Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Edward Kniola of New Canaan, Connecticut, are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Lauren Marie, to Earl Bryson Powell Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Bryson Powell of Richmond, Virginia.

Miss Kniola is the granddaughter of Mr. Clement John Kniola and the late Mrs. Kniola of Michigan City, Indiana, and the late Mr. and Mrs. Albert John Marchetti of Peekskill, New York. Miss Kniola is a graduate of New Canaan High School and Wake Forest University where she received a B.A. in English. She is an Account Executive with McKinney Silver Advertising Agency in Durham, North Carolina.

Mr. Powell is the grandson of the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Angus Powell, and the late Mr. and Mrs. Jack William Edgar Simpson, all of Richmond. He is a graduate of The Collegiate School and Wake Forest University where he received a B.A. in Communications. He is currently a Project Manager for East West Partners of North Carolina, a real estate development firm headquartered in Chapel Hill.

An August wedding is planned.