Charles R. Marshall, professor of biology and geology, is the newest tenured Faculty member of both the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.

Marshall arrived at Harvard after eight years in a tenured position at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

His teaching and research focuses on the nature and causes of evolutionary innovation, extinction over geological time scales and paleontology.

The search for a new professor did not occur overnight.

"We literally looked all over the world, and Professor Marshall stood out as outstanding," said Butler Professor of Environmental Studies Michael B. McElroy, who is chair of the earth and planetary sciences department.

In addition to the graduate courses he will be teaching in the spring, Marshall said he hopes to teach a Core course on one of his favorite subjects: dinosaurs.

"I want to show undergraduates the interesting relationship between dinosaurs and how they were introduced into the evolutionary world," Marshall said.

McElroy said he thinks this would be an excellent addition to the Core curriculum, as it was a very popular course at UCLA.

Marshall received his bachelor's degree with honors in mathematics, geology, zoology, physical chemistry and paleontology from the Australian National University.

He received his Ph.D. in paleontology, evolutionary biology and molecular evolution from the University of Chicago and had post-doctoral training at Indiana University.

Marshall said he is still adjusting to his new assignment and is ready for his teaching duties to begin. He is looking forward to the spring term and plans to stay here indefinitely.

"Professor Marshall is a young, energetic, excellent teacher who has a lot of good things to add to Harvard," McElroy said.