Bad Religion Frontman Greg Graffin To Teach Evolution At Cornell

12:13 PM PDT 5/18/2011 by THR staff

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Myriam Santos

Graffin (third from left) and Bad Religion

The part-time paleontologist also has scientific find named in his honor; Says teaching this fall still "leaves plenty of time to head overseas on the weekends!"

Greg Graffin, frontman for punk rock stalwarts Bad Religion who obtained a PhD in zoology from Cornell University and recently published the science memoir Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science and Bad Religion in a World Without God, will teach Evolution at the ivy league university this fall.

The semester runs from August 24 to December 11, leaving "plenty of time to head overseas on the weekends!," Graffin jokes in a statement released Wednesday.

In addition, the singer recently had an ancient bird named after him, “Qiliania graffini.” Paleontologists discovered the fossil in the Gansu Province of north-western China. Dr. Jingmai O’Connor explains in this month's Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society in London: “The species name is in honor of Dr. Gregory Graffin, PhD: paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, professor, rock star, and inspiration to numerous budding and established scientists around the world.”

Bad Religion tours Europe this summer. The band plays Denmark's Roskilde Festival on July 3. See additional dates on the Epitaph Records site.