Marissa (marissathompson@stanford.edu) is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education and Sociology of Education programs at Stanford University, and is also pursuing an M.A. in Sociology. She is an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) fellow and a recipient of the Stanford Graduate Fellowship (SGF) in Science and Engineering. Her research focuses on racial and socioeconomic inequality in education, with a particular emphasis on postsecondary access and outcomes. Prior to beginning doctoral studies at Stanford, she received a B.S.E. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.