Contact Information:
Name:
Mr. Tony Melton

Phone:
407-859-8380

E-mail address:
tlmelton@hntb.com

Education Information
Undergraduate Major:
Civil Engineering

Degree Received:
BS

Graduation Year:
1982

Activities, student organizations, leadership roles, etc. in which I was involved at UT:
I was an active student member of ASCE. My senior year I was the acting Vice President for the student chapter of ASCE. I also participated in the Co-operative Education program for six sessions.

Job Information
Employer Name:
HNTB Corporation

Employer Web Site:
http://www.hntb.com

Present Job Title:
Senior Project Manager

Brief description of my job responsibilities, e.g. a typical week in my job:
As a Sr. Project Manager I manage a variety of Civil related projects, ranging from Roadway and Bridge Construction to Airport and passenger rail construction and planning. Most weeks 50% of my time is spent managing and directing other technical staff in the production of reports and construction plans. 20% of my time is spent meeting with the project clients and other regulator agencies. The remainder of my week is used to do engineering and quality control reviews and quality assurance peer reviews. Along with that I attend monthly ASCE meeting and other local engineering society functions.

Suggestions I would give to undergraduate students with regard to courses, internships, and other means of preparation for my career field:
In regard to courses, I would suggest that you take a broad spectrum of engineering classes. The reasom for this is your career can and will take you in so many different directions that the broader your education the better you will be able to adapt. Also most engineers are thrust into management very early in thier careers, therefore I suggest you use your none tech elect's in the management field.
I have found that the experience that I acquired in the co-operative education program or an internship gave me an edge to be promoted above my fellow engineers during the early part of my career. Also my involement in ASCE gave me leadership experience and many business contacts.

My career path in getting to this position:
I co-op'ed as a student with a construction firm and also a government utility board. After graduation I went to work for a state transportation department because they had a two year training program that would give me very broad experience in the transportation field. In the three years I stayed on the training program I worked as an construction engineer and inspector for 18 months on the Golden Gate Bridge Rehabilitation Project, 12 months in bridge design, 4 months in transportation planning and 6 months in the bi-annual brige inspection program.

With this experience I took a job as the chief bridge engineer with a major city engineering department. I once again lead squads that did Construction engineering and inspection, Bridge Design and Constuction Plans and administered the bi-annual bridge inspection program for 485 local road bridges. I also passed the Profession Engineer test during this time.

With 6 years of experience and the P.E. I decided to switch over to the private section of the profession. I took a job with a small private firm as head of thier bridge department. 90% of my work was still preparing constrction plans for government agencies. Due to changes made in the company structure I was promoted to head of all transportation design and eventually to office manager.

After 7 years with this firm I took a job with a large private firm as office manager working on mega projects. After doing this for two years, I decided that I was doing to much managing and not enough engineering.

So 15 years after I graduated from the University of Tennessee I joined a large private firm as a Sr. Project Manager running large projects. And that's how I got to where I am today.

Other advice for students interested in gaining entry into and pursuing a career in this field:
When trying to decide what job to take in the beginning of your career look at what experience you will gain and how it will be applied toward getting your Professional Engineering Registration. Also do not limit you choices by limiting your geographical area that you are willing to move to for your job.

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