Key Staff
Cogstone's key personnel are professionals with advanced degrees and extensive experience. Each team member is experienced in local/CEQA/NEPA mitigation of effects on paleontological, archaeological, and historical resources and is well-qualified to address a wide variety of situations with practical solutions.
KEY STAFF
Gust is a Registered Professional Archaeologist and a Qualified Principal Paleontologist
with more than 28 years experience in cultural resources management and consulting in
California
. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology (Physical) from the
University
of
California
at Davis and Master’s in Anatomy (Evolutionary Morphology) from
University of Southern
California
. Gust has a well-earned reputation for professional work, regulatory compliance and client satisfaction.
Gust meets national standards in archaeology and paleontology (Secretary of Interior and BLM), is accepted as a principal investigator for both prehistoric and historical archaeology by the State Office of Historic Preservation’s Information Centers, and is certified/qualified in all southern
California
counties. She has special expertise
in the identification and analysis of bone -
human, animal and fossil. Gust is well-known for accessible technical reports. Gust is an associate of both the Page Museum of Rancho La Brea Discoveries and the
Natural History Museum
?s Vertebrate Paleontology Division.
She has extensive field and laboratory experience in prehistoric and historic archaeology
and paleontology. Gust has served as
the Principal Investigator and Project Manager on more than 200 cultural resource projects.
Full Curriculum Vitae
Dr. McDonald is a Qualified Principal Paleontologist with over 30 years experience working in the field of paleontology.
He is an acknowledged expert on Plio-Pleistocene faunas of both North and
South America
. He has worked extensively as a museum consultant specializing in paleontology and as an expert paleontologist for numerous American and British television programs on fossil animals.
McDonald earned his doctorate in geology at the
University
of
Toronto
at
Ontario
, his master?s in zoology at the
University
of
Florida
at
Gainesville
, and his bachelor?s in zoology at
Idaho
State
University
at
Pocatello
. He is a Research Associate of the
San Bernardino
County Museum
and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Dr. McDonald has performed identification, analysis and interpretation of fossil sloths for virtually every paleontological firm in
California
, as well as other states. He has significant
experience developing programs for managing natural history collections, including training staff.
He is exceptionally well versed in policy, regulations and legislation related to protection of paleontological resources in the federal environment.
His work has also included collecting fossils, overseeing their preparation, identification of fossils, assisting with design of displays, preparing label copy (exhibit signage) and educational outreach activities.
His recent publications include a catalog of Quaternary and Holocene fossils from
Nevada
, radiocarbon dating of extinct animals from tar pits, gene sequences from Pleistocene sloth dung, paleoecology of South American aquatic sloths, biotic interchange between North and South America, report of new fossils from
Arizona
and a summary of Quaternary paleontology in the
United
States
.
Houck is a qualified osteologist and archaeological
technician. She earned her master of
science in Physical Anthropology at California State University Los Angeles and
her bachelor of science in Physical Anthropology at the
University
of
California
,
Santa Barbara
. In addition she has a certificate
in GIS and received special recognition for her graduate studies.
She has two years of experience working on
human skeletal remains from the historic
Los
Angeles
Cemetery
, prehistoric cemetery at Playa Vista, prehistoric cemetery at
Dayton Canyon
and prehistoric cemetery at CA-VEN-132.
In addition she has assisted the Los Angeles County Coroner Forensic Consultant
with many skeletal analyses. She is
also working toward expertise in faunal analysis and fossil identification.
Full Curriculum Vitae
Scott is a qualified geologist and paleontologist. She supervises all paleontology field projects, is our lead preparator of fossils, oversees our safety programs, and writes many paleontology reports. In 2000, she earned a bachelor of science degree in geology with a paleontology emphasis from the
University of California Los Angeles
. Scott is currently completing her master’s work at California State University San Bernardino on 290 million year old sharks, amphibians and reptiles from the Valley of the Gods in
Utah
.
Scott has extensive experience in southern
and central
California
geology and paleontology. Some of the larger projects she has worked on include the Eastside Reservoir Project in Hemet, an assessment for an AT&T fiberoptic line from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles, major paleontological surveys of the Owens Lake Valley and Camp Roberts/Camp San Luis Obispo, and detailed preparation of a new species of fur seal from Cold Canyon in San Luis Obispo. In 2005 she directed the recovery of a 60 ft. long bone bed containing parts of two mammoths (including a complete skull with both tusks), bison, ground sloth and turkey vulture specimens in
Irvine,
CA. Further excavation at the same site in 2006 yielded a partial skeleton of a giant ground sloth.
Full Curriculum Vitae
McCormick is a qualified archaeologist.
He supervises archaeological field projects, excavations, surveys, laboratory analysis, and report preparation for Cogstone. He has a strong background in archaeological field research design and GIS mapping. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology (archaeological emphasis) from California State University Long Beach. McCormick is currently finishing his masters
degree.
He has been conducting archaeological research for nearly ten years for both academic and private projects. He has worked in central and southern
California
, with additional experience working in
Nevada
,
Missouri
, and La Venta,
Mexico
. He has trained students in scientific archaeological field methods in both community colleges and at California State University Long Beach. He has earned a reputation for being able to supervise large and small excavation project in an efficient but research-oriented manner. McCormick has been cross-trained in paleontology and has worked on some significant projects including the Eocene Talega bone bed from
San
Clemente, California.
Full Curriculum Vitae
Glover is a qualified archaeologist. She supervises the archaeology laboratory and participates in company projects performing record searches, monitoring, surveying, excavating, and writing report sections.
She interned at the
San Diego Archaeological Center
, developing her laboratory skills.
Glover earned a bachelor of science in Anthropology (Biological) from the
University
of
California
at
Riverside
.
Glover has three years of experience in southern
California
archaeology and expertise in managing cultural resource collections.
Her laboratory experience consists of maintaining collection inventories, preparing collections for curation using archival materials, identifying and analyzing historical archaeological artifacts and preparing summary documentation of laboratory analysis and findings. She has worked on dozens of collections for She has worked on dozens of collections for Cogstone.
