voices | SPOTLIGHT
Margaret Mary Fisher ’11 FROM BEING FASCINATED WITH FLYING TO STUDYING AEROSPACE ENGINEERING TO WORKING AS A TEST ENGINEER ON JET ENGINES, THE SKY HAS NEVER BEEN THE LIMIT FOR THIS ALUM.
In such a math-heavy major as engineering, she says Dr. Sprague’s BC Calculus Class at Gibbons was an eyeopener. “He taught it like a college class and that definitely helped prepare me for the transition to college.”
Margaret Mary with sisters and fellow Gibbons alums Elizabeth ’16, middle, and Maryanne ’14, left.
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| Cardinal Gibbons High School
Margaret Mary Fisher ’11 was always fascinated with flying and for a long time she wanted to be a pilot. But by the end of her senior year at Gibbons she was interested more in designing and building planes than in being in the cockpit. By college, her interest turned to jet engines. Fisher studied aerospace engineering at Notre Dame and became captivated by jet engines when she took her first propulsion class as a college junior. Now she works in Canada as a test engineer for Pratt & Whitney, which manufactures engines for commercial and military jets. In choosing her major and her career she has entered an industry with a dearth of women. There have been and continue to be challenges. “Being underestimated as one of the few females in the major was a difficulty that I began to face early on in my college career and have faced a little in my career,” she says. She, however, has not been dissuaded. It is the thrill of solving complex technical problems that draws her. At Pratt, she works on the commercial side of the business, testing what she describes as the next generation of engines. The testing is “to ensure the engine is safe, efficient, and performs as we expect,” she notes.
And what of the future? She says she intends to apply to her company’s scholars program to pursue a master’s degree in engineering and to further her career. In such a math-heavy major as engineering, she says Dr. Sprague’s BC Calculus Class at Gibbons was an eye-opener. “He taught it like a college class and that definitely helped prepare me for the transition to college,” she says. Being a senior transfer student also helped her adjust to college, “because I was used to big changes by that point,” she adds. As for her advice to those considering aerospace engineering as a major and or a career, she says: “Take electives that apply to your field of interest; take those extra aerospace engineering courses … that are offered, but not required; and get involved with clubs related to your field.” For Margaret Mary it was being a member of Notre Dame’s rocket team. “We built rockets and competed in a NASA-sponsored collegiate competition,” she says, adding that such clubs provide hands-on experience that you may not get in classes. To be sure, she would also tell aspiring aerospace engineers that the sky is certainly NOT the limit.