Hansen earned a bachelor of arts in philosophy, and a bachelor of science in physics, at the University of Nevada, Reno,[2] graduating in 1999. As an undergraduate, she did directed research with Alla Safronova (Shlyaptseva), and she continued at Reno for doctoral research with Safronova,[3] completing her Ph.D. in 2003 with the dissertation Development and application of L-shell spectroscopic modeling for plasma diagnostics.[4]
Hansen was a 2017 winner of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.[6] In 2019, she was named as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), after a nomination from the APS Division of Plasma Physics, "for contributions to the fundamental modeling of nonequilibrium atoms and radiation in extreme environments, and for the advancement of spectroscopic analysis to increase understanding of diverse laboratory and astrophysical plasmas".[7]
^"Alla Safronova", Physics people, University of Nevada, Reno, retrieved 2022-10-22
^Hansen, Stephanie Brooke (2003), Development and application of L-shell spectroscopic modeling for plasma diagnostics (Doctoral dissertation), University of Nevada, Reno, ProQuest304619365