This grant provides three years partial salary support for a technician to supervise the Multiple Anvil High Pressure Laboratory at Arizona State University (ASU). This laboratory currently consists of three Walker-type multiple anvil devices plus sample preparation stations and ancillary support equipment in a 2500 square foot space. The Laboratory Supervisor will maintain and improve the high pressure equipment, supervise laboratory usage by ASU researchers and visitors, and aid ASU researchers in development of novel experimental approaches. A Lab Supervisor is essential to proper functioning of the lab in light of the great number of earth scientists and students working in the lab and the varied nature of their of their projects. The current Laboratory Supervisor, Dr. Kurt D. Leinenweber, is a respected and significant member of the Earth Science high pressure and crystallographic communities as well as a superb supervisor, innovator and teacher of high pressure technology. He has been Laboratory Supervisor for this facility for the past 6 years. This support will facilitate important new research on high pressure synthesis and phase equilibria of earth materials, including novel work on hydrous high pressure phases, and measurements of physical properties of earth materials at high pressures, including rheological and electrical properties. In addition to Earth Science utilization, this facility will be used by chemists, materials scientists, and physicists from ASU and other institutions for synthesis and characterization of novel materials. ***
