Sam Couper

Samantha received a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of California, Davis. She continued geologic studies at the University of Utah, pursuing a Master of Science with a focus on the magmatic evolution of the Bruneau Jarbige caldera, an ~13- to ~8-million-year-old precursor to modern day Yellowstone. Lu-Hf and U-Pb systems in erupted zircons were studied in situ by employing the University’s two Neptune MC-ICP-MS’s to collect high resolution data from split stream laser ablation. Interest into the origins of deep magmatism led Samantha to a PhD in high pressure geophysics, examining the deformation behavior of geologic materials in the deep earth. For her doctoral research, Samantha applied novel methods such as double-sided laser heating in radial diffraction geometry, resistively heated radial diamond anvil cells (DACs), and polycrystal plasticity modeling of low-symmetry, multiphase materials. She joined the Static High Pressure Team of the Shock and Detonation Physics Group (M-9) at Los Alamos in Spring of 2021, where she will continue material deformation studies using radial diffraction techniques in both the DAC and dynamic DAC. Samantha will be focusing on experimental developments to high temperature resistive heating experiments and measurements of elastic constants on small samples (<40 µm) at high pressure in the DAC, thereby expanding both the accessibility and capability of simultaneous high P/T research in the DAC. Successful technique developments will be employed to study a variety of Group IV transition metals at high pressure for the first time.