Loa Traxler, Curator of MAYA 2012: Lords of Time, is the Mellon Associate Deputy Director of the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. She is a professional archaeologist with over 20 years of field excavation experience and former museum curator of artworks from the ancient Americas. She has organized five previous exhibitions and for MAYA 2012 has raised crucial support from the National Endowment of the Humanities. Her archaeological research focuses on the architectural evolution of Classic Maya centers and the nature of sociopolitical organization in these societies. Her publications include reports on the excavations and research within the Acropolis of the Classic site of Copan, Honduras. Among her recent publications are “Redesigning Copan: Architecture of the Polity Center at the Time of the Dynastic Founding” inUnderstanding Early Classic Copan (University of Pennsylvania Museum, 2004) and The Ancient Maya, Sixth Edition(Stanford University Press, 2006) with senior author Robert Sharer.

Simon Martin, Co-Curator of the MAYA 2012: Lords of Time, is the Associate Curator of the American Section at Penn Museum. He is an expert on Maya hieroglyphic writing and specializes in the history and politics of the Classic Maya (250-900 CE). He previously worked on an exhibition for the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. in 2004 entitled “Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya,” and co-wrote its catalogue with Mary Miller. Among his other publications is the book “Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens” (with Nikolai Grube) from 2000. His work has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, Archaeology Magazine, Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He appeared in the Nova television program “Cracking the Maya Code” in 2008 and has collaborated on other shows for Discovery and the History Channel.

Kate Quinn, Director of Exhibitions, leads the Penn Museum Exhibition Team on the MAYA 2012: Lords of Time exhibition. With families in mind, Ms. Quinn guides her team in developing engaging content, interactive elements, and stunning visual displays to produce an overall exciting museum experience. Ms. Quinn joined the Penn Museum’s Exhibition Department in early 2008. She leads the Exhibition Team of Tara Poag, Project Manager; Allison Francies, Exhibit Developer; Kevin Schott, Exhibit Developer; Maryanne Casey, Graphic Designer; Zach Mosley, Exhibit Designer; Aaron Billheimer, Audio Visual Technician; Ben Neiditz, Exhibit Fabricator; Courtney O’Brien, Exhibit Facilitator; and Jesse Gorham-Engard, Mount Maker. Having designed for the Philadelphia Flower Show, the Design Philadelphia! symposium, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Museum, and numerous film and stage projects, Ms. Quinn joined the Penn Museum directly from the Delaware Art Museum.  At the Penn Museum, Ms. Quinn led the design and development of Secrets of the Silk Road, the Museum’s first specially-ticketed show last spring, as well as Iraq’s Ancient Past, Righteous Dopefiend, Painted Metaphors, Fulfilling a Prophecy, and others. She holds a BFA in Theatrical Design and an MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning and Design.

Ricardo Agurcia Fasquelle, Honduran archaeologist and Executive Director of the Copan Association, supports Penn Museum and provides a Honduran perspective on the research and the exhibition. The Copan Association is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to the research of and public conversation about the cultural and natural heritage of Honduras. Over the past two decades he has directed extensive field work at Copan, where he has served as Regional Coordinator of Archaeological Projects for the Government of Honduras, as well as Co-Director of the Copan Acropolis Archaeological Project. From 1982 to 1986, he held the post of Director of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH), which is the governmental agency in charge of the cultural patrimony of Honduras. He has published and lectured widely in his own country as well as abroad and is best known for his articles in National Geographic Magazine as well as his recent book Copan: Kingdom of the Sun (Editorial Transamerica, Tegucigalpa). His field research was recently featured as the cover story in the September/October 2009 issue of Archaeology Magazine.