Charlene McCord

Assistant Professor

B.S. UCLA
Ph.D. University of Chicago
Postdoc Chapman University

Office SCI 215
Tel (310) 243-3397
Email cmccord@csudh.edu

Research Interest

My research aims to observe, compare, and understand the biodiversity of marine organisms. My interdisciplinary interests are rooted in three questions:

1) How do marine animals work (biomechanics and behavior)?
2) How are marine animals put together (anatomy and morphometrics)?
3) How and why have marine organisms and their spectacular array of unique traits evolved (phylogenetics, biodiversity, and comparative methods)?

My previous work evaluated the functional morphology and evolution of triggerfish feeding biology, formed hypotheses of the evolutionary relationships and diversification of major groups of coral reef fishes, and investigated the locomotor repertoire of Pacific hagfish.

Courses

Bio 122: Principles of Biology II
Bio 360: Marine Biology
Bio 502: Biostatistics