Robert A. Desharnais is an American evolutionary biologist who is an emeritus professor of biology at California State University, Los Angeles.
[1] Desharnais studied biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976.
At the University of Rhode Island, in 1979, he earned a Master of Science degree in zoology, and in 1982 he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in zoology.
[3][4] After finishing his graduate studies, from 1982 to 1983, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie University.
From 1985 to 1987, he was a research associate at Rockefeller University, and from 1987 to 1988, he was an assistant professor] In 1988, he moved to Los Angeles, California to work as an assistant professor at California State University, Los Angeles, and in 1997, there he became full professor.