Employee Profile
Melody Shangin
Electrical Engineer

Why did you want to become an engineer?

After high school, I attended a summer program for students who excelled in math and sciences. I had support and encouragement from school counselors as well as university programs to prepare me for pursuing a technical degree. This program helped in deciding what path to follow. The Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program as well as the American Indian Science and Engineering Society helped me to realize that I had skills to obtain an engineering degree.

Describe some of the work you do for Alyeska.

I worked for Alyeska during the summers in college, including for the Right of Way Maintenance Department, the Operations Engineering South in Valdez, the Above Ground Program in Projects and Fairbanks Engineering. Last year, I was hired full-time in Pipeline Maintenance Engineering in Fairbanks. For the past year, I’ve shadowed Senior Operations & Maintenance Electrical Engineer Paul Butter. I’ve worked on the Automated DRA building at MP238, and on the turnover of work for the vapor recovery system at Pump Station 1.  

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy traveling and learning/teaching different modern and traditional activities. One activity I have been enjoying is weaving traditional Aleut-style baskets. I also enjoy volunteering and giving back to the community. I’ve been involved with re-establishing the Alaska Professional Chapter of American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). In our formative year we’ve created a solid foundation for the future of the professional chapter.

Tell us about growing up in Alaska.

I grew up in a small village in the Aleutians Islands called Atka with a close knit family with three sisters. We grew up on the ocean, picking berries, eating subsistence food, and going to a K-12 school with 20 other students, where my uncle was the teacher and my mother was the teacher’s aide. From there, I lived in Sitka, Anchorage and settled in Fairbanks after attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  

Any advice for rural Alaska students who want to study engineering?

Get involved and remember you’re not alone. There are organizations, people and programs in place to help. Student organizations, even non-engineering-related organizations, are there not only to provide information, but to provide support and networking to like-minded students and professionals.