Melissa Sands

Dr. Melissa Sands is an Assistant Professor of Politics and Data Science at the Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Previously, she served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Merced. She holds a PhD from Harvard University's Department of Government (2017) and an MPA from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Her research focuses on how contextual factors—such as environmental conditions, social media exposure, and urban policies—influence political and civic behavior.

Key research areas include field experiments, causal inference, inequality, and political psychology. Her work examines topics like racial segregation's impact on voting behavior, the consequences of housing policy feedback, and how exposure to inequality shapes public opinion on taxation and redistribution.

Her publications appear in prestigious journals such as the American Political Science Review, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Recent studies address geocoding inaccuracies in low-income housing, the political legacy of violent protests, and experimental analyses of social media's role in political engagement.

No scientific awards are explicitly listed, though her work has been widely recognized in academic circles. She has advised no students listed in the provided data and no grants are mentioned. Her work contributes to broader discussions on urban policy, electoral accountability, and methodological rigor in social science research.