Professor Hammonds holds undergraduate degrees in physics and electrical engineering, a Master's of Science in physics from MIT, and a Ph.D. in the history of science from Harvard University. During the academic year 1994-'95 she was a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow and a member of the School of Social Science at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. Professor Hammonds was co-organizer of the 1994 Black Women in the Academy Conference held at MIT. Her research is in the history of science, medicine, and public health in the United States, and race and gender in science studies. She is the founding director of the MIT Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology, and Medicine.