I am a registered, professional engineer in Illinois working as a city engineer/public works director for a community of about 10,000 people. Most of my work experience has been with municipalities; however, I have spent a few years working with a private land surveyor and engineering consultants. For almost a year, I also worked as senior editor for Public Works magazine.

Since being introduced to Second Life (SL), I have been fascinated with how this new software tool can be used to make my job easier, and maybe a little more fun and cool (although as we all know, public works is already so cool and so much fun).

There are some wonderful people I have met in this virtual world who have also seen its potential for helping us in our real life work. Together we are trying to explore ways in which to use SL to enhance our plans and designs. We have also found that SL is a great and inexpensive communication tool.

Another added benefit I have found is that by being exposed to so many new people, tools, and ideas, I have grown more professionally and gained more knowledge and skills than had previously been possible by following more conventional training methods.