Sam grew up in Chester, New Jersey. She received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame, where she synthesized antibiotic adjuvants under the guidance of Dr. Christian Melander. As an undergraduate, she was also a visiting student in the Freeman group at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the Hergenrother group at UIUC, and the Tong group at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Sam returned to the Hergenrother lab as a graduate student in the fall of 2020, and she is now continuing her graduate studies in the Sarlah group. In her free time, she likes to read and bake.