Madilynn Smith

Bio

Dr. Madilynn McCollum Smith is a Assistant Teaching Professor within TECS. She was born to a musical family in Nashville, TN, but has called North Carolina her home for the last nine years. She received her undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and minored in second education before becoming a fully licensed high school teacher. Not ready to end her formal education quite yet, she uprooted and moved to NC where she began her Textiles journey.

Madilynn is a two-time Wilson College of Textiles graduate, earning a Masters degree in Textile Chemistry under the direction of Dr. Kotek in 2017 studying the ultrasonic polymerization of polyurethane and polyacrylamide and earning a Ph.D. in Fiber and Polymer Science in 2020 under the direction of Dr. Bryan Ormond working on a multi-level comparison of the performance of particulate-blocking firefighter hoods. During her graduate years she was selected as a Preparing the Professoriate fellow, awarded the Grady Hauser Houser Daniels Fellowship, and received second place in the AATCC Herman and Myrtle Goldstein Student Paper Competition. During her time at the college she taught the PCC 302 lab, instructed the TMS 211 lecture course, and was a STEP group leader. 

After graduating, she worked as postdoctoral researcher at the NC State College of Natural Resources researching the aquatic biodegradation of flushable and cellulosic products in aquatic environments and researching enzymatic and chemo-mechanical treatments to improve the dewatering of paper. In 2022 she returned to the College as a postdoc for Dr. Ormond looking at exposure mitigation strategies and ensembles for fire investigators. 

Publications

• Aquatic Aerobic Biodegradation of Commonly Flushed Materials in Aerobic Wastewater Treatment Plant Solids, Seawater, and Lakewater , BIORESOURCES (2024)
• Enzyme-assisted dewatering and strength enhancement of cellulosic fibers for sustainable papermaking: A bench and pilot study , JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION (2024)
• Fire regimes of the Southern Appalachians may radically shift under climate change , FIRE ECOLOGY (2024)
• A Wearable System for Continuous Monitoring and Assessment of Speech, Gait, and Cognitive Decline for Early Diagnosis of ADRD , 2023 45TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE & BIOLOGY SOCIETY, EMBC (2023)
• Evaluating the Material-Level Performance of Particulate-Blocking Firefighter Hoods , Performance of Protective Clothing and Equipment: Innovative Solutions to Evolving Challenges (2020)