Professor Mark Spencer earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1995 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. An anthropologist by training, Dr. Spencer is an evolutionary biologist at heart who happens to specialize in the study of human ancestors. It is the study of living diversity and the evolutionary processes of adaptation that
fascinates Spencer, and toward this endeavor he has employed a wide variety of specialized approaches, from biomechanics and comparative anatomy to morphometrics and paleontology. Spencer's research has covered diverse topics such as living primate behavior and the evolution of diet in three-million-year-old fossil humans. His expeditions and research projects have taken him to museums and field sites throughout America, Europe and Africa.
After several years as a Research Assistant Professor at Duke University, Spencer served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Colorado in Denver. Today Mark holds an Assistant Professorship at the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University in Phoenix. In addition to his ongoing research, he teaches a variety of courses, delivers professional and public presentations, evaluates manuscripts and proposals for top academic journals and granting agencies, and has professional collaborations and affiliations with individuals and institutions worldwide.
On expeditionary projects Mark has excavated prehistoric mammals in Montana, tracked primates in Tanzania and South Africa, pursued Peregrine falcon conservation efforts in Yellowstone, and explored unmapped caves in a successful quest for Ice Age fossil remains. When in more civilized surroundings, Spencer is both a programmer and an artist. He wrote a unique image analysis program that was used by medical and academic research labs nationwide, and his scientific illustrations appear in a number of books and journal articles.
Dec. 2002--Mark accepts Vice-President position for CCFS
