He recently completed his doctoral work at Vanderbilt University, focusing on the literacy development of culturally and linguistically diverse students in mainstream classrooms, and on teacher learning of translingual and culturally responsive pedagogies. In 2015, Sam and his coauthors received the Alan C. Purves Award from the National Council of Teachers of English, an award given annually for an article published in Research in the Teaching of English judged as "likely to have the greatest impact on educational practice." He has presented at local, national, and international conferences in the areas of literacy research, bilingual education, and applied linguistics. Prior to pursuing a doctorate, Sam worked as a Spanish-English bilingual special education teacher in elementary and middle grades in Brooklyn, NY.