People

Laboratory Head

Professor
André Oliveira Sawakuchi

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.

Research Assistant

PhD
Thaís Aparecida Silva

Bachelor's degree in Geography from the Federal University of Alfenas (UNIFAL-MG) (2014), master's degree in Geography from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) (2018), and a PhD in Geosciences from the Institute of Geosciences at the University of São Paulo (IGc-USP) (2024). Her research area is on Quaternary climate change and regional and coastal geomorphology. She also has experience in dating sedimentary deposits using OSL and in sediment provenance analysis, including luminescence sensitivity and heavy mineral characterization.

PhD
Fernanda C. G. Rodrigues

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.

PhD
Thays Desiree Mineli

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.

Laboratory Technician

Graduate
Alessandro Oliveira de Moraes Nogueira

Biochemical Engineer graduated from the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), with a sandwich program period in Bionanotechnology at Università Ca' Foscari (UNIVE), in Venice, Italy. Holds an MBA in Project Management from the University of São Paulo (USP). Conducted research focused on the physicochemical characterization of lipid membranes and the development of prolonged-release systems, accumulating experience in instrumental techniques such as FTIR, DSC, NMR, Raman spectroscopy, flow cytometry, in addition to liquid (HPLC) and gas (GC) chromatography.

Associated Researcher

Professor
Paulo César Fonseca Giannini

Professor at the Institute of Geosciences of the University of São Paulo. His main lines of research are: analysis of sedimentary dispersion, provenance and paleogeography based on vector (paleoflow) and scalar (facies, textures, heavy minerals, petrography) properties; analysis of facies and Quaternary depositional systems, with emphasis on coastal and eolian systems; beach-dune interactions; reconstitution of the variation of the relative sea level in the Holocene; and geoarchaeology, especially constitution, stratigraphy and time-space distribution of shell mounds.

Postdoctoral researcher
Sameeksha Kaushik

She holds a Bachelor's degree (2015) and a Master's degree (2017) in Geology from the Centre of Advanced Studies, Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, and a PhD in Geology from HNB Garhwal Central University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India (2024). Her research interests include landform evolution and its climatic implications, along with the assessment of geological hazards associated with late quaternary glacio-fluvial landforms, numerical modelling, and runout simulation (debris flows, rockfall trajectory simulation, and flood hazards simulation). She has expertise in Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating, sediment geochemistry, and geomorphology in understanding landform evolution. She was engaged as a junior research fellow in a Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) funded project from 2019 to 2020, hosted at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun, an autonomous research institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

Professor
Fabiano do Nascimento Pupim

Professor of Geomorphology in the Department of Geography at the University of São Paulo. Supervisor in the graduate programs in "Earth System Sciences and Society (IGc-USP)" and "Physical Geography (FFLCH-USP)". Research interests include Earth surface processes, fluvial geomorphology and sedimentology, landscape evolution, tropical rivers and wetlands, luminescence dating, cosmogenic nuclides, geomorphological mapping, environmental planning, remote sensing, and GIS.

Postdoctoral researcher
Priscila Emerich Souza

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)

Current graduate and undergraduate students

Anarda Luísa Sousa Simões
PhD student
Caio Breda
PhD student
Carolina Barbosa Leite da Cruz
PhD student
William Mozart Henrichs
PhD student
Yewubinesh Bekele Reba
PhD student
Emili Fujinami Queiroz
MSc student
Gabriella Brandino de Campos
MSc student
Gabrieli Santos Cautterucci Rodrigues
MSc student
Aryane Gabrielle Teles de Barros
undergraduate
Chris Fernandes Franco
undergraduate
Daniel Nicodemo Belmonte
undergraduate
Maria Julia Sandoval Caetano
undergraduate

Former graduate and undergraduate students and postdocs

Fabiano do Nascimento Pupim
postdoc
Ian Del Ri
PhD, postdoc
Marília de Carvalho Campos
postdoc
André Zular
MSc, PhD
Fernanda Costa Gonçalves Rodrigues
MSc, PhD, postdoc
Pontien Niyonzima
PhD
Thaís Aparecida Silva
PhD
Thays Desiree Mineli
MSc, PhD
Diego Fróes e Souza
MSc
Dorília Ferreira da Cunha
MSc
Jandessa Silva de Jesus
MSc
Manuela Pinheiro Ferreira
MSc
Renan Cassimiro Brito
MSc
Rodolfo Carlos Mineli
MSc
Laura Furukawa
undergraduate
Lina Akiko Araki
undergraduate