Our Staff

As the Fossil Lab Manager Ms. Potze is responsible for the preparation and conservation of all the fossils at Rancho La Brea.

James prepares fossils of mammals, mostly marine mammals including whales, dolphins, and pinnipeds from the Oligocene, Miocene, and Pleistocene, for use in research and display.

As a Preparator at Project 23, Karin is responsible for excavating fossils, training volunteers and students and sharing her expertise with the public.

Brent Riggs holds a B.A. in Visual Studies from the University of California, San Diego. Since 2003 he has been managing a database project to digitize and catalog the Seaver Center’s primary photographic collections.

As Associate Vice President for Collections, Trina works with staff in all departments to improve and advocate for our three museums’ incredible collections.

Shannen is a mammalogist from Utah with research interests in small mammals of the Western U.S. and comparative primate life histories. She oversees the care, management, and digitization of the museum's nearly 100,000 specimen mammal collection.

Jessie earned a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship to work with Allison Shultz and Kayce Bell on feather lice.

Kimberly is a graduate student at U.S.C. and NHM. She is studying the evolution of Channel Island foxes with Xiaoming Wang.