Madison Fitzgerald-Russell

Degrees

• Ph.D., Science Education in Physics, Western Michigan University
• M.A., Physics, Western Michigan University
• B.S., Astrophysics, Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University
• B.A., Women's & Gender Studies, LGBTQ and Sexuality Studies minor, Michigan State University

Biography

Dr. Madison Fitzgerald-Russell (she/they) is a Physics Lecturer with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Detroit Mercy, where they are continuing the work they've begun as a grad student and a postdoc. Prior to joining UDM in Fall 2025, she worked with the (originally) HHMI-funded Learning Community Cluster 2 on inclusive STEM education in higher education, which renamed itself the SCIENCE Collaborative. She graduated in 2022 with a PhD in Science Education: Physics from Western Michigan University, and her dissertation qualitatively explored the experiences and perceptions of queer and trans science-major undergraduate students through a queer theory and intersectional lens. Their research goals include creating spaces for inclusion in and expanding equity of STEM education for marginalized folks in both K12 and higher education, focusing on queer and trans folks. Her discipline focus is physics and astronomy, and she has a background teaching physics, astronomy, physical science, chemistry, and mathematics.

Dr. Fitzgerald-Russell has been involved in efforts to support diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in STEM, including serving on three conference organizing committees (CUWiP @ WMU 2022, PERC 2022: Queering physics education, and PRIMSATIC) and as a panelist for workshops (LGBTQIA Panel for CUWiP 2022 and 2023). She is a QTPiE (Queer and Trans People in Education) Emerging Scholar, connected to a network of other queer and trans scholars in K12 and higher education. They are also involved with the TM-PICC survey team, which developed a model for understanding instructional change team collaborations and created a survey utilizing that model.

In her free time, Dr. Fitz can be found reading (physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks!), knitting, watercolor painting, spending time with her cats and family, and watching cooking competition shows. They also love horror audio drama podcasts, 2010s investigative drama TV shows, and Agatha Christie mysteries.