Miquela Ingalls
Doctoral Candidate
Department of the Geophysical Sciences
The University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637
ingalls@uchicago.edu
Education
Ph.D — The University of Chicago
Geophysical Sciences, Exp. 2017
Dissertation: Stable-isotope paleoaltimetry of the Tibetan Plateau
using clumped isotope paleothermometry
Research Adviser: Dr. David Rowley
B.S. — University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Geology, Cum Laude with Honors, 2011
Thesis: A study of the temporal evolution of the El Capitan granite
using high-precision U/Pb zircon geochronology
Research Adviser: Dr. Drew Coleman
Professional Positions 2011—United States Geological Survey
Physical Scientist at the Northern Rocky Mountain Research Center
Principal Investigator: Dr. Robert Al-Chokhachy
Teaching Experience
2009—Duke Talent Identification Program, Teaching Assistant
Science on the Appalachian Trail: Geology and Environmental Science
2012-present—The University of Chicago, Teaching Assistant
Ice Age Earth; Global Tectonics; Structural Geology; Field Geology: Death
Valley & Owens Valley, CA
Academic Awards,
Fellowships,
& Research Grants
2007-11—James Johnston Scholar
Academic scholarship for high-achieving students
2009-11—Carolina Research Scholar
2010-11—Carolina Undergraduate Research Fellowship
2011 —USGS-NAGT Cooperative Field Training Fellowship
2012 —National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship,
Honorable Mention
2015 —Geological Society of America Graduate Student Research Grant
Professional Activities
Workshops/Conferences 2013 Clumped Isotope Workshop – Harvard University
Professional Affiliations 2009-present: Geological Society of America
2013-present: American Geophysical Union
2015-present: Sigma Xi
Service & Outreach
2011-2012 — Museum of Science & Industry
School Group Facilitator
Spring 2012 — Lycee Francais de Chicago
Geology Field Trip Instructor to Starved Rock State Park
Fall 2014 — Museum of Science & Industry ScienceWorks Career Fair
Skills
Geochemistry Zircon-U/Pb, Rb/Sr, 13C, 18O, and 47-clumped isotope sample processing
and analyses; interpretation of isotopic data for geological and environmental
implications; ISODAT mass spectrometry (MS) software; operating a MAT253
MS and a DeltaV MS coupled to a GasBenchII; operating a MC-TIMS; sample
processing on a vacuum line.
Writing and Communication Grant proposals and peer-reviewed scientific publications;
poster and oral presentations at conferences.
Software and Data Analysis
All Microsoft Office products; data cataloguing, organizing,
and data analysis in Microsoft Excel and R; figure-making and poster design in
Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Microsoft Powerpoint.
Field Work
GPS and GIS to map modern and ancient rock falls; identifying and interpreting
igneous textures in plutons; collecting plutonic samples for elemental and
isotopic geochemistry; experimental design in the field; measuring stratigraphic
section; identifying and collecting primary terrestrial carbonates; geologic
mapping; fisheries ecology (specimen collection, tagging); measuring flow
geometry of rivers.
Previous & Active Field Areas: Yosemite National Park, Sierra Nevadas, CA;
Bishop, CA; Utah; northern New Mexico and southern Colorado; eastern Idaho,
southern Montana, and northwestern Wyoming; southern Tibetan Plateau,
China.
Select Presentations & Publications
Ingalls, M., Rowley, D.B., Currie, B.S., Li, S., Olack, G., Ding, L., and Colman, A., Paleocene precollisional paleoaltimetry of southern Tibet: implications for India-Asia collision-related crustal mass
balance, Nature, submitted.
Ingalls, M., Rowley, D.B., Currie, BS, and Colman, AS, Ostracodes on the roof of the world?: timing the
uplift of the Tibetan Plateau using clumped isotope paleothermometry, presented at 2014 Fall Meeting,
AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 15-19 Dec.
Putnam, R., AF Glazner, DS Coleman, ARC Kylander-Clark, T Pavelsky, and M Ingalls (2014), Plutonism
in three dimensions: field and geochemical relations on the southeast face of El Capitan, Yosemite
National Park, California: Geosphere, in review.
Currie, B.S., Polissar, P.J., Ingalls, M.I., Rowley, D.B. and Freeman, K.H. (2013), Paleoaltimetry of the
Early Miocene-Pliocene Oiyug basin, southern Tibet, in prep.
Ingalls, M., DB Rowley, BS Currie, AS Colman, B He, G Olack, Paleoaltimetry of the Oiyug Basin,
southern Tibet using clumped-isotope paleothermometry, Abstract 1790798 presented at 2013 Fall
Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 9-13 Dec.
Ingalls, M., DB Rowley, BS Currie, S Li (2013), Siderite as a more robust paleoelevation proxy: Oiyug
Basin, southern Tibetan Plateau, Abstract 225915 presented at 125th Anniversary Annual Meeting,
GSA, Denver, Colorado, 27-30 Oct.
Ingalls, M. (2011), A study of the temporal evolution of the El Capitan granite using high-precision U/Pb
zircon geochronology, Anadarko Research Symposium: Chapel Hill, NC (thesis defense).
Ingalls, M. (2010) Distribution mapping of prehistoric rockfall deposits in Yosemite Valley, California,
11th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research: Chapel Hill, NC.