Rancho La Brea Staff Biographies | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

John M. Harris, Chief Curator

Today, I am Head of Vertebrate Studies at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and have curatorial responsibility for the vast collections of late Pleistocene fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits and housed at the George C. Page Museum. I studied geology at the Universities of Leicester, Texas, and Bristol before becoming Director of Paleontology at the National Museums of Kenya in 1971. In 1980 I joined the staff at the Natural History Museum as Chief Curator of the Division of Earth Sciences. Although much of my career has been dedicated to researching fossil ungulates associated with early humans in Africa, I'm also fascinated by the potential of the Rancho La Brea biota to document environmental change in western North America during the last 40,000 years.

E-mail: jharris@nhm.org

Aisling Farrell, Collections Manager

In my position as the Collections Manager at Rancho La Brea, I oversee one of the largest collections of late Pleistocene fossils in the world, as well as manage the day-to-day excavation of Project 23. My interest in paleontology and zoology was sparked at a young age by visits to natural history museums and my family’s subscription to National Geographic magazine. I completed my undergraduate degree in Earth Science, majoring in Zoology, and followed it with a Master's degree in Taxonomy and Biodiversity where my research focused on fish systematics. Since then I have traveled a little and worked as both a Gallery Interpreter and a Curatorial Assistant. I believe that having a well-curated and easily accessible collection is extremely important for research, education, and for the protection of important specimens. I am particularly excited about all the new microfossils that we are identifying everyday and the information we will learn from them about Los Angeles at the end of the last Ice Age.

E-mail: afarrell@tarpits.org

Gary Takeuchi, Curatorial Assistant

I started as a high school volunteer at Rancho La Brea in 1983 working in the Fishbowl Lab and later a volunteer excavator in Pit 91. I went on to become the Senior Excavator of Pit 91 from 1999 -2000 and served as Curatorial Assistant from 2000-2003. Until recently, I was a Curatorial Assistant for the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County where I assisted with fossil preparation, collections management, and fieldwork. I was also part of the Age of Mammals exhibition team. Over the years my career has taken me to do field work at Red Rock Canyon in the Mojave Desert, California, Argentina, China, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet. My research has mainly focused on fossil fish, but my interests include biostratigraphy, taphonomy, and microfossils.

Email: gtakeuch@nhm.org

Shelley M. Cox, Laboratory and Volunteer Supervisor

As the Laboratory Supervisor in the Fish Bowl Lab I supervise volunteers in the cleaning and preparing of fossils recovered from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits here in Hancock Park. I graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1972 with a degree in History and began my association with the Museum as a volunteer a year later. The lab I oversee has grown in size since 1975, from a single A-frame design to more than four times its original size. The Fishbowl Lab gives Museum visitors a behind-the-scenes view of scientists and volunteers doing actual paleontology work. My research has focused primarily on the extinct short-faced bear and mammoths.

E-mail: scox@tarpits.org

Trevor Valle, Assistant Lab Supervisor

From my first visit to the Museum when I was 11 years old, I've wanted to work at Rancho La Brea. After receiving my Master's degree in Biology, I worked in the Education Department at the Natural History Museum as a Gallery Interpreter. Eighteen months later the Page Museum needed an Assistant Lab Supervisor and I happily accepted! As a member of R.O.A.R. (Reach Out. Act. Respond), the World Wildlife Fund, and the Steve Irwin / Wildlife Warriors Foundation, I am dedicated to the preservation of natural habitats and to the places animals call home. I’m still trying to figure out how a reptile, shark, and cuttlefish guy ended up at an Ice Age mammal museum. I’m not letting that bother me too much.

E-mail: tvalle@tarpits.org

Cathy McNassor, Archivist

As Archivist for both the Natural History Museum and the George C. Page Musem, I work with the collections that focus on the history of the institutions, both past and present. I am keenly interested in the history of Paleontology in the western United States prior to 1950. Over the past 30 years, I have worked for the Museum in many capacities including exhibit design and installation, fossil collections management, and as a retail buyer for the gift shop. I have a B.A. in Fine Arts from Pitzer College and a Master's degree in Cultural Anthropology from California State University, Los Angeles. I am a member of the Society of California Archivists and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

E-mail: mcnassor@nhm.org

Carrie Howard, Lead Excavator

My desire to do fieldwork originally brought me to volunteer at Rancho La Brea. Now I am the lead excavator at Project 23 where I oversee daily activities on site and co-ordinate with the Collections Manager. My bachelor's degree is in Earth Sciences and Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz. I love geology and am interested in studying the unique asphaltic sediments of RLB. Being an avid photographer, I enjoy documenting our work and am also excited about producing an annotated photographic notebook of RLB specimens for the field.

E-mail: choward@tarpits.org

Laura Tewksbury, Excavator

When I was four years old, I informed my parents that I was going to be a paleontologist. Other than clarifying at 12 that I wanted to be a paleo-animal behavioralist, I never changed my mind! I am currently working away at my undergraduate degree, majoring in biology and with an emphasis in Ecology and Evolution at California State University, Fullerton. My nonverbal cousin inspired me to pursue a second major in American Sign Language Interpreting. I love using my skills to bring an enthusiasm for science to an audience of all ages. During high school, I volunteered in the Splash Lab at R.H. Dana Elementary where I helped prepare a Miocene whale and interactively taught children about paleontology. During my junior college years, I took classes in fossil preparation at both Irvine Valley and Saddleback community colleges, working on material from local construction sites. After volunteering at the Page Museum for a few years in the Fishbowl Lab and in Pit 91, I was thrilled to be chosen as an Excavator on Project 23.

E-mail: ltewksbu@tarpits.org

Karin Rice, Excavator

I'm a geologist by training with industry experience in environmental and engineering geology, and paleontological resource mitigation. I'm also a graduate student working on fault mapping and active tectonics in central Mongolia. My love of geology and paleontology is a direct result of family fossil hunting trips led by my mother. Though I was originally fascinated by marine invertebrate fossils, I've grown increasingly fond of marine and terrestrial vertebrates over almost four years of paleontological monitoring on construction sites. There's nothing like being the first person to uncover a 9 million year old whale skull or pick up a 15,000 year old mastodon tooth. And as a geologist I'm always thinking about the sedimentary environment the fossils were deposited in. The thrill of discovery is unparalleled.

Email: krice@tarpits.org

Michelle Tabencki, Excavator

I am an anthropologist with a BA from USC and am now currently pursuing my Master's degree in Forensic Anthropology at CSULA. Working here at Rancho La Brea has been an invaluable contribution to my understanding of ancient life and the techniques used in investigating the conditions of death here at the tar pits. While the tar pits is not a forensic case, the techniques used here have expanded my skills in data recovery and analysis. Everyday we discover new bones and stumble upon challenges, such as removing associated skeletons and recording their depositional conditions. Working as a paleontologist, I have had the unique opportunity to travel to other countries for fossil-hunting expeditions and had the pleasure to meet inspirational people working in this field. It is an immense honor and pleasure working here!

E-mail: mtabenck@tarpits.org

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