Harry Itagaki - Research interests

My research interests are broad, concentrating on the central mechanisms by which an organism perceives the world around it, and reacts to it. My current research concentrates on trying to understand the physological and anatomical bases of gustation (taste) in insects. Some of this work is done in collaboration with Dr. Frederic Marion-Poll of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in Versailles, France. A parallel interest is the molecular, anatomical, and physiological bases of allometric growth in insects. This work is done in collaboration with Dr. Chris Gillen (Biology); Dr. Drew Kerkhoff (Biology and Mathematics); Dr. Judy Holdener (Mathematics); Dr. Brad Hartlaub (Mathematics), all colleagues here at Kenyon College. This collaboration has recently been funded by the NSF; you can read more about this work here.

Since I have been at Kenyon, I have had the honor to work with a number of fine students. I have listed below current students and past students with their current positions.

Current Research Students:

Arianne Messerman '11

Nikolas Tun '12

Past Research Students:

Anna Frutiger '09, currently D.D.S student, Univ. of Pittsburgh

Sasha Minium '09, currently Ph.D. student, Univ. of Cincinnati

Rex Rodriguez '09, currently technician, Univ. of Miami

Andy Boylan '08, currently M.D. student, Boston University

Shawn Gulati '08, currently M.Arch. student, Pratt Institute

Michael Castle '06, currently Ph.D. student, University of Pennsylvania

Karly Burke '06, Mitchell Scholar, M.S. '07 (National University of Ireland), currently Technician, MIT

Marissa Stearns '06, currently Ph.D. student, Brandeis University

Rhadha Thombre '06, currently Technical Representative, Sable Systems, Las Vegas, NV

Andrew Vreede '05, currently M.D. student, Univ. of Michigan Medical School

Mike Stulberg '05, currently Ph.D. student, Yale University

Chris Heffelfinger '05, currently Ph.D. student, Yale University

Becky Burke '03, currently M.D./Ph.D. student, Boston University

Sarah Wasserman '03, M.A.'05 (U. Chicago), currently Ph.D. student, Princeton University

Clint Priestley '03, currently Pharmacy student, Ohio State University

Mark Foran '01, Fulbright Fellow; M.D. (Johns Hopkins), currently Emergency Medicine resident, Harvard

Joseph Werner '99, M.D. '04 (Ohio State), Anesthesiologist, Columbus OH

Matthew Walsh '98, D.D.S. '02 (Harvard), currently dentistry fellow, Univ. of Pennsylvania

Louis D'Amico '97, Ph.D. (Duke), NSF Graduate Fellow, currently Staff Scientist, Phylonix, Inc.

Heather Heerssen '97, Ph.D. (Harvard), Beinecke Fellow, currently Post-doc, UCSF

Christopher Churchill '96, D.O. '04 (Univ. of Osteophathic Medicine and Health Sciences), currently Internal Medicine Resident, OSU

Mark Walsh '96, M.D./Ph.D. '02/'03 (Washington University). Currently fellow in ophthalmology, Wm. Beaumont Hospital

Amy Foster '96, currently Ph.D. student, Dept. of Psychology, CUNY

Catherine Mayer Turner '96, M.F.A. '02 (Ohio State), currently psychological assessor, State of Ohio

Margaret Pasek '93, M.D. '00 (Northwestern), currently, physician, Dunedin, New Zealand

Kristin Iversen '93, currently senior technician, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Tamara Wechsler '93, M.S. (New York University), currently living in Washington, DC

Gregory A. Endress '93, M.S. '96 (Illinois), currently Chief Scientific Officer, Protedyne, Inc.

Stacey L. Sheridan '92, M.D. '96 (Penn State); currently Assistant Professor of Medicine, UNC-Chapel Hill

Geoffrey C. Basler '92, M.D. '96 (Michigan); currently practicing dermatology, Lincoln, NE