{"id":21204,"date":"2017-09-08T12:37:15","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T16:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=21204"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:36:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:36:46","slug":"qa-madeline-fisher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=21204","title":{"rendered":"Women in Science: Q&A with Madeline Fisher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senior Madeline Fisher is an undergraduate researcher double-majoring in environmental studies and music within the\u00a0UNC College of Arts & Sciences<\/a>. She is also a\u00a0Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow<\/a>. Her research focuses on gathering oral histories from musicians who have come from coal-mining communities and the role environmental science plays in their lives.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Senior
Environmental studies and music double major, Madeline Fisher. Photo by Alyssa LaFaro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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When you were a child, what was your response to this question: \u201cWhat do you want to be when you grow up?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

A singer. Music has always been a part of my life. My interest in the environment didn\u2019t come until moving away from the small, conservative town that I grew up in.<\/p>\n

Share the pivotal moment in your life that helped you choose research as a career path.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The truth: I haven\u2019t quite chosen research as a career path. Whenever I tell someone that I\u2019m an environmental studies\/music double-major, they usually laugh and make some joke about how different the two disciplines are. I spent my summer studying how a community has developed around coal mining, and how its culture and music reflects this. It was a great project to show how art forms like music can help shed light on hard scientific issues.<\/p>\n

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“Describe your research in five words.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEnvironmental issues expressed through music.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s an interesting\/funny story from your time doing research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was hoping to get some photos of the side of a mountain that had been leveled by mountaintop removal. The directions that I was given were a little ambiguous, to say the least, and somehow I ended up driving into the entrance of an active mining operation. A lot of coal miners don\u2019t take too kindly to outsiders, so it was clear to me that I needed to hightail it out of there quickly!<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to up-and-coming female researchers in your field?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Research doesn\u2019t have to mean using microscopes and testing samples in a lab. It can be a lot of things \u2014 like working with different kinds of people and learning from their experiences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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UNC Research is proud of every scientist on this campus, but we are especially excited to promote our female researchers in 2017. Each week this year, we will publish a short Q&A feature on one of them \u2014 whether she is an undergrad, PhD candidate, or full professor. Please click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to make a recommendation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Story by endeavors<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n