Sam has conducted research this past summer and school year at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. During that time, he has worked with lake and marine sediment cores. The lake sediment cores were from Norway and analysis of lipids from sheep gut were used as a proxy for agricultural activity and human population. Currently, Sam is working with sediment cores from the mid-Atlantic and Pacific to attempt to find cosmic spherules, which originate from the asteroid belt, and have potential to be used as a constant flux proxy since it has been postulated that they fall uniformly on the earth at a constant rate. Sam has sampled cores of various origins, shapes, sizes, and ages, washed sediment samples for preparation of foraminifera identification, saponified organic samples and run them through silica gel columns. He has also dissolved samples that are approximately 90% calcium carbonate and is currently in the process of formulating a procedure to remove cosmic spherules from the post-dissolved samples. Before entering the field of Earth Science, Sam worked in an Astrophysics lab and helped with instrumentation testing for sensors on the FIREBall-2 stratospheric satellite. Sam wishes to continue his studies in Earth Science and would like to focus on paleoclimate and climate change. During the Spring semester he also wishes to study and conduct field research in the Mpala Research Center.