BLaST Scientist of the Month - August 2019
August 8, 2019
Don Larson will graduate this fall with a Ph.D. in biological sciences; he is also a second-year faculty member in the Biology and Wildlife Department. Larson has a B.S. in Biology from UAF. He was a former Changing Alaska Science Education Graduate K-12 Fellow and a BLaST Graduate Research Mentoring Assistant. He grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin and spent much of his childhood wading through ponds and streams catching frogs and weird critters. Larson can also be found hiking nearby trails, skijoring, and spending time with his wife, child, and dogs.
Research
As an ecophysiological parasitologist, Larson’s research and teaching interests involve humans' and animals’ physiology and how they interact with parasites. His primary interest is how animals respond to seasonal changes, and how these seasonal changes impact host-parasite interactions. Larson’s model organisms are wood frogs, snails and trematodes. He examines animal survival techniques in winter and adaptations to winter influence parasites. Larson co-taught the Rural Alaska Honors Institute BLaST “RAHI Research” BMSC 224 course for the summers of 2018 and 2019. His research, “Seasonal variation and overwintering strategies of two trematode parasites,” focused on how snails’ parasites are the main cause of swimmer’s itch at Tanana Lakes, a local popular swimming spot in Fairbanks. Larson worked with the Fairbanks North Star Borough Parks and Recreation department to create a plan to limit swimmer’s itch by providing outreach materials on preventative measures swimmers can take. The RAHI students presented their research results to their peers and family as a requirement of their BMSC 224 course.
Teaching
Larson has taught several courses for the Alaska Summer Research Academy, RAHI and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He has taught BIOL 310 Animal Physiology, and is currently teaching BIOL 111/112 Human Anatomy and Physiology, and the OLLI Northern Animal Adaptions course.
Mentoring
Larson’s mentoring philosophy is to train students to be independent, creative researchers capable of critical analysis and holistic synthesis. His goal is to have his students confident in their abilities, and control their research and career path. Larson is mentoring UAF undergraduates Mollie Fisher and Shayle Lliabian, both BLaST Scholars. Past students include the three RAHI 2019 students Hailey Wilson, James Vuong and Jing O’Brien, along with Rebekah Reams (BLaST URE), and Leanida Polushkin and Logan Ito of RAHI 2018.
BLaST is supported by the NIH Common Fund, through the Office of Strategic Coordination, Office of the NIH Director with the linked awards: TL4GM118992, RL5GM118990, & UL1GM118991. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.