Ny R. Voarintsoa
Principal Investigator Biography
Dr. Ny Riavo Voarintsoa (known by many as Voary) is a geologist with specific interests in paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstruction in tropical regions, presently in Southern Africa, the Mascaregne Islands and Madagascar. She uses a variety of geological archives, such as stalagmites and lake sediments, and she investigates their geochemical properties (the conventional stable isotopes of O and C and the newly developed clumped and triple oxygen isotopes) and other physical aspects to understand how climate and environment have changed in the past. |
After completing her PhD in 2017 at the Department of Geology of the University of Georgia, USA, Dr. Voarintsoa went to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel where she was involved in developing two relatively new proxies in paleoclimate studies (clumped isotopes Δ47 and triple oxygen isotopes Δ17O in carbonates and their parent water). For the clumped isotopes, she was involved in calibrating the new mass spectrometer using a variety of carbonate certified and in-house standards and other in-house CO2 standards. The goal is to define the absolute reference frame for ‘clumped’ isotope of CO2 of the new Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) - Perspective from Nu Instruments, according to Dennis et al., 2011. She was also involved in measuring a range of carbonate standards that was mainly used in the inter-laboratory comparison, a community effort to improve standardization of the carbonate clumped isotope thermometer using carbonate standards. That community efforts was published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems of AGU.
In addition to this, she performed and designed a range of experiments aiming at understanding isotopic equilibrium under constrained lab environments. For the triple oxygen isotopes, she have been involved intensively in preparing and measuring δ17O and 17Oexcess values of three international standards: IAEA‐603, NBS19 and NBS18 (Barkan et al., 2019). She was also involved in developing and designing a range of short term and long term experiments, and she performed a range of analyses starting from extracting CO2 from carbonates on an offline vacuum line, following the acid digestion method of McCrea (1950) and equilibrating CO2-H2O, then extracting the equilibrated CO2 on an offline vacuum line, following Epstein and Mayeda (1953) and O’Neil and Truesdell (1991). Using complex and laborious geochemical separation procedures, she was also involved in performing CO2–O2 exchange experiment over hot platinum following the procedures of Barkan et al. (2015). The goal of the set of precipitation experiments was to determine the triple oxygen isotope fractionation between CaCO3 and H2O under well-constrained laboratory conditions. She additionally performed laboratory experiments to precipitate CaCO3 polymorphs, either calcite or aragonite, at temperatures varying between 10 and 35°C to evaluate the effect of polymorphism, temperature, and solution concentration on the 17Oexcess of CO2 extracted from these carbonates and the 17O isotopic fractionation (17α) between H2O and CaCO3 (see Voarintsoa et al., 2020).
Three months being in Israel, Dr. Voarintsoa was awarded a Marie Curie Fellow to conduct independent research at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, at KU Leuven in Belgium with Prof. Steven Bouillon. She led a project entitled "PALEOMADA", which stands for Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction in Madagascar using two geological archives (speleothems and lake sediments). One of the main objectives of this project was proxy calibration. This approach used knowledge of modern (bio)geochemical processes, via field monitoring, as a tool to calibrate paloclimate and paleoenvironmental changes in Madagascar. More specifically, the research aimed at understanding how surrounding environmental signals are transferred into speleothems or lake sediments. Results from that research were published in Science of the Total Environment, Malagasy Nature (invited), Science Advances, and Chemical Geology.
Ten months being in Belgium, Dr. Voarintsoa was offered a Faculty position at the University of Houston. Currently she is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the University of Houston, in Texas, USA. She led the PaleoGeochem research group, which stands for Paleoclimate and Geochemistry.
Outside of research and science, Dr. Voarintsoa enjoys singing, cooking, sewing, hiking, and biking.
For questions about research and collaboration, contact her directly at ngvoarin[at]cougarnet[dot]uh[dot]edu.
Ten months being in Belgium, Dr. Voarintsoa was offered a Faculty position at the University of Houston. Currently she is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the University of Houston, in Texas, USA. She led the PaleoGeochem research group, which stands for Paleoclimate and Geochemistry.
Outside of research and science, Dr. Voarintsoa enjoys singing, cooking, sewing, hiking, and biking.
For questions about research and collaboration, contact her directly at ngvoarin[at]cougarnet[dot]uh[dot]edu.
Short CV
EDUCATION
2017: PhD in Geology, Department of Geology, University of Georgia, GA, USA
2012: Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies, DEA in Geology, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar
2010–1: Visiting Scholar, Department of Geosciences, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, USA
2009: Maîtrise in Geology, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar
APPOINTMENTS
2021–: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, U. of Houston, TX, USA
2021: Research Assist. Professor, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, U. of Houston, TX, USA
2019–2021: Marie Curie Fellow, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven
2017–2019: Postdoctoral Fellow, The Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.
2017: Research Assistant, Department of Geography, University of Georgia, USA.
RECOGNITIONS (Grants-Awards–Scholarships)
2022–2023: NSF-EAR-IF "Acquisition of an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer for Research and Education in Geological and Paleoclimate Studies at the University of Houston"
2019-2021: Marie-Curie Fellowship Award
2018: Outstanding Young Alumni Award , Department of Geology at UGA 2017: Outstanding PhD Student of the Year, Department of Geology at UGA 2016: Faculty for the Future Fellowship Award, Schlumberger Foundation 2016: John Montagne Award (best proposal in the field of Quaternary Geology/Geomorhology)
2015: Hendy Scholarship, Summer School on Speleothem Science (S4) 2015: Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization Scholarship (S4)
2015: Faculty for the Future Fellowship Award, Schlumberger Foundation 2014-2015: Future Faculty Program, Center for Teaching and Learning, UGA
2017: PhD in Geology, Department of Geology, University of Georgia, GA, USA
2012: Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies, DEA in Geology, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar
2010–1: Visiting Scholar, Department of Geosciences, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, USA
2009: Maîtrise in Geology, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar
APPOINTMENTS
2021–: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, U. of Houston, TX, USA
2021: Research Assist. Professor, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, U. of Houston, TX, USA
2019–2021: Marie Curie Fellow, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven
2017–2019: Postdoctoral Fellow, The Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.
2017: Research Assistant, Department of Geography, University of Georgia, USA.
RECOGNITIONS (Grants-Awards–Scholarships)
2022–2023: NSF-EAR-IF "Acquisition of an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer for Research and Education in Geological and Paleoclimate Studies at the University of Houston"
2019-2021: Marie-Curie Fellowship Award
2018: Outstanding Young Alumni Award , Department of Geology at UGA 2017: Outstanding PhD Student of the Year, Department of Geology at UGA 2016: Faculty for the Future Fellowship Award, Schlumberger Foundation 2016: John Montagne Award (best proposal in the field of Quaternary Geology/Geomorhology)
2015: Hendy Scholarship, Summer School on Speleothem Science (S4) 2015: Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization Scholarship (S4)
2015: Faculty for the Future Fellowship Award, Schlumberger Foundation 2014-2015: Future Faculty Program, Center for Teaching and Learning, UGA
Major community involvment
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