Sister act: Building community together

Building our community is the theme for this year's Alumni Homecoming Luncheon, UAA's largest alumni event. Few speakers embody that theme better than civil engineering alumni - and sisters - Melissa Branch and Stephanie Mormilo. For more than two decades, they have literally helped to build Anchorage, shaping both the city's infrastructure and the professional community that supports it.

"What I love most about civil engineering is that I get to build the community that we live in and help people solve problems," said Branch.

"The way my brain works, I've always liked the problem-solving components of civil engineering," added Mormilo. "But as I've gone through my career, some of the things that I've really come to like is that a lot of what I do involves people and civilization."

Mormilo has done this through her work in both the public and private sectors. As Anchorage's Municipal Traffic Engineer from 2011 to 2020, she oversaw everything from traffic signals to road design, ensuring the city's streets remained safe for residents. Since then, she has returned to private practice at HDL Engineering Consultants LLC where she applies her expertise to projects across the city with a focus on practical solutions that keep people moving intuitively.

Branch, meanwhile, has approached community building from an entrepreneurial side. As founder of Big City Engineers - which just celebrated its 10-year anniversary in August - she specializes in site design, helping businesses, neighborhoods and nonprofits bring their projects from conception to realization.

Over the course of their careers, Branch and Mormilo have watched civil engineering in Anchorage evolve. Projects have become more complex as technological advancements, environmental considerations and public expectations have grown. Despite such developments, the fundamentals - listening to community needs, solving problems creatively and applying technical expertise - remain unchanged.

In addition to designing roads, sites and neighborhoods, the sisters have been instrumental in shaping the local engineering community itself. Both have served in leadership roles within the Alaska Chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, advocating for women in STEM by providing mentoring and scholarship opportunities. They have also extended their advocacy back to campus. Both serve on the UAA College of Engineering Advisory Board, where they help ensure the curriculum remains responsive to industry needs and continues preparing graduates to thrive in the field.

"There are still challenges of young women seeing themselves, not just as engineers, but as leaders in engineering," said Mormilo. "A lot of what we do in our careers and through outreach is show people that it's possible. If we can do it, you can do it. If nothing else, just talking to kids and seeing them light up when they realize somebody who's doing engineering work went to the same schools they did. Sometimes those little connections make a big difference."

This commitment to community traces back to their time as students. Both credit the university with providing them not only with a strong technical foundation taught by accomplished faculty, but with connections that continue to shape their careers, as many of their classmates have similarly become local industry leaders.

"All those hours studying together are the beginning of your tight-knit group. Then when you enter into the wider engineering community, you still have those relationships," said Branch. "It's funny, I had a colleague consult with me on a challenging project I was working on only because we went to school together. He joked that he wouldn't even be having this conversation with anyone else. UAA was a huge part of the beginning of that community for us."

Their decision to pursue civil engineering goes back even further. Both sisters point to their father - who performed avionics tests for the Air Force, dubbing him "an engineer at heart but not by degree" - as their earliest influence. He encouraged them to think critically, ask questions and not shy away from technical challenges.

Now accomplished professionals, Branch and Mormilo see themselves in the role their father once played: mentors to those considering a career in engineering. Their advice to students and young professionals is rooted in both realism and encouragement, emphasizing the importance of persistence as engineering projects can be long, complex and full of unexpected setbacks. They also stress the value of building relationships, since so much of the work depends on collaboration across teams, agencies and communities. Above all, they encourage future engineers to be open and present.

"Be open and say yes to things, because then you figure out what you like and what you don't," said Branch. "And be open who you learn from. It wasn't always the principal, engineer or boss who I learned from. Sometimes it's the guys in the field or the contractors who you learn the most from. It isn't always a title, and if you are open to that, I feel like the opportunities are endless."

"Always be part of the conversation, even if you're not ready to be at the table," added Mormilo. "Sometimes I would put myself out there to do jobs I didn't know how to do. It was scary, but it was also what helped me advance my career. Something else our dad told us is to always ask the question, because a lot of the time the worst thing they're going to tell you is no. But what if they don't?"