Sam is the Director of Research and Development for the NSF ASCEND Engine, where he leads a portfolio of academic, federal lab, and startup teams addressing the pressing issues of wildfire, drought, and extreme weather. He works to move promising science out of the lab and into the communities that need it, connecting researchers, entrepreneurs, and government partners around shared challenges.

Before joining the Engine, Sam worked at the MITRE Corporation, where he supported mission-aligned innovation with DARPA and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and managed a portfolio of internal projects through MITRE's Independent Research and Development Program. Earlier, he led the R&D program for the Battelle Center for Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, serving as technical lead on funded work with IARPA, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, state and local governments, and large corporations. As an instructor for the National Security Innovation Network's "Hacking for Defense" program, he mentored dozens of capstone teams tackling high-impact, real-world problems.

Sam earned his doctorate from Ohio State University, where he trained in the Computation for Environment and Ecology lab under Tanya Berger-Wolf. He serves on the Board of Directors of CO-Labs, a nonprofit supporting Colorado's federal research laboratories and on the Brain Trust of XPRIZE.