Dr. Michelle Estes joined Tennessee Tech University as Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Fall of 2021. She earned her B.S. from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2006, her M.A. and a graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies from Middle Tennessee State University in 2016, and her Ph.D. in Sociology from Oklahoma State University in 2021. She specializes in Criminology and Social Inequality, examining a wide range of social issues within the criminal legal system. Her research focuses more specifically on wrongful convictions and how being wrongfully convicted impacts employment and education throughout the life course. Her research goals are to help develop policy and programs that aid wrongfully convicted individuals in their community reentry efforts. Dr. Estes has published in a wide range of interdisciplinary journals such as Sex Roles, Punishment & Society, Race & Justice, and The Qualitative Report.