Samuel Carlos Wins Boren Scholarship Award to Study in Taiwan

The world is at Samuel Carlos’ fingertips. Since coming NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College out of high school with an associates degree in math and computer science, he’s interned at Amazon, Google, and Facebook. He’s since added a third major - history with a focus on the history of computer science and is now planning to study Mandarin and Southeast Asian technology and politics at National Taiwan University in the spring and summer of 2022. 

Carlos is the recipient of the 2021 National Security Education Program David L. Boren Scholarship, which funds students to study foreign languages and regions of national security interest. The opportunity to be immersed in a country’s history and language was too good to pass up for Carlos, who has long aspired to a tech job in government. 

The scholarship funds Carlos’ tuition, housing, and food for up to a year with the requirement that the recipient works for a year in government or on a government contract. 

“Before applying to college, I wanted to go into the Air Force and do cybersecurity work for the U.S. government,” said Carlos. “I saw the Boren Award and the opportunity to get into government work. It can really help in getting government jobs.” 

Carlos is the second Boren Scholarship recipient at NJIT. John Antley, an environmental science student interested in multilateral partnerships related to Pacific Ocean pollution, received the scholarship last year to study in South Korea. Due to the pandemic, his trip was delayed and is studying there now. 

Remarkably, another NJIT student was offered the scholarship this year. Hannah Benjamin, a human-computer interaction major with plans to work in government, had accepted the offer but travel restrictions to her chosen country effectively canceled the program. Benjamin is a Bergen County College transfer student, former hair stylist, and NSF iCorps award winner in the Summer 2021 for an app that connects people to LGBTQ-affirming health providers. 

"Everyone in my high school was super into STEM, but you can study a lot of things and I found myself interested in a lot of courses at NJIT about history and modern technology." - Samuel Carlos

Carlos is an ardent learner. He started college with two years’ worth of credits and by the time he had enough to graduate, decided his education wasn’t complete.

“Everyone in my high school was super into STEM, but you can study a lot of things and I found myself interested in a lot of courses at NJIT about history and modern technology,” said Carlos. “To get a bigger picture of the world, history and humanities teaches you how to get that better than STEM. There’s a lot more subjective analysis compared to math and computer science, and I appreciate the more subjective thinking.” 

Carlos said the Albert Dorman Honors College helped guide him through his decision to stay at NJIT longer and helped foster an appreciation for interdisciplinary studies. 

“Taking on the challenge of multiple majors, or adding a minor, fires one’s creativity and enables the kinds of amazing opportunities that Sam has,” said Albert Dorman Honors College Dean Louis Hamilton. “Imagine how much better off the nation would be if the people who invented digital social networks had studied real social networks from the outset. Sam brings that transdisciplinary insight into all of his work.”

“The Honors College does a lot of great things for students at NJIT,” said Carlos. “My favorite events are always honors events like the digital humanities colloquium. It was really cool to see some of the work NJIT is doing that isn’t necessarily STEM-focused.” 

In Taiwan, Carlos will be taking three history courses over the course of the spring and summer: “Technological Development, Politics and Society of China,” “Seminar on China’s Political and Economic Reform After Deng,” and “History of Computing.” Carlos is fascinated with Southeast Asian history and technology. He originally applied to study in China, but due to Covid restrictions, the Boren Scholarship program changed to Taiwan. 

“I think China is generally one of the biggest hubs of computer and software engineering, besides the U.S.,” said Carlos. “I thought studying there would be good to interact with some of the companies that are big in software engineering in China. Taiwan is another great place for that. There are a lot of great chip manufacturers and software developers in Taiwan.” 

Carlos’ trip to Taiwan will be his last time taking classes as an undergraduate. Then, by order of the government, Carlos may finally take that government tech job he’s been pushing off.