Melissa received her Master of Arts in Urban Education Policy from Brown University in 2016. Prior to attending Brown, Melissa earned a A.B. in Human Development and Family Studies and graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Connecticut. Melissa presented her findings from a study entitled "Exploring next steps in Research Methods for Family Engagement in Low-income Families" at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Her research on family engagement can also be found in Studia Pedagogiczne. Melissa worked on project tasks related to the recent publication “Revisiting the Widget Effect: Teacher Evaluation Reforms and the Distribution of Teacher Effectiveness” and several components of Dr. Kraft’s work on teacher-parent communication and technology interventions. Currently, she is a Research Study Coordinator at the Brazelton Touchpoints Center in Boston, MA. She supports the work of the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement as well as several other community and family strengthening grants.