Melissa Blankstein is a researcher in the Libraries, Scholarly Communication, and Museums program. Melissa uses her mixed-methods research background to lead a multitude of institutional and large-scale research projects studying faculty and student needs, challenges, and support services, as well as organizational leadership in collaboration with educational and cultural organizations, including multiple national initiatives on community college libraries and student basic needs. She is passionate about unpacking and rethinking traditional conceptualizations of student success, and documenting, addressing, and providing greater access to student basic needs.

Melissa holds a bachelor of arts in applied psychology from Binghamton University with a minor in women, gender, and sexuality studies, and a master of arts in general psychology from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She also spent a semester at University College Utrecht in the Netherlands. Her master’s thesis examined the effects of counterfactual thoughts on military and veterans in seeking mental health services.