She received her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University, her master’s degree from the University of Florida, and her doctorate from Harvard University. She was a Michigan Society Fellow at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for three years before moving to Syracuse in 2000. Ivany is a paleontologist and paleoclimatologist, using fossils to understand ancient environments, ecology, and climate change. She lives in Earlville on a farm with a multitude of animals.