Rate My Professor Yuta Kawarasaki

Yuta Kawarasaki is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota, where he joined as a Visiting Assistant Professor in 2013, was promoted to Assistant Professor in 2014, and advanced to Associate Professor in 2020. He earned a B.A. in Biology from Ottawa University in 2007 and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Miami University in 2013. His doctoral dissertation, titled "Tolerance and physiological response to subzero temperatures in the Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica: to freeze or not to freeze," was advised by Richard E. Lee, Jr., and focused on insect cold tolerance mechanisms.

Kawarasaki's research interests encompass environmental and comparative physiology, cryobiology, entomology, and winter ecology, with a primary emphasis on physiological responses of insects to extreme stresses such as cold, dehydration, and climate change impacts. Notable publications include "Rapid cold hardening: ecological relevance, physiological mechanisms and new perspectives" (Journal of Experimental Biology, 2020, with N.M. Teets and J.D. Gantz); "Simulated winter warming negatively impacts survival of Antarctica’s only endemic insect" (Functional Ecology, 2022, with J.J. Devlin et al.); "Is rapid cold-hardening an aerobic process? Characterization of changes in metabolic activity during its induction and effects of anoxia in flesh fly" (Journal of Insect Physiology, 2020); "Rapid cold hardening protects against sublethal freezing injury in an Antarctic insect" (Journal of Experimental Biology, 2019, with N.M. Teets et al.); and "Alternative overwintering strategies in an Antarctic midge: freezing versus cryoprotective dehydration" (Functional Ecology, 2014). His scholarship has earned over 635 citations. Awards and honors include the 2020 Mansergh Faculty Scientific Research Award for an outstanding peer-reviewed publication, NSF Research Opportunity Award ($41,000, 2021-2022), Presidential Faculty/Student Collaboration Grants (2016, 2022), Congressional Antarctic Service Medal (2013), and multiple teaching and travel grants. Kawarasaki teaches courses including Organismal Biology, Animal Physiology, and Insects in the Changing World.