Russell Gingras, EIT Joins R&M’s Utilities Group
Russell Gingras, EIT, recently joined R&M CONSULTANTS as a Staff Engineer in the firm’s Utilities Group. Gingras will assist with planning and design of civil engineering projects, with an emphasis in utility design, such as water and sewer improvements.
“Russell’s personal initiative to take on assignments and complete them professionally will serve R&M and our clients very well,” said Don Porter, R&M’s utilities group manager. “His internship with the Anchorage Water & Wastewater Utility [AWWU] and utility research completed during his senior design class gives him the knowledge to immediately contribute to R&M’s current projects. I’m excited to welcome Russell as he joins the engineering community.”
Gingras brings two years of civil engineering experience to R&M, with experience in both public and private utility sectors. He is experienced in construction site inspections, utility conflict review, utility waivers and permitting, feasibility reviews, and agency coordination for review and inspection of wastewater projects. A former AWWU intern, Gingras is knowledgeable in Municipality of Anchorage and American Water Works Association standards and specifications.
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January 2020
“R&M’s good reputation and the large breadth of projects across multiple civil disciplines were attractive qualities,” said Gingras. “But more importantly, I’m thrilled to work with the seasoned professionals at the firm, many with more than a decade of experience.”
Since joining R&M, Gingras has provided engineering support for the Andreafsky Water Distribution Loop, which involved developing a site plan for a circulating water distribution loop at St. Mary’s village. He is also assisting in developing conceptual alternative site alignments for a hydro turbine that generates electricity from the energy recovery station’s large flows and pressure differentials.
Gingras has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Alaska Anchorage. He was also recently certified by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation as an operator for water & wastewater treatment. Outside of work, Gingras loves to get outside and explore the outdoors by climbing, backpacking, canoeing, or through any other means of traversing Alaska’s large backyard. Gingras also plays the piano and enjoys studying history and science.
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In This Issue
The Marx Bros. Café
January 2020
Jack Amon and Richard “Van” Hale opened the doors of the Marx Bros. Café on October 18, 1979; however, the two had already been partners in cuisine for some time, having created the Wednesday Night Gourmet Wine Tasting Society and Volleyball Team Which Now Meets on Sunday, a weekly evening of food and wine. It was actually the end of the weekly event that spurred the name of the restaurant: hours after its final service, Amon and Hale were hauling equipment and furnishings out of their old location and to their now-iconic building on Third Street, all while managing arguments about equipment ownership, a visit from the police, and quite a bit of wine. “If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘A Night at the Opera” starring the Marx Brothers, that’s what it was like,” Hale explains.