Meet Lindsey Hands

Tell us a bit about your background:  

I grew up in Rhode Island and stuck around in New England for college. I went to Mount Holyoke College, which is a small historically women's college in Western MA, where I studied physics, astronomy, and French. There, I got involved in research in my second year with Prof. Jason Young, studying an interesting class of galaxies called Low Surface Brightness Galaxies, which have all the ingredients to make stars but for a yet unknown reason are not! I chose to go to grad school because I loved the problem-solving of working in a lab studying galaxies. I am also passionate about science communication and mentorship, and I hoped in grad school to get involved in helping cultivate the future generation of scientists!

Describe your area of research at UC San Diego:

I work in Karin Sandstrom's lab, studying the interstellar medium (the space between stars) of nearby galaxies. I use data from the James Webb Space Telescope to study a specific type of dust molecule called PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). These are very small dust molecules that help cool down clouds of dust and gas, allowing them to collapse into stars. By better understanding PAHs, we can better understand how stars form and how galaxies evolve!

Describe your community involvement at UC San Diego: 

I am co-president of the Astronomy Graduate Council (AGC), which advocates for grad students in the A&A department and creates a welcoming and supportive community! I also serve on the grad recruitment committee where I help plan orientation and accepted students weekend. I have two wonderful undergrad mentees, who I meet with to chat about their plans after college. Outside of the department, I took a swing dancing class at the RIMAC, which introduced me to the San Diego swing dancing community. I lived in grad housing for a year before moving off-campus and into the city. I like living in the city, because I love trying new restaurants and breweries!

Why UC San Diego? 

I chose UCSD because of the exciting research being done in the department. Being a part of the UC system seemed like a good way to branch out from my undergrad research and connect with the larger astrophysics community. And I'd be lying if I didn't say the location initially caught my eye! San Diego seemed like a place I wouldn't mind living in for 5-6 years.