John Doershuk has been State Archaeologist and director of the Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA) since 2007. He regularly teaches archaeology courses at the University of Iowa and Cornell College, including archaeological field schools, most recently through the Iowa Lakeside Lab in northwest Iowa. John leads OSA in the development of campus, community, and professional partnerships and provides mentorship and career guidance to students.

Bill Whittaker is Research Director, serving as PI for OSA research projects, overseeing ca. 275 projects a year. He also oversees the Historic Indian Location Database (HILD) and the Notable Locations database of mounds, cemeteries, and suspected archaeological sites, and he is a GIS specialist. Contact Bill if you require archaeological survey or architecture history survey.

Cindy Peterson's Research Director duties focus on Iowa Department of Transportation cultural resources contract work. Contact Cindy if you want to talk about the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist assisting your organization with research-based archaeology projects funded by other State and Federal agencies.

As Bioarchaeology Director, Lara Noldners's primary responsibility is seeing to the protection of ancient human remains and burial sites in Iowa, implementing both state and federal legislation. This means working closely with Native American advisors, documenting known burial sites and human remains in collections, investigating inadvertent discoveries of ancient human skeletal remains, facilitating repatriations and reburials with descendant communities, working with developers so that burial sites are not disturbed by construction projects, and promoting the importance of burial site stewardship. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the UI Anthropology Department, teaches an introductory seminar on Biological Anthropology, and manages the cadaveric, partially documented University of Iowa Stanford Collection.

As Director of Strategic Initiatives, Elizabeth supervises OSA's all-ages statewide outreach, engagement, and education initiatives, and she collaborates with several Midwest descendant communities and Tribal Nations. Contact her with inquiries regarding developing or contracting educational programs or curricula, interpretive materials, museum exhibits, and other communications resources.

As the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist's Research Technology Director, Mary De La Garza maintains all aspects of technology, manages research data, and works to develop web applications and databases increase data accessibility for Iowa archaeological research. 

Contact Mary regarding the Iowa Site File/I-Sites GIS, web and mobile application development, aerial 3D models,  and drone-based research opportunities.

As an Education Assistant at OSA, Cherie contributes to educational initiatives such as developing and presenting K-12 and public programs (in-person and digital), consulting on archaeology exhibits, and creating hands-on teaching resources. She also does field work and conducts faunal analysis for research projects.

At OSA, Samantha Murphy works in the Bioarchaeology lab where she assists in the identification of human remains and projects where human remains are likely to occur. She also assists with the repatriation of Native American remains to their tribes as part of NAGPRA and is a liaison to OSA’s Indian Advisory Council.

As OSA's archivist, Teresa Rucker maintains the iArc archival research database; processes print and digital archaeological reports, publications, and photographs; creates accessible electronic research records; and assists students, consultants, and other researchers with research and report questions. She also assists the office with general administration services.

As Research Collections Director, Carrie Parris manages the collections held at the OSA, including those in the State Archaeological Repository of Iowa and various collections of comparative materials. Carrie also oversees the daily operations in the OSA lab such as artifact analysis, preparing collections for curation, and soil sample flotation. 

Contact her regarding artifact curation and donation, loans of artifacts and other materials for research or display, research inquiries, and volunteering or interning opportunities.

As the senior architectural historian at the OSA, Richard Carlson leads historic architectural surveys, evaluates the eligibility of properties for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and prepares NRHP nominations. He has prepared nominations for many properties that have been listed in the NRHP, including individual properties, historic districts, and Multiple Property Listings.

Angela Collins has been conducting archaeology in Iowa since 2001. Her specialized skills involve material analysis with pXRF and ceramic petrography, as well as aerial thermography utilizing a small uncrewed aerial system (drone) as an FAA-licensed drone pilot.

At OSA, Angela leads archaeological field surveys and excavations, prepares National Register of Historic Places nominations, and conducts research on various precontact and postcontact topics. She is an artifact illustrator, graphic artist, website designer, and digital publisher for the OSA, producing numerous posters, brochures, and booklets, as well as editions of the OSA Report Series.

Warren Davis is a research archaeologist at the OSA, conducting archaeological research for contract-funded projects that includes background historic research, field surveys and excavations, and report writing.

Dan Horgen is an OSA Research Archaeologist who has conducted and assisted in numerous archaeological surveys and excavation projects in Iowa and adjacent states since 2001. He currently helps manage the OSA’s in-house lithic raw material assemblage and coauthored the OSA’s Lithic Raw Material Assemblage web page.

At the Office of the State Archaeologist, Blane Nansel consults with city and county engineers, private engineering firms, and the Iowa Department of Transportation on the possible effects of proposed construction projects on cultural resources, and provides guidance on what level of archaeological or historic architectural investigations would be appropriate.