Lisa McDonald was born in Monroe, Tennessee, on January 10, 1995. At the age of three her family moved to Iowa, where she lived for the next 19 years. Despite considering herself an Iowan, she still just can’t stand those cornfields. During the summer she will go camping in Utah, where her true geographic love, mountains, can be found.
Lisa’s passion for writing surfaced early in the third grade when her teacher encouraged the short stories scribbled during free time. Between the ages of 10 and 12, she accumulated many more stories and decided to do something above just writing. Selecting a few, she self-published her first book, The Egyptian Mirror and other short stories, in 2009. Since then, Lisa added Elise of Lormina and Journey to Unlara to her repertoire, the first two in a three-book trilogy, and Winter's Eve, a self-standing novel.
Lisa earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physics and Communication from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in May 2017. In fall 2017, she headed to Canada to pursue a one-year master’s in science communication at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, with the plan of becoming a science communicator. She graduated with her master’s in fall 2018 and subsequently moved to Columbus, Ohio, to begin working as a science writer (and now associate editor) for The American Ceramic Society.
When she’s not busy working, Lisa makes time for other activities. She led the Coe College Tae Kwon Do (태권도) club for three years, a martial arts form she started practicing at seven years old and currently holds a 2nd dan (degree) black belt in. She also adores tutoring people in calculus, singing opera to keep her soprano voice in top-notch shape, and watching any documentary she can find for free online. While student life kept her on her toes, she never lost faith in her goals, and she is now ready to strive toward the next chapter in this adventure as a professional science communicator.
Professional media page: LinkedIn
Experience
Accomplishments
Undergraduate Theses
Lisa’s passion for writing surfaced early in the third grade when her teacher encouraged the short stories scribbled during free time. Between the ages of 10 and 12, she accumulated many more stories and decided to do something above just writing. Selecting a few, she self-published her first book, The Egyptian Mirror and other short stories, in 2009. Since then, Lisa added Elise of Lormina and Journey to Unlara to her repertoire, the first two in a three-book trilogy, and Winter's Eve, a self-standing novel.
Lisa earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physics and Communication from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in May 2017. In fall 2017, she headed to Canada to pursue a one-year master’s in science communication at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, with the plan of becoming a science communicator. She graduated with her master’s in fall 2018 and subsequently moved to Columbus, Ohio, to begin working as a science writer (and now associate editor) for The American Ceramic Society.
When she’s not busy working, Lisa makes time for other activities. She led the Coe College Tae Kwon Do (태권도) club for three years, a martial arts form she started practicing at seven years old and currently holds a 2nd dan (degree) black belt in. She also adores tutoring people in calculus, singing opera to keep her soprano voice in top-notch shape, and watching any documentary she can find for free online. While student life kept her on her toes, she never lost faith in her goals, and she is now ready to strive toward the next chapter in this adventure as a professional science communicator.
Professional media page: LinkedIn
Experience
- Associate managing editor and science writer for The American Ceramic Society (Fall 2018–present)
- ATLAS Communication & Outreach intern with the ATLAS Experiment at CERN in Meyrin, Switzerland (Spring 2018)
- Science policy communication intern for FYI, the science policy news publication of the American Institute of Physics (Summer 2017)
- Regional representative on the Society of Physics Students (SPS) national council (2015–2017)
- Editor-in-chief of the Coe College newspaper, the Coe Cosmos (Fall 2016–Spring 2017)
- Staff writer for the weekly newspaper West Branch Times (Summer 2016)
- Writing intern for The Key Reporter, the online publication of Phi Beta Kappa (Spring 2015)
Accomplishments
- Published research on electrical conductivity in binary tellurium vanadate glasses: “Tellurium Vanadate Glasses: V4+ colorimetric Measure and Its Effect on Conductivity”
- Published research on the effects of gender harassment in the field of science popularization: “Effects of gender harassment on science popularization behaviors”
- Member of three honor societies: Sigma Pi Sigma (U.S. physics honor society), Phi Beta Kappa (oldest U.S. honor society for the liberal arts and sciences), and STRATA (the Coe College women’s honor society)
Undergraduate Theses
- The Ties That Bind: Intersectionality, the double bind, and the construction of African American women’s identity prior to the reproductive control movement (Communication department)
- Tellurium Vanadate Glasses: Structure and Conductivity (Physics department)
- Effects of Gender Harassment on Science Popularization Behaviors