Paloma is adept at managing teams working on large-scale projects and leveraging industry-standard tools to ensure the reliability and performance goals are met across all segments of the network.

In addition to their technical acumen, Paloma has significant experience in project estimating, providing accurate assessments and strategic planning for telecommunications infrastructure projects. Committed to advancing technology and fostering innovation, she strives to lead teams to deliver exceptional results while staying at the forefront of industry trends and emerging technologies.

James Hemsath

James R. Hemsath

Managing Director, IntegrityOne, LLC

Dr. James (Jim) Hemsath has forty years' experience managing large projects and economic development in the Arctic. As Director of Project Development and Asset Management AIDEA, Jim had responsibility for nearly $500 million in key infrastructure, including the Red Dog mine Port Complex. In addition to his time at AIDEA, Jim has thirty years' experience managing large projects, predominately in the oil and gas fields. As a member of the U.S. Department of Energy's Arctic Energy Office he managed research projects at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. As a Senior Fellow at the Institute of the North he developed and led an International Polar Year project on Arctic Energy. He was a recipient of a NASA Faculty Fellowship to Kennedy Space Center.

Dr. Hemsath has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and Master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management). Jim received his Doctor of Management from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University where his research focused on understanding multiparty collaboration that crosses borders and spans cultures; specifically looking at collaboration as an emergent property from the interaction of empathy, trust, identity and shared vision. His current research is looking at how an iterative adaptive shared vision could trigger collaboration in a teaming environment.

He was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior to serve on the Science and Technical Advisory Panel of the North Slope Science Initiative, is a member of Alaska’s State Committee on Research (SCoR), and a member of the Board of Directors for the Alaska Aerospace Corporation. He also sits on advisory boards for the College of Engineering and the Honors College at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Jim is a licensed Professional Engineer and a certified Project Management Professional.

Dr. Alex Hills

Dr. Alex Hills
President, Alex Hills Associates

Dr. Alex Hills is Distinguished Service Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Engineering & Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also Distinguished Affiliate Professor of Electrical Engineering at UAA.

Dr. Hills worked in the 1970s and 1980s to build public radio stations across rural Alaska and to develop the state's telecommunications networks so that even small villages could receive radio, television and telephone service. In those days, he was known to radio listeners as "Alex in the Morning.” His work in rural Alaska and the many resulting adventures are described in his book, “Finding Alaska’s Villages: And Connecting Them.”

At Carnegie Mellon, Alex conceived and built the world's first Wi-Fi network. He tells this story in his book, "Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio." He also works to teach, mentor, and place students as consultants in government agencies and nongovernmental organizations in developing nations. For many of the students, this is a life-changing experience that causes them to refocus their lives. These students and their work appear in another of his books, "Geeks on a Mission."

A former U.S. Army Signal Corps officer and company commander in Korea, Alex is an inventor with eighteen patents, a Fellow of the IEEE, and Alaska's 2007 Engineer of the Year. In 2014, UAA awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 2014 and the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in 2020.

Distinguished Service Professor, Carnegie Mellon University and author.

Finding Alaska’s Villages: And Connecting Them https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Alaskas-Villages-Connecting-Them/dp/1457551101

Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio https://www.amazon.com/Wi-Fi-Bad-Boys-Radio-Technology/dp/1457505606

Geeks on a Mission https://www.amazon.com/Geeks-Mission-Their-Own-Words/dp/1457521741

Andrea Hulman-Watsjold

Aurora Project Engineer, Pacific Dataport, Inc.

Andrea Hulman-Watsjold, P.E. is an RF (radio frequency) and electrical engineer and currently works at Pacific Dataport, Inc. Born and raised in Anchorage, she holds two bachelor degrees: Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Scripps College (2012) and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Alaska, Anchorage (2015). She was honored to be SWE Greatland's Alaska Engineer of the Year nominee for 2022.

Prior to working at Pacific Dataport, Andrea worked at GCI for five years as part of the RF Engineering Team. While there she worked on regulatory compliance projects and maintained satellite infrastructure that provided statewide telephony and internet services. One of her major projects was migrating services statewide from one satellite to another while upgrading aging infrastructure. This required over a year of planning across different departments before execution, which took a further six months. She joined Pacific Dataport in the spring of 2021 and is responsible for designing the hub infrastructure and customer premise equipment to operate with a future communications satellite. She also has been involved with the distribution of OneWeb services statewide.

Andrea has been involved in local professional societies since 2012 when she worked with other students to revive the defunct student chapter of SWE at UAA and served as president for two years. She holds the position of Outreach Chair for SWE Greatland and is active in IEEE, recently serving on the executive board nominating committee. She enjoys outreach and happily participates in events such as UAA’s Women in Engineering Night, the annual E-Week student competitions, Smart Girls Rock, and many others.

In her spare time, Hulman-Watsjold enjoys reading and tabletop gaming with friends. She has performed with the Anchorage Concert Chorus since 2012, including during their recent performance at Carnegie Hall.

