Dexter Holland, singer-guitarist of the band the Offspring, put his studies at USC on hold to concentrate on a musical career. He recently finished his 175-page dissertation on the molecular dynamics of HIV and general virus/host interactions to earn a doctorate in molecular biology. He joins a few other rock stars with Ph. D. degrees, the most prominent being Brian May of Queen.
Blondie drummer Clem Burke received an honorary doctorate* for contributing to research on the physiology of drumming.
- Yes its a very different beast, and anyone who’s slogged through a real one would be entitled to feel very snooty about hon docs and especially ‘life experience’ degrees from some postbox in Wisconsin being given equal weight to their achievement.
Is Dexter planning a career change?
It would be quite a lifestyle change to get into a research lab. He said in the article that he plans to publish more research. It may be just part time.
Bad Religion’s Greg Gaffin has a PhD in Zoology
The Descendents’ Milo Aukerman has a doctorate in Biology