Dr. Sam Bowden Akbari joined RPA in 2024 as our Director of Communications.

Sam received her Ph.D. in geography and urban planning from Rutgers University in 2023. While completing her dissertation on the so-called ​“monument wars,” she worked with Deloitte Consulting as a National Consulting Writer crafting RFP responses and orals pitches for high-value (>$20m) RFP opportunities within the Pursuit Center of Excellence. She is also published in prominent geography journals.

As a doctoral student, Sam worked both as an adjunct professor at Middlesex Community College and at Rutgers teaching Cities and Regional Geography courses. She also served as a senior researcher at the Rutgers’ Voorhees Center for Civic Engagement helping Master of Urban and Regional Planning students develop capstone studies on housing and food insecurity.

Prior to Rutgers, Sam earned her master’s in political science/public policy analyzing​“mega events” as an urban municipal accumulation strategy while serving as a Communications Manager on Pat Kemp’s transit-focused, winning county commission campaign. Sam also served as the Communications Director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Florida defending Muslim civil rights in the sunshine state. As Comms Director, Sam and her team helped produce segments of The Rachel Maddow Show shedding light on civil rights infringements against the Muslim community. She also worked for the public affairs consulting firm Tucker/Hall, Inc. advancing the Greenlight Pinellas Transportation Referendum on behalf of the Pinellas Suncoast Transportation Authority.

Sam currently lives in East Harlem with her wife, an oral maxillofacial surgeon at Lincoln Hospital, and their catson Shah Jahan, AKA the king of the world.