McDermott was born in 1931 and raised in Washington Heights, Manhattan to Greek immigrant parents.
Her father was a lawyer in the Greek government prior to immigrating and her mother came to the United States as a teenager.
[4] Upon completing her formal education, McDermott began teaching physics full time at City College before moving to the University of Washington (UW) with her husband for a post-doctoral position.
She sought employment at Seattle University before the rules were struck down and she joined the Department of Physics at UW.
[12] She also received the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) Robert A. Millikan Lecture Award in the same year.