I have a BS in Geology from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, and a PhD from the Department of Anatomy, Howard University in Washington, DC. I am a vertebrate paleontologist specializing in the study of fossil vertebrates of the Caribbean region and marine mammals, with emphasis in the Americas. My interests are the taxonomy, evolution and paleoecology of these extinct organisms. Currently Assistant Curator of marine mammals at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. My main current project is studying the ancient marine mammal herbivore faunas of the Eastern Pacific region in order to determine their ancient ecology using traditional morphological approaches as well as stable isotopes.