I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University, affiliated with the Population Studies and Training Center and Annenberg Institute. I received my Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University in 2023. My research interests include organizations, inequality, education, and politics. My research has been published in American Sociological Review, Sociology of Education, and Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences and has been supported by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship and the Russell Sage Foundation.

I study how organizations contribute to – or can mitigate – educational and labor market inequalities in the United States. I use both quantitative and qualitative research methods ranging from the analysis of large-scale administrative datasets, to original survey experiments, to the analysis of archival records.

Substantively, much of my work focuses on school district governance and politics. I examine whether partisan politics influences the appointment of superintendents, how district leaders shape policy and affect student outcomes, and how individuals navigate educational transitions. My ongoing collaborative work explores the intersection between district leadership and school finance. In a second major line of research, I analyze gender inequality in the high-skilled labor market. I analyze how firm-level differences contribute to persistent gender gaps in earnings and leadership in the private sector.

Before pursuing my Ph.D., I worked in nonprofit management and research. I was Director of Evaluation and Development at the Digital Harbor Foundation, a nonprofit focused on closing the digital divide in Baltimore, and was a Promotion and Events Coordinator at Vehicles for Change, where I oversaw the launch of their “Drive to 100” promotion with Mazda, which matched low-income families with cars in cities across the Northeast. I also worked as a research consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts and Legal Services Corporation, where I leveraged data to demonstrate the positive impact that funding from these organizations has on American communities.

I also received a M.A. in Statistics from Columbia University (2019), an M.Phil. in International Development Studies from the University of Oxford where I was a Euretta J. Kellett fellow (2013), and a B.A. in History and Art History from Columbia University (2011).

I can be reached at greer_mellon@brown.edu or @greermellon.bsky.social