ANTHC’s Environmental Health and Engineering interns gain real-world engineering experience
July 14, 2017
ANTHC is committed to strengthening our Alaska Native and American Indian workforce and developing future Alaska Tribal Health System leaders by offering a number of summer internships.
ANTHC’s Environmental Health and Engineering interns are in the swing of a busy summer. Six interns are traveling across the state and working on a variety of projects, from energy audits to operator training.
Katrina Brown, from Anchorage, is one of two interns serving in the Environmental Health and Engineering’s project management department. She is assisting with project assessments, final inspections and funding efforts as well as with the Portable Alternative Sanitation System (PASS) program. Her work so far has taken her to Alatna, Allakaket, Angoon, Chalkyitsik, Kake, Nanwalek and Tatitlek. Katrina is a junior majoring in civil engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She will continue her travels this fall when she attends the University of Hawaii at Manoa through the National Student Exchange program.
Aaliq Rowland, who grew up in Anchorage and Nome, is also interning in the project management department. He is working to connect water and sewer service to homes in Galena and Fort Yukon and learning the ins and outs of procurement and project planning and funding. Aaliq is a senior mechanical engineering major at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). This is his second year interning with ANTHC. Last summer he worked in the Tribal Utility Support office. He would like to return to ANTHC after graduation.
Cody Kapotak, originally from Portage Creek in Southwest Alaska, is this summer’s Tribal Utillity Support intern. His projects include performing facility upgrades, writing manuals, creating instructional wall charts, and providing training for local operators in Newhalen, Stony River and Newtok. Cody, who previously served four years in the Marines, is a junior attending UAA and is majoring in environment and society. He plans to pursue a master’s degree in environmental health, join the U.S. Indian Health Service Commissioned Corps and work in Alaska.
Andrea Moreno is finishing up a year-long internship with ANTHC’s Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative (ARUC) office. During the past year, she worked on a number of projects, from heat recovery to raw water intake lines, and has traveled across the state, from Scammon Bay to Savoonga. Andrea graduated in May from UAA with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. She will transition to a full-time position in ARUC.
ARUC is also hosting Andrew Akelkok this summer. Andrew, an intern from the UAA ANSEP Summer Bridge program, has been reviewing water and sewer system plan sets, preparing materials lists, and will be assisting ARUC staff on trips to Russian Mission and Chignik Lagoon. Andrew, from Dillingham, graduated high school this spring. He enrolled in college classes through the University of Alaska Bristol Bay Campus while in high school and will enter the mechanical engineering program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks this fall.
Aidan Hellen, from Anchorage, is working in the Environmental Health and Engineering’s energy office. He is performing assessments for remote monitoring and heat recovery projects and will provide on-site assistance with water plant energy audits. Aidan comes to ANTHC through the First Alaskans Institute internship program. He is a civil and environmental engineering major in his senior year at Stanford University. After graduation, he would like to work in Southeast Alaska, where he has family roots.
Internships and other job opportunities with ANTHC are available for application at https://www.anthc.org/anthc-job-openings/.
Read about last year’s Environmental Health and Engineering interns here: Summer interns help drive ANTHC forward: Environmental Health and Engineering