Sam is the Director of The Lab @ DC. The Lab works to generate timely, relevant, and high-quality evidence to improve lives in the District of Columbia.
Sam joined the Lab in January 2016 as its first full-time employee and has been the Lab’s Director since 2018. Under his leadership, the Lab has conducted more than 50 Civic Design, Data Science, and Social Science projects. Each project centers on DC residents, is transparent to the public, and pushes the boundaries of what governments can do. Sam has co-authored pre-analysis plans and final reports on flexible rental subsidies, earnings among residents experiencing homelessness, poverty reduction, free and discounted transit, participant outreach strategies, processing of ballistics evidence, and bias in police stops. In addition to overseeing The Lab’s portfolio, Sam pioneered processes for evidence-informed budgeting and for hiring top research talent into government.
Prior to joining The Lab @ DC, Sam conducted research for the US Department of Education (ED) and White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team. He also worked for the City of Chicago, where he helped design a more cost-effective use of commercial loading zones and a 311 data tool used to predict outbreaks of rodent activity. Before his research career, Sam was a 7th Grade U.S. History teacher in Philadelphia and a Coordinator for a college readiness program serving low-income students.
Sam was a 2013 Presidential Management Fellow and a 2007 Teach For America Corps Member. Sam holds a B.A. in Political Science and Writing from Villanova University, and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Chicago. Sam lives in Ward 6 in Capitol Hill East with his wife Kelly, his son Isaiah, daughter Evangeline, and dog Nova.