Professor Fisher is interested in combustion chemistry as it affects a variety of practical problems such as fire suppression, hazardous waste incineration, and fuel combustion suited to carbon sequestration. At Cornell, much of her work has involved the combustion chemistry of organophosphorus and organosulfur compounds, focusing on flame inhibition and mechanisms of destruction and byproducts formation. Professor Fisher’s combustion chemistry studies involve a wide range of combustion regimes and make use of flow reactors, premixed flat flames, and opposed-jet diffusion flames, with a variety of measurements techniques including extractive FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry), GC/MS (gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry, visible emission spectroscopy, in-situ FTIR, and radiation-compensated thermocouple thermometry. Experiments are supplemented by detailed chemical kinetic calculations.

Professor Fisher served as president of the Yale chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society in her senior year, and was graduated summa cum laude in physics. She then worked at the Thermal Sciences Branch of the Solar Energy Research Institute in Golden, Colorado, for several years. As a graduate student, she was the recipient of two fellowships from the Air and Waste Management Association. After completing her doctorate, Fisher came to Cornell as a postdoctoral research associate. In 1991 she joined the faculty and was named to a five-year Clare Boothe Luce Professorship. She received the Teetor Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1995 and the Dennis G. Shepherd Memorial Teaching Prize in 1997. She is a member of the Combustion Institute, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Automotive Engineers.