A sense of belonging

Abstract

Jeffrey Sams never expected to go to college, much less major in chemical engineering. In fact, Sams was homeless at several points in his life, living in a car with his mother and siblings and later sleeping in an alley. His father was murdered six months before he was born, and his mother worked as a prostitute. When Sams was in his 20s, he worked multiple low-wage jobs to support his wife and son. “At that point, I wasn’t thinking about the future,” he says. “When you’re working three jobs to survive, you don’t have time to think about the future.” Today, Sams, who is now 32, is thinking about the future, and that future involves a career in the chemical sciences. He’s currently a senior majoring in chemical engineering at the University of Akron, and he is president of the American Chemical Society student chapter there. This past summer,