Mallory Molina

Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Research Interests

My research focuses on finding black holes in dwarf galaxies and understanding how these black holes affect the growth and evolution of their host galaxy. Since dwarf galaxies are small, their black holes are smaller than those in massive galaxies, which can make them difficult to detect. This means I need to rely on multi-wavelength observations of these galaxies to confirm the presence of these black holes. As an observational, electromagnetic astronomer I rely on large surveys and traditional telescopes, and have used the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Swift UV/Optical Telescope and ground-based observatories like Gemini. 

Current and upcoming projects in my group include:

• Searching for dwarf galaxies hosting black holes in the DESI survey
• Looking for outflows in dwarf galaxies, particularly those connected to the central black hole
• Studying the immediate environment surrounding black holes in massive and dwarf galaxies
• Preparing for joint multi-messenger detections of massive black hole binaries with LISA

Bio

Dr. Mallory Molina is an Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy. Her research is supported by NASA and the NSF. Before arriving to Vanderbilt, she was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and Sloan Minority Ph.D. scholar at Penn State, a Ford Postdoctoral Fellow at Montana State, and the first Eccles AstroData Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah. Dr. Molina is also committed to teaching, especially at the introductory level, and revamped the ASTR 2110: The Solar System course to include more active engagement in lecture and developed a new final project where students create a mock NASA mission to visit a body in the Solar System. She joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2024