2023 YPT Changemakers in Transportation Award: Amanda Minutello

Amanda is a Traffic Engineer I at AECOM in the Phoenix, Arizona office. She grew up on Long Island, New York where she was surrounded with a failing transportation system due to the high population on Long Island and the lack of roadways from poor planning and design decades ago by engineers and planners. Her interest in civil engineering began as a very young child, playing with Matchbox cars, trains, and building LEGO cities with her brothers. 

Amanda attended Barrett, the Honors College and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering. She graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and while it was not how she imagined it, the virtual environment taught her the need to be flexible towards our ever changing system. She has always been fascinated with the way our transportation system works. At AECOM, She has been involved in a wide variety of transportation projects spanning roadway analysis, light-rail system modeling, traffic impact reports for existing and future developments, concept planning and traffic analysis, and signal design. While these things do contribute to our industry and our communities, She is prouder of her contributions to mentoring our future engineers and helping them find their place in this fast-paced industry. 

This past spring and throughout the summer, Amanda developed and managed a Summer Intern Rotation Program for the AECOM Phoenix office. This rotation program allowed four interns, selected through interview process, to learn about all aspects of our transportation industry from roadway, transit/rail, traffic, and structures. The interns spent three weeks in each discipline, working on various projects, attending project meetings, and learning new skills. The program was supplemented with three lunch and learn presentations from various Phoenix project managers and others throughout the West Region, and Final Presentations given by the interns. The idea of this rotation program stemmed from a previous internship experience she had, as well as her “lack” of office culture when she joined at AECOM, because they were still working from home. She understands that the future of our transportation networks and industry is in her hands, as well as those entering the industry in the next 10 years. As someone responsible for the design and analysis our future network enhancements, expansions, and maintenance, it is important to her to share her passion with others and encourage them to be a part of our incredible, ever-changing transportation industry. This internship program allowed her to do just that. As an emerging leader at AECOM, she appreciated and valued the opportunity to develop this program and have it become the foundation for future internship programs for AECOM. The four interns loved their experience so much that they have chosen to continue to learn at AECOM throughout the coming semesters, and hopefully long term as they enter industry in a few years. 

As ED&I Champion, Amanda is responsible for engaging office staff in initiatives and events related to ED&I. She sends monthly emails with upcoming events hosted by various employee resource groups, an update to their monthly cultural calendar to bring awareness and promote any company-wide initiatives. She served in this role for the past year, and it has given her the opportunity to network with others and provide her personal perspective on methods to advance ED&I in the workplace, at home, and in our community. ED&I is critical for our transportation to continue to thrive as our future solutions will address todays problems related to transportation inequity and inaccessibility. The connection between transportation equity and ED&I lies within us to want the change for others and our future. 

Amanda is dedicated to the future of our industry by encouraging those around us to mentor young engineers. The change in our industry and transportation networks starts with emerging leaders like her, who have a passion for helping others within an office setting and in our communities. In addition to holding the position of Deputy Director of Communication of YPT International, she is involved in the WTS Metro Phoenix Chapter and is an active member of ITE Arizona.