By Linda Sullivan
Kathleen Fischer says she has always loved everything to do
with water. She fell in love with science her senior year in high school, she
said, inspired by her chemistry teacher. She combined her two interests by
first earning her B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois
Chicago and later a Ph.D. in oceanography from Oregon State University,
specializing in marine sediment geochemistry.
Fischer was born in Cicero and raised in Lisle. Her career took
her to places as diverse as NASA’s Stennis Space Center Naval Research Laboratory
in Mississippi as an oceanographer, and Elizabeth City State University in
North Carolina, an historically Black college, as a professor of oceanography.
When she semi-retired, Kathleen returned to Lisle. With two
friends from Elizabeth City State, she co-founded Applied Research in Environmental
Sciences Non-Profit Inc. with a mission to get cutting-edge science into
mainstream use. For the past 13 years she has been the treasurer, and is now
president of the organization.
She connected with the River Prairie Group when she saw RPG’s
Water Sentinels data online. She contacted Water Sentinels Chair Bob Barbieri,
who trained her to be a water sample tester--a good fit for a water lover and
chemist! When Bob and his wife, Bonnie, decided to take several months to hike
the Appalachian Trail, Fischer filled in for him, uploading data and reporting
to RPG ExCom. She also immersed herself in the clean water campaign to remove
the Graue Mill Dam from Salt Creek, spending hours organizing volunteers. She
has since become the RPG’s representative to the Chapter ExCom.
Fischer is an avid cross-country skier, hiker, backpacker,
and swimmer. She loves animals and lives with her family, three dogs and four
cats. She still loves water and hopes to scuba dive off the Caribbean
Islands.
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