University Museum
Museum Staff
Dr. Monte McCrossin
Director of the University Museum and Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at New Mexico State University. He was educated at the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his Ph.D. in 1994. He has been at New Mexico State University since 2000. In addition to the Museum, his primary interests are in the fossil record of primate and human evolution. He has conducted anthropological fieldwork for many years in Kenya and is currently carrying out a research project concerning human origins at the site of Qasr as-Sahabi in Libya. He has conducted research on museum collections in the U.S., Mexico, the U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Swizerland, Kenya, and Japan. While continuing to maintain the Museum's regional focus, Dr. McCrossin hopes to increase the Museum's educational and research activities in interdisciplinary and international directions.
Dr. Jennifer Robles
Curator of Collections & Exhibits for the Museum. Dr. Robles is a museum specialist with a background in anthropology and history. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Sydney, with a thesis that researched the reification of the concepts and links between home and nation in museum contexts. Dr. Robles previously curated exhibits & collections at museums in Sydney and Baltimore. At NMSU she is responsible for the management of the collections and the planning and implementation of the Museum’s exhibits.
Dr. John G. Cabrera
Retired engineering geologist who presently is a volunteer Co-Manager for the School Outreach program of the Museum. He attended the City College of New York, The University of Tennessee, and Cornell University where he obtained his Ph.D. He did most of his research in Brazil, where he studied the foundation conditions of hydroelectric projects, including the world's largest-Itaipu. Dr. Cabrera was also an Associate Professor in the Geological Engineering program of NMSU. Dr. Cabrera helped design the first sets of "Museum in a Bag" kits to teach Las Cruces school children how to recognize and appreciate the importance of minerals and rocks. He also collaborated in creating the second set of kits on "Indians of the Southwest."