Marissa Thompson is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and a faculty affiliate of the Columbia Population Research Center. Her research focuses on the causes and consequences of racial and socioeconomic inequality, with an emphasis on understanding the role of education in shaping disparate outcomes over the life-course. Marissa’s current research explores, for example, parental preferences regarding school segregation, the causal effects of first-dollar scholarship policies on college access, and the role of genetic ancestry tests in racial boundary-making processes. She employs a range of quantitative and computational methods using large national datasets, administrative data, and novel survey experiments. Previously, she earned a Ph.D. and M.A. from Stanford University and a B.S.E. from the University of Pennsylvania.