Sam is currently spending the fall semester studying abroad at the University of Chile’s Law School (Facultad de Derecho UChile) in the heart of Santiago. His coursework includes International Public Law, Environmental and Sustainability Law, Moral Philosophy of Law, and Basic French, all taught in Spanish—a challenging yet rewarding opportunity for him as a non-native Spanish speaker.
Beyond academics, Sam has joined the law school’s volleyball team and has traveled throughout Chile and neighboring countries. Through Maryland Carey Law School’s Garvin Fellowship, he has also had the chance to meet with prominent Chilean lawyers and the U.S. Ambassador to Chile, engaging in discussions about the Chilean legal system and U.S.-Chile relations. These experiences are not only enriching his academic journey but also helping to build important professional connections in line with his career goal of joining the foreign service.
Sam's time in Chile also supports his Fulbright research application. Sam's proposed Fulbright project, based in Valdivia, Chile, focuses on establishing avian biodiversity baselines in wetlands that are increasingly threatened by climate change. Using unmanned audio recorders to collect bird call data, the project aims to analyze species presence and distribution patterns through computational neural networks, providing valuable insights into the effects of climate change on avian species in the Southern Hemisphere.
The opportunity to study abroad has strengthened his Fulbright application, especially with the support of the UMB Global Scholar Grant. Sam has met with professors at Universidad Austral de Chile, further solidifying his research project. This work builds on his two years of experience as part of a bioacoustics research team monitoring Bobwhite Quail on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and he is eager to expand this research in Chile.
Through his study abroad experience, Sam is gaining critical academic and professional skills that will support his future endeavors, whether in diplomacy or environmental research.