Who we are

André Oliveira Sawakuchi
Lab Director

Professor at the Institute of Geosciences of the University of São Paulo. Research interests include luminescence geochronology and applications to sediment origin; landscape evolution and climate change in Amazonia and its relationship with current biogeographical patterns; the impacts of hydroelectric dams on Amazonian rivers; and hydrocarbons in sedimentary basins.

Thays Desiree Mineli
Lab manager

Bachelor’s degree in Physics with an emphasis in Biomedical Physics from the Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, University of Campinas (UNICAMP). Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Biomedical Engineering from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UNICAMP. PhD in Geosciences from the University of São Paulo (USP), specializing in luminescence dating.

Fernanda Costa Gonçalves Rodrigues
Lab specialist

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Geology (2015), a master’s degree (2017) and a PhD (2022) from the Institute of Geosciences of the University of São Paulo. Her research interests encompass luminescence dating, provenance analysis and Quaternary landscape evolution.

Priscila Emerich Souza
Postdoctoral Researcher

She holds a bachelor’s (2011) and master’s degree (2014) in Oceanography from the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), and a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark (2019). She is an expert in optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, having been trained at the Nordic Luminescence Laboratory (NLL, ), Technical University of Denmark (DTU, Risø Campus) during her PhD studies in Denmark (2015-2019). Her research interests include evolution of coastal and fluvial landscapes, and advances in luminescence dating (e.g., rock surface dating and luminescence-based proxies)