Born April 14 1961, Alan is a biologist, who graduated from UCSB subcollege CCS with an emphasis graduate level biology research.

He has an interest in exobiology and evolutionary biology now for nearly 30 years.

Here's what Alan has to say about himself :

I have my AA degree from the mostly minority College at the City of Oxnard California. I attended Humboldt State University and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara sub college Creative Studies, emphasis graduate level biology research.

I am American, USAF veteran (enlisted for cryptographic calibration, honorably discharged), I speak English and Spanish, am of mixed European ancestry. I have lived in China (PRC), Ukraine, Mexico, and Canada.

My parents lived in and met in saudi Arabia, where both my grandfathers worked. My fathers father spoke fluent Arabic, and was muslim so far as I can tell. My mother, Leah Van Arsdale (Levitt, her husband is the son of the former head cartoonist for Walt Disney), is an attorney with her own practice in California. My father is a computer scientist / mathematician, UCLA graduate, was a weapons scientist and professor of mathematics (retired).

I am a professional numismatist, published on ancient Indian coins in the ONS newsletter, and founder of the CFDL with 924 members (the largest group in the World about the control of fake and altered ancient coins, it is on yahoo egroups).

I make my living selling on the internet, especially eBay. I live in Ogden Utah, am currently married, and have a store in Ogden Utah (which I have not opened much yet).
I was one of the first to find diagenetically unaltered microtektites, and the only person to ever find them in a terrestrial sediment (Allesandro Montanari of the Alvarez team, at UC Berkeley, worked on these).

My work in terrestrial mammalian field paleontology, includes the longest temporal sequence of conformably superimposed mammalian faunules known (Caliente and related formations, in California), the most species from a Neogene terrestrial vertebrate location, and some of the largest collections of fossil mice and squirrels (pre Pleistocene), in existance (at LACM and SBNHM).

I wrote my (unpublished) PhD dissertation on Sciurid evolutionary history and dental morphology (Sciurids are squirrels, I do not have a PhD, but did write a dissertation).
I have also written a paper considered advanced and serious in sediementary geology.
I once owned 40 acres in remote Northern Ventura Co. California, without power or phone, where I did organic farming. The land had not previously been used for agriculture, and now has hundreds of fruit trees which I planted there, I lived there for four years.

My interests are diverse, my majors have included, as a senior, mathematics and geology (I changed majors twice). I have spent many years observing nature, often living in very remote places, such as in Western Montana and California.

Copyright © 2004 Alan Van Arsdale