Sophie Coulson

Sophie Coulson is an Assistant Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of New Hampshire. She received her Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University and previously worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of the Ice Sheet Group. Her research focuses on flow and deformation in the Earth's interior and the effect these processes have on changing sea level and ice sheet stability over diverse timescales.

Dr. Coulson's research interests include:

• Sea Level Change
• Ice Sheet Dynamics
• Mantle Flow and Dynamic Topography
• Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA)
• Paleoclimate Reconstruction
• Gravitational Effects on Sea Level

Her recent publications demonstrate expertise across multiple domains of Earth sciences, with particular focus on detecting the 'sea level fingerprint' of ice sheet melt, 3-D crustal deformation from ice mass loss, and historical sea level changes during events like the Messinian Salinity Crisis and Viking settlements in Greenland. Her work has been published in top journals including Science, Science Advances, and PNAS.

Dr. Coulson has received significant media attention for her research, with coverage in Nature, The Washington Post, CNN, and NBC News. She actively participates in major scientific conferences including PALSEA meetings and AGU Fall Meetings, where she has convened sessions on ice sheet-solid Earth interactions.

As an educator, she teaches courses including ESCI 402: Earth History, ESCI 734/834: Global Geophysics, and ESCI 795/895: Topics in Sea Level Change & Geodynamics. She mentors graduate students including Grace Ertel (PhD student) working on ocean dynamics and solid-Earth deformation interactions. Dr. Coulson is committed to outreach, having led numerous workshops for girls in STEM programs across New Mexico.