by Tim O'Keeffe
Colgate Office of Communications

Lisa Marchi ’09, a star swimmer for Colgate, is getting her feet wet in the classroom and the pool this summer.

Besides taking part in two practices a day for the swim team, the junior has jumped in head first to learn a complex computer program – largely on her own – that can produce 2D and 3D models.

Marchi is poring through manuals to learn the computer-aided drafting (CAD) program as part of her summer research project for Robert McVaugh, professor of art and art history.

An art and art history major with an architectural studies emphasis, Marchi’s goal is to produce a computerized site model of campus that future architecture students can use for advanced projects.

By using a detailed 1966 topographical map, Marchi is building a base model that will show the campus landscape as it was some 40 years ago. The goal is to allow future students to enter new data, like that from global positioning systems, to reflect additions and changes to campus.

McVaugh said seniors in his seminar courses will be able to design a new residence hall, for example, and see exactly how it might fit on campus.

“This will give future students an armature so they can genuinely visualize how their project would look,” he said.

There also are many students involved in detailed historical studies of campus, McVaugh added, and the model will benefit their projects, as well.

He credited Joe Bello, associate director of facilities, and Amy Davidson, administrative assistant for buildings and grounds, for providing students access and information about the university’s master plans and surveys.

For Marchi, who started her project May 22 and will work through Aug. 1, learning a complex program like VectorWorks has presented a real ground-up learning opportunity.

“It’s a lot of trial and error,” she said, as she worked in the Little Hall digital media lab.

Her doggedness in the classroom is also apparent in her approach to swimming, said her coach, Stephen Jungbluth.

He recalled how Marchi broke her foot last spring, and even though she couldn’t walk to the pool, she got a ride each day and never missed practice.

Marchi, along with Emily Murphy ‘09 and Caitie Curran ’10 are the first swimmers to spend the summer formally practicing at Colgate. They attend 10 to 12 practices a week, with each practice lasting two to three hours.

Jungbluth said it’s fun for him to see how excited Marchi is when she has a productive day “at work” at Little Hall.

“She is not the type of person who would be satisfied simply by training, she needs the mental challenge,” the coach said.

The summer undergraduate research program provided Marchi with that perfect combination, and she’s taking full advantage of both opportunities.