Mike Thacker

Mike Thacker is a retired Senior Staff R&D Scientist from Thermo Fisher Scientific in Carlsbad, CA, where he spent 25 years developing products for protein separation and analysis for use in biomolecule and medical research. He was lead researcher for the development of several commercial products and is a holder of 7 patents.

Mike earned a B.S. degree in Zoology from San Diego State University after attending West Virginia University and University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Additional coursework in Anthropology and Archaeology was performed at San Diego State, UCSB and Palomar College.

He has been an interpretive hike leader for the San Dieguito River Park and San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy (SCRVC) since 1994. Mike has been a volunteer instructor for the Palomar College archaeological field excavation and survey programs since 2010, and he served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the San Diego Archaeological Center from 2017 to 2025.

One of Mike’s passions is geology. With the exception of some coursework at Palomar College and assorted seminars, his expertise in this field is self-taught.

Mike has lived in San Diego County since 1971 and currently resides in the San Pasqual Valley.