Jessica Jacobsen

Contruction Manager, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company

Jessica Jacobsen, MSPM born and raised in Alaska. Active in the remote Alaskan construction industry since 2009. Graduating with her first degree in Construction Management in 2013, as one of the only 4 females in the program. More recently, obtaining her master’s in project management in December 2019. This makes her a part of the 1.5% of Alaska natives with a graduate degree. Her current role as the only female Construction Manager at Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, where her primary responsibilities are monitoring the performance of contractor’s field implementation of maintenance projects. Previously, she worked for ANTHC, where she was again the only female construction manager bringing water and wastewater infrastructure to some of the most rural places in Alaska.

In her free time, Jessica likes to spend time in nature golfing, hiking, cycling, riding her motorcycle, trying new recipes, and traveling to amazing places and music festivals. She stays connected to her university and is President of the Board for University of Alaska Alumni Association. She serves as President and Cofounder of Alaska Indigenous Exchange, Founding Vice President of Katie’s Handprint financially helping families currently in pediatric cancer treatment, Immediate Past President for the National Association of Women in Construction, Alaska Chapter #197, and President of Alaska Engineers Without Boarders.

Loren Leman

Owner, Loren Leman, P.E.

Loren Leman has provided consulting engineering services in Alaska over the past five decades, primarily with water, wastewater and environmental projects. In addition to owning his own civil/environmental engineering consulting firm, he was a project manager for 14+ years with CH2M Hill and worked for 10 years with MLFA. He also served concurrently for 18 years as Representative, Senator and Lieutenant Governor. Loren is the first person of Alaska Native ancestry to be elected to a statewide office in Alaska. He was raised in Ninilchik where he operates a salmon fishing site with his family. Loren has a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University, an M.S. in Civil/Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, and studied Arctic Engineering at UAA. In 1999 he received the national Civil Government Award from ASCE for his work on resource, transportation and education issues in Alaska. Loren and his wife Carolyn raised three children, one a UAA graduate in nursing, and have eight energetic and inquisitive grandchildren.

Ceezar Martinson

Columnist, Anchorage Press

Ceezar Martinson is a lifelong Alaskan who came to the advisory board out of a strong interest in the engineering profession. He is a community activist who has been involved in his community and state on a broad range of policy issues. Most recently he ran for office last year in downtown Anchorage. He is a student at UAA working towards finishing his degree in Political Science and is passionate about supporting the university in its mission to provide the next generation with the tools needed for success in the 21st century.

Boyd Morgenthaler

Principal (retired), AMC Engineers

Boyd Morgenthaler, P.E., retired in 2012 after 40 years of mechanical engineering consulting to pursue a long list of other interests. A specialist in HVAC system design, he cofounded Anchorage-based Adams, Morgenthaler and Company, dba AMC Engineers in 1981 and served as its president and board chairman. Prior to forming AMC he worked with Crews, MacInnes and Hoffman in Anchorage after moving to Alaska from Seattle in1975. Boyd has been involved in hundreds of projects including work on most buildings at UAA. Notable designs include the Sullivan Arena, UAA Rasmussen Center, Dimond High School, Nesbett Courthouse, Anchorage Federal Building HVAC and Control renovation, and the Providence Emergency Power Supply System (EPSS) power plant completed in 2012.

Boyd enjoys a wide range of community service including the Anchorage YMCA (pool consultant), Anchorage International Rotary Memorial Scholarship Fund (board), Anchorage District Soccer Federation (cofounder and past president), Kincaid Project Group (cofounder & past board member), Bayshore/Klatt Community Council and work with numerous professional societies. He is also a major supporter of nursing education.

Morgenthaler received his B.S degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington in 1972 and has been a licensed professional in Alaska since 1979.Over the years he has received several awards and citations for innovative design including the 2002 ASHRAE National Technology Award of Merit for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Hunter Education Building, Fairbanks.

Boyd also enjoys swimming, skiing, rowing, long distance sailing voyages, and newfound time with his wife Kathryn and their four adult children.

Stephanie Mormilo - Chair

Stephanie Mormilo

Stephanie Mormilo - Chair

Senior Civil Engineer, HDL Engineering Consultants, LLC

Raised as an Air Force brat, surprisingly only 4 years of Stephanie's life have been spent outside of Anchorage. As such, she is a product of the Anchorage School District having attended Aurora Elementary, Central Middle School of Science, and Bartlett High School. She graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 2004, and received her professional civil engineering license in Alaska in 2008.

Stephanie recently returned to the consulting world as a senior civil engineer at HDL Engineering Consultants, LLC. She has over 16 years of experience as a transportation/traffic engineer, involved in all aspects of project development, including preliminary engineering, environmental analysis, utility and right-of-way impacts, traffic impact studies, noise analysis, design (e.g., demolition, drainage, signing and striping, signalization, etc.), and construction coordination. Previously, Stephanie was the Traffic Engineer for the Municipality of Anchorage from March 2011 to March 2020.

Stephanie was honored by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce as one of 2012’s “Top 40 Under 40.” She has been an active member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Greatland Chapter for more than a decade, previously serving as their Secretary/Data Officer, Vice President, and President. Stephanie’s sister, Melissa Branch, is also heavily involved in SWE. Together, along with their mother, they sponsor an annual scholarship for young women entering an ABET-accredited college program. In 2020, Stephanie was nominated by SWE Greatland with the honor of being their E-Week Engineer of the Year candidate.

