Melissa Marschall, Ph.D., is a professor of political science at Rice University and a Rice faculty scholar at the Baker Institute Center for the Middle East. Her research focuses on urban politics and policy, education policy, political behavior and representation mostly in the U.S., but also in Turkey. Her book, Choosing Schools: Consumer Choice and the Quality of American Schools (coauthored with Mark Schneider and Paul Teske) was recipient of the Policy Studies Association Aaron Wildavsky Award for the Best Policy Book in 2000-2001. She is PI of the Local Elections in America Project (LEAP), funded by The National Science and the Ken Kennedy Institute of Information Technology at Rice University. Marschall created the Urban Lab Program at Rice University and has taught a lab course on urban politics and policy in Istanbul since 2011. She also teaches courses on urban politics, education policy, comparative urban politics & policy, and research methods. Marschall received her M.A. in political science and international relations from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul and her Ph.D. in political science from SUNY Stony Brook.