Sivels is from
Chesapeake, Virginia. She attended
Hickory High School. Sivels was originally interested in
culinary arts, but took an
Advanced Placement class in
chemistry and became interested in science. She completed her undergraduate studies at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, During her time at MIT, Sivels interned for
Teach For America before considering a career in academic research. Sivels joined the
University of Michigan (UoM) in 2013 for her graduate studies, working on
Beta-
Gamma coincidence-detectors and
nuclear forensics with
Sara Pozzi. Her thesis considered
nuclear nonproliferation using radioxenon for nuclear explosion monitoring in collaboration with the
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. She developed a new "plug and play" radioxenon detector device to improve monitoring at. She received the first Place Poster Award US Department of Energy
National Nuclear Security Administration University and Industry Technical Interchange in 2016. During her graduate studies, Sivels was one of three black women completing their PhD. She engaged with the Detroit Pre-College Engineering Program, supporting high school students from minority backgrounds. She also founded the Women in Nuclear Engineering in Radiological Sciences group at
UoM. In 2018, Sivels was the first black woman to earn a PhD in
nuclear engineering at the
University of Michigan, considered the top nuclear engineering program in the United States. == Research ==