Maddie grew up in northern California and attended Harvard University, where she studied Earth and planetary sciences and education. She spent her undergrad years doing scientific research, studying ice sheet imaging in Stanford University’s Radio Glaciology lab and writing a senior thesis on the pollution that comes from abandoned coal and metal mines.

She fell in love with journalism while reporting on issues like stormwater infrastructure and water quality as a AAAS Mass Media Fellow at the NPR affiliate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She has since received her M.A. from New York University’s Science, Health & Environmental Reporting Program.

She has produced audio for the public radio show Living on Earth and Scientific American’s Science Quickly podcast, and her writing has appeared in Quanta Magazine, Sky and Telescope, and more. When she’s not writing or working on audio, she enjoys doing crossword puzzles, finding cool rocks, and fawning over her cat.