Meet Our Team
Current members and friends of the Ingalls lab.
Miquela Ingalls, Assistant Professor

Barr Postdoctoral Fellow, Caltech, 2018-2020
Postdoc, CU-Boulder, 2017-2018
PhD, University of Chicago, 2017
BS, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2011
Miquela works in modern and ancient environments to better understand how chemical sediments archive Earth history information. Specifically, Miquela combines field geology, petrography, and stable isotope geochemistry to improve the use of chemical sediments in tectonic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. She uses tools that investigate post-depositional alteration processes—from nm- to basin-scale, from in situ microbial respiration to deep burial diagenesis. Miquela also develops and uses novel analytical techniques to understand geochemical conditions under which life evolved and early Earth aqueous chemistry. CV here.
Postdoc, CU-Boulder, 2017-2018
PhD, University of Chicago, 2017
BS, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2011
Miquela works in modern and ancient environments to better understand how chemical sediments archive Earth history information. Specifically, Miquela combines field geology, petrography, and stable isotope geochemistry to improve the use of chemical sediments in tectonic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. She uses tools that investigate post-depositional alteration processes—from nm- to basin-scale, from in situ microbial respiration to deep burial diagenesis. Miquela also develops and uses novel analytical techniques to understand geochemical conditions under which life evolved and early Earth aqueous chemistry. CV here.
Graduate Students
Ran He

BS, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), 2020
Ran is interested in using stable isotope geochemistry of natural carbonate samples, combined with detailed sedimentological and petrographic analyses to investigate paleoenvironmental questions of different geologic time. Ran is also interested in developing techniques for carbonate diagenesis evaluation and understanding what controls the isotopic behavior of carbonate diagenetic processes.
Ran is interested in using stable isotope geochemistry of natural carbonate samples, combined with detailed sedimentological and petrographic analyses to investigate paleoenvironmental questions of different geologic time. Ran is also interested in developing techniques for carbonate diagenesis evaluation and understanding what controls the isotopic behavior of carbonate diagenetic processes.
Hanna Leapaldt

BS, University of Minnesota (Duluth), 2019
Hanna is captivated with the study of Earth’s climate history and how it informs the “hows and whys” of Earth’s present and future climate. She has studied Earth’s climate history through sedimentological evaluation of lake cores to assess lake level changes over time. Hanna is interested in the further use of lake cores to access authigenic carbonates found in lake sediments. She is also interested in further investigating the processes that affect the stable isotope content of these carbonates, in order to provide greater comprehension of their role in developing past climate records.
Hanna is captivated with the study of Earth’s climate history and how it informs the “hows and whys” of Earth’s present and future climate. She has studied Earth’s climate history through sedimentological evaluation of lake cores to assess lake level changes over time. Hanna is interested in the further use of lake cores to access authigenic carbonates found in lake sediments. She is also interested in further investigating the processes that affect the stable isotope content of these carbonates, in order to provide greater comprehension of their role in developing past climate records.