Dr. Barrett directed the Texas Archeological Society’s Annual Field School for three consecutive seasons in Columbus, TX (2014 - 2016) and is a past President of the Society. He currently serves as a professional advisor to the Houston Archeological Society. He received the Council of Texas Archeologists’ “E. Mott Davis Award” for excellence in public outreach in 2014 for directing community outreach efforts associated with data-recovery excavations at the Dimond Knoll site (41HR796) in Harris County, Texas. He received the award a second time in 2017 for directing volunteer excavations and community engagement activities in association with data recovery excavations at the Frost Town site (41HR982, located in downtown Houston, Texas. 

Dr. Barrett received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 2004. His dissertation, “Constructing Hierarchy through Entitlement: Inequality in Lithic Resource Access among the Ancient Maya of Blue Creek, Belize”, explores the development and maintenance of class hierarchies through critical resource access disparities. His research interests include Lithic technological and typological analysis, landscape archaeology, prehistoric trade and exchange networks, Texas prehistory, political ecology, and Maya archaeology. He is a member of the Society for American Archaeology, the Texas Archeological Society, and the Houston Archeological Society.