Janani Umamaheswar

Dr. Janani Umamaheswar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University, co-directing the Social Justice Collaborative. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the Women and Gender Studies program. Her research focuses on social inequality, punishment, incarceration, and qualitative methods, with a particular interest in wrongful convictions, family support systems of incarcerated individuals, and formerly incarcerated individuals' civic identity. She received the 2025 Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Dr. Umamaheswar holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Penn State University (2014), an M.A. (2009), and a B.A. (2008) from the University of Toronto. She teaches courses such as Punishment and Corrections, Gender and Crime, and Qualitative Research Methods.

Her research explores topics like the intersection of masculinity and incarceration, familial narratives of violence, and the lived experiences of wrongfully convicted individuals. She employs ethnographic methods and has published widely in journals such as Punishment & Society, British Journal of Criminology, and Feminist Criminology.

• Awards: Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence (2025)
• Grants: Not explicitly listed, but her work on carceral systems suggests potential funding in criminal justice research.

Dr. Umamaheswar has supervised doctoral dissertations on carceral connectivity and reentry survivorship. She co-authors with students and actively engages in interdisciplinary research addressing systemic inequities in the criminal legal system.