by Andrea Pritt, Penn State Mont Alto Library

If you have gone through the library’s lifecycle within the last five years, chances are that you know Alexa Spigelmyer. Alexa joined I-Tech in January 2011 and continues in her role as an IT Support Specialist focusing on user and technology support. She has replaced hundreds of machines throughout the library, but did you know that she also builds her own computers?

Spigelmyer…builds her own computers

Alexa recently gave a presentation at the University Libraries Discovery Day on her water-cooled computer that she built…herself. A water-cooled computer is able to cool the machine’s processor and hardware more effectively, and more quietly, than a regular machine. In her spare time Alexa enjoys building computers for her family and friends, and is a hardcore dirt bike enthusiast.

Dirt biking has been a passion of Alexa’s for years. In addition to riding recreationally, she rides to assist a local non-profit organization in trail restoration. Alexa volunteers with Seven Mountains Conservation Corps (SMCC), an organization that is dedicated to preserving the surrounding Central Pennsylvania outdoors. Currently, she is serving on the board of trustees for SMCC and is an active member in the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). Alexa sits on ACM’s Special Interest Group on University and College Computing Services.

A native of Moscow, Idaho, Alexa currently resides in State College, PA with her two cats, Cosette (a granded premier in the fanciers) and Turkey, and has just adopted a Shiba Inu puppy appropriately named Jiro.