Melody Mann
Bio
Melody Mann is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar and a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland. Educationally, she has a background in child and adolescent development, special education, and developmental psychology. Melody's research interests center on equity and inclusion in education, with a particular focus on how disability, race, and sociocultural contexts shape educational experiences and outcomes. Her study systems-level factors, such as school processes, racialized organizations, and culturally grounded practices, that influence mental health, belonging, and access for historically marginalized learners and their families, with an emphasis on Punjabi families of the broader South Asian diaspora.
Areas of Interest
- Disability, education, race, mental health, policy