Stephanie loves to travel the world with her husband, Steve, going to such places as London, Paris, Florence, Beijing, Hong Kong, Victoria Falls, and Capetown. She also thoroughly enjoys being an aunt and devoted parent to her fur-babies.

Seth Nicholas

Project Manager, General Mechanical Inc.

Seth Nicholas is a graduate of University of Alaska Anchorage’s Mechanical Engineering program and joined General Mechanical, Inc. in January of 2019. Seth has been blessed with experiences as an intern at several Anchorage organizations, including the State Department of Transportation (Right of Way Department), Q Engineers (Drawings Drafter), and at General Mechanical Inc. (Project Engineer). After graduation, he joined General Mechanical as a full time Project Manager. He has experience working with ventilation systems with wide application ranges from restaurants to hospitals. Currently, Seth is working to fulfill requirements to obtain his Professional Engineering License.

In his spare time, Seth enjoys biking/cycling, hiking, paddle boarding, running, and boating with his wife and family.

James Sauceda

James Sauceda, PE, F. ASCE

Chief, Engineering Division, USACE, Alaska District

James has over 35 years of engineering experience, specializing in leading, managing, and providing technical support for diverse projects both domestically and internationally. His career includes significant roles with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he has contributed to diplomatic, military, civil works, and hazardous waste projects across more than 40 countries.

Currently, James is the Chief of the Engineering Division at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pacific Ocean Division, Alaska District, overseeing a team of over 100 personnel. He directs engineering, construction, and operations activities throughout Alaska and the Asia-Pacific Region.

Before his current position, James served in key roles at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he was the Deputy Chief of Engineering and Construction and the Principal Geotechnical Engineer for the Geotechincal, Geology, and Materials Community of Practice.

His early career as a geotechnical engineer with architectural-engineering consulting firms in Alaska and California laid the groundwork for his federal service. Coming from a military family and growing up in Alaska, James developed a passion for civil engineering while working in the construction field after graduating from Bartlett High School. He earned Bachelor of Science (1987) and a Master of Civil Engineering (1996) degrees from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. James is a Registered Professional Civil Engineer in Alaska and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Jenny Sutton

Staff Reservoir Engineer, ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc.

Jenny’s high school Physics teacher offered extra credit to students who entered the Alaska State Science and Engineering Fair. She picked a project about wind turbines and entered in the “Engineering” division, without really knowing what engineering meant. After winning, and going to the International Science and Engineering Fair, she was set up with an ASD Gifted Mentorship at Chugach Electric with an impactful electrical engineer, the late Steve Gilbert. Over the course of a few months of mentorship, Jenny explored different engineering disciplines, visited several field sites, and developed a zeal for renewable energy.

This experience ultimately led Jenny to who she is today: an impassioned ambassador for STEM education outreach in Anchorage. She has mentored several ASD gifted mentorship students, and enjoys presenting to the Girl Scouts, and visiting classrooms, STEM nights, engineering camps, and science fairs. Jenny believes that moving our community forward requires developing a multitudinous, strong, diverse, capable, and empowered population of engineers to tackle our next challenges.

When she’s not encouraging kindergarteners to become geophysicists, Jenny can be found engineering a future in giant oilfield Kuparuk. As a reservoir engineer, she employs analytical methods, numerical simulation models, data science, and economics to evaluate and design developments for a system engineered by nature. She has worked in numerous oilfields across the North Slope and in Russia.

Jenny is a licensed professional petroleum engineer, with a BS in Civil Engineering from UAA, and a MS in Petroleum Engineering from UAF. As a proud graduate of both schools, her greatest hope is to fully staff the industry in Alaska: good Alaskan jobs for good Alaskan students.

Shelly Thomas

Shelly Thomas, PE, MBA

Director of eCommerce Global, Chart Industries

Shelly Thomas is a professional engineer, technology leader, and advocate for automation in the engineering industry. With over 20 years of experience in engineering, e-commerce, and process optimization, she specializes in leveraging automation and AI-driven tools to improve efficiency and scalability in technical industries.

As the Director of E-Commerce at Chart Industries, Shelly leads the development and optimization of B2B digital commerce strategies for highly engineered equipment and industrial solutions. Focused on streamlining complex product catalogs, improving digital customer experiences, and integrating automation into sales and operations, her team drives initiatives that enhance both efficiency and accessibility in the industry.

In addition to industry leadership, Shelly serves as a member of the University of Alaska Anchorage College of Engineering Advisory Board, supporting the development of future engineers and strengthening industry-academia collaboration. Along with Dr. Jennifer Brock, she Co-Chairs the Women in Engineering Task Force, working to connect professionals, students, and industry leaders through mentorship, skills development, and outreach initiatives. Passionate about innovation and career growth, she's dedicated to helping engineers embrace new technologies and position themselves for leadership.

University of Alaska Anchorage

Bios and Photos

Rusty Allen

Engineering Supervisor, ENSTAR Natural Gas