CV — Samuel

Education

Stanford University — Coterminal B.A.S. + M.S., 2022–2027

M.S., Earth Systems – expected Spring 2027.
- Thesis: In progress. Advisor: Zephyr Frank.
B.A.S., Linguistics & Earth Systems (Sustainable Food & Agriculture); Minor in History; Interdisciplinary Honor in the Arts – conferred Spring 2026.
- Extracurriculars: President, Stanford Film Society; Photographer, MINT Magazine; Community & Culture, OnCall Café; International Mentor, Stanford International Mentors at Bechtel; Founding Member, Explore Energy House; Member, Stanford DJ Society.

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Pacheco, S., Titzer, C., Minev-Benzecry, S., & Song, H. (2025). Hawaiʻi’s plantation employee records: A multidisciplinary exploration of Hawaiʻi’s history. The International Journal of Critical Cultural Studies, 24(2), 171–192. https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-0055/CGP/v24i02/171-192
Minev-Benzecry, S., & Daru, B. H. (2024). Climate change alters the future of natural floristic regions of deep evolutionary origins. Nature Communications, 15, Article 9474. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53860-8

Book contributions

Vargas-Isla, R., Minev-Benzecry, S., Lima, M. C., Soares, C. C. B., Leite, L. C. C., Cabral, T. S., Sampaio, L. S., Oliveira, J. J. S., Bruno, A. C., & Ishikawa, N. K. (2026). Série Mycelia: Álbum de cogumelos para micoturismo, Volume 7: Museu da Amazônia [Mycelia series: Mushroom album for mycotourism, Volume 7: Museum of the Amazon]. Editora INPA. https://doi.org/10.61818/56330891
Minev-Benzecry, S. (2024). Prefácio [Preface]. In R. Vargas-Isla, L. C. C. Leite, T. S. Cabral, J. J. S. Oliveira, R. F. Pereira, & N. K. Ishikawa, Série Mycelia: Álbum de cogumelos para micoturismo, Vol. 3: Micodiversidade de cogumelos comestíveis da Amazônia (pp. 8–9). Editora INPA.

King Center on Global Development, Stanford University — Research Assistant · Fall 2025 – Spring 2026

Working under Prof. Nicole Ardoin and Lily Coburn on social-ecological trade-offs in the Bolivian Amazonia, focusing on Commodity History of El Beni and its implications on future trends affecting socio-environmental questions in the region.

Daru Lab, Stanford University — Research Assistant · Summer 2023 – Fall 2024

First-authored the Nature Communications paper above; modeled distributions of ~189,000 vascular plant species under present and future climates to map how climate change reshapes global floristic regions.
Built macroecological databases characterizing plants in the Anthropocene.

Peay Lab, Stanford University — Research Assistant · Winter – Summer 2023

Amazonian Fungi Research Group — Researcher · Winter 2021 – present

Organized scientific sampling of Amazonian macro-fungi under Dr. Noemia Ishikawa, supported maintenance of the fungus vivarium at the Museu da Amazônia, worked as a laboratory clerk, and worked on translation and revision (Portuguese–English) of academic material.
Collaborator on “Multicultural Scientific Dialogues on Sociobiodiversity in Amazonia with Bioeconomic Potential” (funded by CNPq).

Inter-American Development Bank — Analyst Intern, Amazon Coordination Unit · Summer 2025

Led an initiative to implement geospatial visualization of Indigenous languages in the Amazonia Forever 360+ mapping platform.
Investigated the bank’s policies and safeguards on Artificial Intelligence in the context of Indigenous languages and knowledge.
Organized an August 2025 conference in Quito bringing together leading financial cooperatives operating in Amazonia around financial inclusion.

Silicon-Unicode — Intern · Summer 2024

Member of the first cohort of Stanford students interning at Silicon-Unicode; contributed to Project BEGIN, extending Unicode tooling to digitally disadvantaged languages (Amazonian languages and Sunuwar, Nepal).

Stanford Graduate School of Business — Podcast Producer · Fall 2024 – Spring 2025

Produced podcasts for the Stanford Initiative on Business and Environmental Sustainability conference series with Prof. William Barnett.

Stanford Art Practice Studios (Photography Lab) — Lab Monitor · Fall 2025 – present

Worked as a monitor at Stanford’s only film photography lab, in addition to its adjunct digital photography room. Responsible for preparing and cleaning film chemistry, and assisted students with film developing, printing, and use of the lab’s facilities.

ISLA – Institute for Amazonian Linguistic Sustainability — Co-founder · 2024 – present

Founded an organization advancing digital inclusion of Amazonian languages through documentation and adaptation of language-processing technologies; broker contact between Indigenous translators and technologists.

Linklado — Co-founder · 2022 – present

Designed and developed a keyboard supporting 40+ Indigenous languages of South America, available on the Apple and Google app stores with 4,000+ active users.
Featured in national Brazilian media (piauí, Folha de São Paulo, G1).

Toral Cowieson, Maroua Bezzaoui, & Samuel Minev-Benzecry, “Empowering Voices: Lessons Learned and the Future of Inclusion for Digitally Disadvantaged Languages” — Face-Interface Conference (2024).
Samuel Minev-Benzecry & Maroua Bezzaoui, “The Long Road to Digitalization: Lessons From a Summer Internship With Silicon-Unicode” — UNICODE Technical Workshop (2024).
Master of Ceremonies, 1st Nature-based Education Summit (May 4, 2024) — hosted by The Alana Foundation and the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies, in partnership with the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC), #NatureForAll, and EARTHDAY.ORG.

Julie Kennedy Public Service Scholar Award (2026).
Ashoka Fellow (2021).
Gold Medal (2021) and Bronze Medal (2020), Brazilian Linguistics Olympiad (OBLing).

Languages: Portuguese (native), English (fluent), Spanish (proficient), Esperanto (working knowledge).
Technical: R (advanced), QGIS (intermediate), Databricks (intermediate), C++ (intermediate), Python (intermediate).