ASU grad one step closer to geological sciences dream job
School of Earth and Space Exploration geological sciences graduate Samantha Beauchaine took part in a number of internships and outside-the-classroom experiences, including working as a NASA Space Grant intern on the ASU-led Psyche mission. Photo courtesy of Samantha Beauchaine
Editor’s note: This story is part of a series of profiles of notable spring 2025 graduates.
By Gabrielle Sangervasi
Arizona State University student Samantha Beauchaine will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in geological sciences from the School of Earth and Space Exploration this May. It is just one step toward her ultimate goal: a career investigating complex geological processes and their real-world implications.
Her decision to pursue a degree and career in geology was not always the plan. In fact, it completely changed her life.
“I spent much of my life after high school working,” Beauchaine says. “I wasn’t ready for college and spent years trying new things in the ‘real world.’ I learned how to get a job, manage employees and grow in a company, but something was still missing.”
It wasn’t until she was offered a promotion to upper management that she finally realized what that was. She wanted to return to school full-time as a nontraditional student and pursue her childhood passion: geology.
So, Beauchaine turned down the promotion and left her hometown of St. Louis and all her loved ones to move to Arizona and follow her dream.
“As a geology major, I wanted to be surrounded by mountains, and ASU was one of the best places to be for that. I also heard great things about the geology program and the professors,” Beauchaine says.
Once she arrived at ASU, she immersed herself in her classes. Professor Steven Semken first met Beauchaine in his first-year Earth and planetary sciences majors course in 2023.
“From the start I found Sam to be an enthusiastic and very hardworking student, always posing thoughtful questions in class and just soaking up and thinking about everything we discussed and did,” Semken says. “There was no doubt of her strong passion for the geosciences.”
As accomplished as she was in the classroom and lab, though, Semken was also impressed by Beauchaine’s diligence in engaging in meaningful research outside the classroom to expand her portfolio.
Assistant Professor Melanie Barboni also noticed Beauchaine’s drive and motivation.
“She seized every opportunity for internships and research experiences, not just to grow as a scientist but to thoughtfully build a competitive CV for graduate school applications. I can honestly say I've rarely encountered a student with such focused determination combined with genuine scientific curiosity,” Barboni says.
To gain more hands-on experience, Beauchaine explored different Research Experiences for Undergraduates opportunities and was accepted into the EarthScope Consortium internship. Through this internship, she spent a summer at New Mexico Tech working with Professor Virginia McLemore and several other professors studying critical minerals. Beauchaine was able to present her research at the American Geophysical Union conference’s poster session in December 2024.
“I was working on my own research project characterizing a eudialyte vein from the Cornudas Mountains in southern New Mexico,” Beauchaine says. “I had to write a proposal and present my findings to her (Professor McLemore's) team multiple times over the summer. It was an exciting and invaluable opportunity for growth in my field.”
Her most notable experience though came from her work with the ASU-led NASA Psyche mission.
In her junior year, Beauchaine received a NASA Space Grant internship to work on a project for the Psyche mission, re-creating and improving a system for capturing images of meteorite samples and programming it to detect the various inclusions present in meteorites.
“Identifying meteorites can be challenging because of the inclusions or minerals embedded within the samples, which require a need for high-quality RGB (red, green, blue) images for precise analysis,” Beauchaine says. “To solve this, I redesigned the System for Analyzing Meteorite Inclusions (SAMI), creating a user-friendly, repeatable imaging system — think IKEA, but for meteorites.”
She presented her work for the Psyche mission at a public ASU poster session and at the NASA Space Grant conference. Most rewarding, though, she was able to attend the launch of the Psyche spacecraft in October 2023 and meet the scientists and engineers behind the mission.
“Being at the launch of the Psyche spacecraft was absolutely surreal — there’s really no other way to describe it. Watching the rocket lift off, knowing it was carrying a spacecraft that’s headed to an unexplored, metal-rich asteroid, was both humbling and awe-inspiring,” Beauchaine says.
“It reminded me that behind every space mission is a community of people who really believe in exploration and discovery. It made the idea of contributing to a mission like that one day feel real — and it deepened my appreciation for how science can bring people together to do truly extraordinary things.”
Barboni says: “Samantha is the future graduate student that every professor dreams of mentoring. Knowing she will one day be my colleague gives me tremendous hope for the future of our field of geochemistry — both for the research she'll contribute and for the warmth and integrity she brings as a person.”
After graduation, Beauchaine hopes to continue her journey to a geological research career as a geochemistry doctoral student at Curtin University in Western Australia.
Here she shares more about her college journey.
Question: What’s something you learned while at ASU — in the classroom or otherwise — that surprised you or changed your perspective?
Answer: College is more than just getting good grades and graduating. It’s about the passion you have for the subject and following your dreams.
Q: If you had no limits and could create it, what would be your dream career?
A: My dream job would be one where I’m constantly learning and contributing to something meaningful — ideally in a research or field-based role where I can investigate complex geological processes and their real-world implications, especially in critical mineral systems.
I’d love to be in a position where I’m collaborating with other scientists, maybe at a university or a research institute, with opportunities to teach or mentor as well. I want to give back to my community. I think it’s important to inspire the youth and show them that anything is possible.
Q: How do you feel your degree has prepared you for future career opportunities?
A: I think what prepared me the most was applying for internships during my undergraduate studies. Getting a degree is one thing, but that hands-on experience is what's going to set you apart.
Q: Which professor taught you the most important lesson while at ASU?
A: That’s a tough one because every geology professor I had was amazing. Between Steve Semken, Duane DeVecchio and Melanie Barboni, they all sparked the passion in me for geology.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’d give to those still in school?
A: As a nontraditional student, the best advice I could give is that it's OK to not know what you want to be when you graduate high school. Explore the world, try new things, it’s OK!
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