Melissa Lucas, PhD

Melissa Lucas, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Effective July 1, 2023, Melissa will transition to the Education Collaboratory at Yale within the Yale Child Study Center. Dr. Lucas' current work explores how the "sum total" of schooling (e.g., deficit-oriented policies, student-teacher relationships characterized by conflict, low expectations), as well as family processes that support or hinder Latinx and multilingual students’ early development.

More specifically, Dr. Lucas' research focuses on supporting the socioemotional and academic development of Latinx and multilingual populations and considers the role of context, especially teacher-child relationships, to foster nurturing classroom and school environments. Dr. Lucas uses person-centered analyses and a strengths-based approach to centering equity in education research. Her work hopes to expand our understanding of supportive strategies used by children, families, and educators that encourage culturally resilient academic identities among students from culturally and linguistically minoritized backgrounds.

Dr. Lucas earned her doctorate in educational psychology-applied developmental science from the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development, where she was an Institute of Education Sciences, pre-doctoral fellow. Melissa obtained a B.S. in psychology and sociology from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2016 and an A.S. in social sciences from Northern Virginia Community College in 2015.