Sarah Cooper (she/her) is a first-year MA student in the sociology program at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Sarah received a Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science, a minor in Chemistry, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Eastern Kentucky University (2023). In 2023, Sarah’s undergraduate thesis, “Sociological Explanations of Coronavirus Incidence Rates in Kentucky Counties”, was published in the Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship. 

Sarah’s primary concentration is criminology. Her areas of research interest include violent crimes, transformative justice, critical criminology, and social epidemiology. She received funding for a graduate teaching assistantship in the program. Furthermore, she is working with the Appalachian Justice Research Center as a graduate research assistant. 

Sarah is originally from Hodgenville, Kentucky, and is a born-and-raised Kentucky Wildcats fan. She also has a very spoiled 14-year-old cat named Odin. On most days, Sarah can be found curled up with a blanket reading a book, putting together a puzzle, or watching horror movies.