Dr. Thomas F. King is recognized as a national expert on cultural and historic preservation laws and practice, about which he teaches dozens of courses annually and has authored three books. Former program director at the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation, he is the primary author of many existing historic preservation regulations and guidelines. He also served as an archaeologist and historic preservation specialist in the former U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, as archaeologist for the National Park Service, and as head of archaeological surveys at three universities and helped create the Micronesia Archaeological Survey. King serves as Project Archaeologist for the Amelia Earhart Project, sponsored by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), and is lead author of Amelia Earhart's Shoes, about the search for Earhart. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from University of California, Riverside.