He earned his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA in 2011. Prior to joining the faculty at WCU, Sami was a Research Scientist at the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies at the University of Delaware where he was involved in national collaborative research project focused on improving substance abuse treatment services provided to offenders involved in the U.S. correctional system. He has a number of publications related to the findings from this project and has presented at several national conferences.