Professor Roessler received his B.A. from Indiana University and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. He has held fellowships at Stanford University and Oxford University. 

Professor Roessler’s research and teaching offer new perspectives on conflict, state-building, and development, with a focus on the region of sub-Saharan Africa, where he has conducted extensive field research. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the British Academy, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Institute of International Education and United States Agency for International Development and been published in World Politics, Journal of Politics, the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics and other outlets. 

Roessler has also written two books—both out in 2016. The first—Ethnic Politics and State Power in Africa: The Logic of the Coup-Civil War Trap (Cambridge University Press, 2016)—offers a novel theoretical and empirical account of the strategic logic of war and peace in sub-Saharan Africa, drawing on extensive field research in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and complemented by extensive quantitative analysis using the Ethnic Power Relations dataset. It builds on Roessler’s 2011 World Politics article, "The Enemy Within: Personal Rule, Coups and Civil War in Africa," which won the Gregory Luebbert Award from the American Political Science Association for the best article in comparative politics for 2010 or 2011.