Co-Principal Investigator (September, 2005- present)

•           Range Creek Research Project, University of Utah. Co-investigator in a University of Utah Department of Geography project to reconstruct past environments in Range Creek Canyon, Utah, in support of on-going archaeological research.  Duties include design and implementation of a multi-disciplinary approach to produce highly resolved paleoenvironmental records. Methods currently being employed include bog sediment core analysis (pollen, charcoal), packrat midden analysis (macrofossils, pollen), alluvial exposure studies, and soil isotopes studies. Duties include collection, processing, and analysis of packrat middens, supervision of undergraduate and graduate students involved in the research, and eventual dissemination of findings in journals, lay publications, and other public media.

Field Scientist and Co-Investigator (December, 2000- present)

•           Ross Island and Victoria Land Coast, Antarctica.  Co-investigator in a National Science Foundation funded project.  Conduct field surveys of exposed coastlines to locate and excavate Pleistocene-Holocene Adélie penguin sub-fossils from abandoned and occupied colonies to establish the biogeographic history of the species.  Duties included team survival and safety assurance, first aid qualifications, as well as scientific expertise.  The project includes extensive mapping by hand and using GPS equipment, excavations of open-air sites, recovery of paleontological materials, dry and wet screening of sediments, and picking of matrix.  Co-author on final publications of findings.

Research Specialist (September, 2001- 2004)

•           Colorado Plateau Field Center, Northern Arizona University. Contracted by principal investigator in a National Science Foundation funded Global Climate Change project.  Duties included development of an extensive packrat midden database, development of a web resource for packrat midden data (Past, Recent, and 21st Century Vegetation Change in the Arid Southwest), analysis of macrobotanical specimens, data entry and GIS analysis, background research and data verification, and production of a paper published in a professional journal.

Science Management Officer (March 2002- June 2003)

•           PARCS (Paleoenvironmental Arctic Sciences), Northern Arizona University. Science office manager in a National Science Foundation funded Arctic research program.  Duties included serving as a liaison between scientific investigators and the NSF, coordinating activities and resources of investigators, organizing PARCS meetings and workshops, and communicating the results and achievements of the PARCS program through web-based or other publications. Scientific duties included development of a database on the Holocene Thermal Maximum in the Arctic, coordination of input from many authors during manuscript preparation, and publication of results in a professional journal. 

Principal Investigator (May, 1997- 1999)

•           Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Contracted by Capitol Reef National Park.  Lead investigator in a two-year paleoenvironmental study conducted in support of a park-wide archaeological survey in Capitol Reef National Park, under direction of the Park archaeologist, with archaeological survey conducted by Brigham Young University.  Duties included field survey and collection of paleoecological materials, laboratory processing and analysis, and background research and report production.