Felipe Ruiz Joins R&M as Staff Engineer

Former intern Felipe Ruiz, EIT, recently joined R&M Consultants as a full-time Staff Engineer in the firm’s Waterfront and Structural Engineering Groups. As part of these groups, Ruiz will be involved with civil and structural design of port and harbor development, airport, and utility projects. His responsibilities include civil and structural analysis, load calculations, modeling, and other upland site development associated with these projects.

“Felipe has proven to have an exceptional work ethic and has quickly learned many skills, including AutoCAD, Revit Modeling, and other structural design software,” says R&M’s Group Manager of Waterfront Engineering Kim Nielsen, PE. “We are proud to have him as a contributing design team member on multiple projects, including Bristol Bay Borough School, Hoonah Cruise Ship Facility Berth II, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) Security Upgrades, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) UPS Upgrades, and several Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) Snow Removal Equipment Building (SREB) foundations, among others.”

Ruiz was introduced to R&M during his sophomore year of college through Senior Project Engineer Chris Black, PE, who offered him a tour of R&M’s facilities. “I had done some tours of other firms around town and I felt R&M had a very special aura. The people were very welcoming and didn’t mind when I asked a bunch of questions,” said Ruiz when asked why he chose to work at R&M. “I am super excited to work under very established engineers, such as Duane Anderson, PE, and Kim, as well as the Josh’s (Zellmer and Crowe) in the Structural Engineering Group. I know it’s important to have great mentors to guide and teach you, and I lucked out.”

Prior to joining R&M, Ruiz worked as an intern at a steel erection and PEMB company. He also spent five years working as a fiscal tech for the University of Alaska Anchorage’s (UAA) College of Engineering. Since joining the firm, Ruiz has supported school structure renovations and repairs, calculated the loads for SREB at ten different airports around the state, and performed structural analysis for the mooring dolphin at the Hoonah Cruise Dock.

Earlier this month, Ruiz received his bachelor of science in civil engineering from UAA. He also has a BBA in accounting from the University of Central Florida. Originally born in Colombia, Felipe moved from Florida to Anchorage to complete his civil engineering degree and enjoys hiking and exploring Alaska’s beautiful scenery.