Hammonds is the first annual visiting scholar to be sponsored by the Women's Studies department at Drew, which is led by Professor Wendy Kolmar. Her lecture will be in the Drew Learning Center, Room 28, on the lower level of the main library building.

Hammonds earned undergraduate degrees from both Spelman College (physics) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (electrical engineering). She earned a Ph.D. in the History of Science from Harvard. She is author of the forthcoming book, The Search for Perfect Control: A Social History of Diphtheria in New York City, 1880-1930, which is based on her dissertation at Harvard.

Anyone needing special assistance should call 973/408-3103 at least five working days prior to the event.