Emily Diehl
Designer – Landscape Architecture

At Larson Design Group, we believe that our employees are our greatest asset. In this feature, we profile some of the staff members who contribute to our success. This month the spotlight is on Emily Diehl, Designer with LDG’s Landscape Architecture group.

Where did your career take you before joining LDG?
I worked full-time while attending Penn State to get my bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. I worked a variety of retail jobs, managing employees and schedules, marketing, creating displays, stocking merchandise, and making sure my customers left happy. I am probably one of the few to say I truly loved working in retail. I loved being able to help so many people find things for their home, or that perfect shoe or tennis racquet. Yes, there is a lot of negativity surrounding the retail world, but I made it a goal to help people enjoy their shopping experience and in turn I enjoyed my job. I learned that you can’t make everyone happy; some customers will always find something to complain about. Also, the thought of leaving that comfortable work environment to come work in an office every day was very scary to me, but I did it and it turned out for the best. After 9 years, I still love being here.

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Ed Brown, PE
Senior Design Engineer

At Larson Design Group, we believe that our employees are our greatest asset. In this feature, we profile some of the staff members who contribute to our success. This month the spotlight is on Ed Brown, PE, Senior Design Engineer with our Williamsport office’s Water/Wastewater Group. Ed recently won LDG’s Greenest Employee Award for his commitment to sustainability. In 2012, he rode his bicycle to work over 100 times, a 32-mile round-trip.

Where did your career take you before joining LDG?
I spent two summers while still in college and one summer after graduating working for P. Joseph Lehman, Inc. in Hollidaysburg, PA. I did construction inspection on bridge projects, and inspections, structural analyses, and ratings of existing bridges.

I worked one year as Clerk of the Works/Construction Inspector for the Borough of State College on the construction of the Fraser Street Parking Garage.

I worked about 8 years for BCM Engineers in Plymouth Meeting, PA, and then 5 years at Gannett Fleming, Inc., in King of Prussia, doing water/wastewater engineering. While at BCM, I participated in the design of the new Water Treatment Plant and related facilities for the Williamsport Municipal Water Authority.

What was your first Job? What did you learn from it that still influences the way you work today?

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Karl Matz, PE
Director – Energy Group

At Larson Design Group, we believe that our employees are our greatest asset. In this feature, we profile some of the staff members who contribute to our success. This month the spotlight is on Karl Matz, PE, Director of our Energy Group.

Where did your career take you before joining LDG?
After getting married, my wife and I moved out to Colorado, where I worked for three years with a consulting firm that specialized in land development. The farthest away this job took me was to Germany. I worked on a vacuum sewer collection system, and the manufacturer flew the design team (and their wives) to their corporate offices and into the field to look at the vacuum stations and collection system construction projects. That was a truly enjoyable trip. Lots of good beer and sightseeing mixed in with German engineering design and construction.

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At Larson Design Group, we believe that our employees are our greatest asset. In this new feature, we’ll profile some of the staff members who contribute to our success. This month the spotlight is on Robert Murphy, Senior Project Manager in our Lititz office. Bob is both a licensed Professional Engineer and a Professional Geologist.

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[The Tower is Assembled]

[Installing the Turbine Blades]

The Laurel Hill Wind Energy Project is a Duke Energy Corporation initiative, located along Laurel Hill Ridge in Jackson and McIntyre Townships in northern Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Upon completion, the facility will consist of thirty individual wind turbines within a seven-mile long lease corridor. Altogether, the turbines will produce 69 megawatts of electricity.

Larson Design Group handled the land development design for the project, including boundary and topographic survey, Geographic Information System (GIS) base mapping, zoning application preparation, construction observation, erosion control plans, post-construction stormwater management plans, water/wastewater design, permitting, site re-vegetation plans, and alignment studies. LDG is also assisting Duke Energy with full-time construction management tasks.

The turbines are impressive structures. Manufactured by Siemens, they measure 424 feet tall at their highest point and run at any wind speed between approximately 8 and 55 miles per hour. A new two-mile long, 34.5-kilovolt overhead electric transmission line will convey electricity from the turbine corridor to a new switchyard and substation, which was designed and is being constructed in accordance with PenElec’s specifications. The switchyard will be turned over to PenElec for operation and maintenance after project completion. The turbine blades, which are 163 feet long, are fitted with serrated edging to aid in noise reduction. Each rotor blade automatically pivots in its socket to ensure it will catch maximum wind power from any direction.

The wind farm is expected to be completed in October of 2012. The electricity they will produce has been sold to Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation, which serves over 100,000 residents and businesses.

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