Lisa Hsiang at DPW

The Department of Pubic Works (DPW) is rapidly entering the information age and a high school student is helping it get there. Lisa Hsiang, a junior at Laconia High School, spends time after school in front of a computer in the engineering office at DPW headquarters on Bisson Avenue logging data into the Geographical Information System (GIS).

"Lisa has been a big help," said DPW director Doug Sargent. "She picked up the system very quickly. We're looking forward to getting help form more students like her."

Last week Lisa was contributing to updating the tax maps by inputting the information about properties with building permits during the past year from the assessing department. Eventually the data will be sent to cartographers who will transcribe it on to the tax maps.

Luke Powell, an experienced surveyor, has taught Lisa to use an azimuth and compass in the field to verify the measurements on the plans. Nevertheless, Lisa jocularly complains that "he gets to do all the fun stuff outside."

Meanwhile, "Lisa has organized things around the office while I'm out," Powell laughed. "He knew where everything was, or though he did," Lisa countered with a smile, "but, no one else could." "We hit it off well together," Powell remarked. "It's a good fit."

Powell said that Lisa was recommended by her teachers, Shirley Glines and Paul Robdeau, while the high school acquired the computer with a grant and Steven Smith of Steven Smith and Associates donated the software. "At school, in my pre-engineering course, we use very similar software," Lisa explained, "and some I learned from Luke."

Lisa is earning credits for her afternoons during the school year, but will earn a paycheck when she works part-time in July and August. Powell said the goal is to add the water and sewer systems to the GIS database by the end of the summer. The system will include the sizes and materials of water and sewer mains along with where and when they were laid. "The ultimate goal is to have the entire municipal infrastructure on the GIS, even a trash pickup map," he said.

Powell has offered Lisa practical experience to complement her computer work. "He took me to a sewage pumping station," she remarked. "It was three stories underground and very smelly. But, by seeking these things you understand them more than you do just from book learning," Lisa added. "It makes me appreciate what engineers do."

And, if anything Lisa's work at DPW, including the tour of the pumping station, has whetted her appetite for a career in engineering. She is contemplating studying civil engineering, computer electronics and graphic design, with an eye on Worcester Polytechnic Institute. "It has all the engineering and computer courses, there are good art schools nearby and seven weeks study abroad," she said.