Our Staff

Monique assists with the museum's NAGPRA program.

Robert Cripps began as a volunteer for the Dinosaur Institute and was quickly hired as a paleontological preparator.

Alberto is a Mexican paleontologist who studies paleoecology, in particular, fossil amphibians and reptiles (toads, frogs, turtles, snakes, and lizards).

Dr. Regan Dunn is the Assistant Deputy Director & Associate Curator at the Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research at La Brea Tar Pit. She is a paleobotanist whose research seeks to understand the interplay between climate, plants, and animal evolution through time.

Erika Durazo is a Senior Paleontological Preparator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s Dinosaur Institute. She specializes in fossil preparation, from meticulous lab work to field excavations across the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico.

Dr. Estrada holds a Ph.D. in History from University of California, Los Angeles and is a social and cultural historian, specializing in nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Los Angeles.

As Collections Manager Ms. Farrell has co-managed all of the fossils at Rancho La Brea for over a decade.

Kirk's research is focused on the systematics and evolutionary biology of a family of polychaetes known as "fan worms," as well as the philosophical foundations of phylogenetic systematics.