G161/BI161 Spring 2002
Biographies:
part I:  The instructors
I am Lynn Larsen, your biology instructor of the Malheur Fieldtrip.  I have been teaching biology at PCC longer than I sometimes like to admit.  I received my Master's Degree in Biology at Portland State University specifically studying the effects of dwarf mistletoe on lodgepole pine trees in the Cascade mountains. I've had a variety of jobs in the field of biology including wildlife rehabilitation for the Audubon Society (can you say ducks in the bathtub?....).  I've always been an outdoors girl and I torture my friends with a running dialog of the plants and animals we see along hiking trails, rivers and in tidepools.  Currently I spend a great deal of my time with my quarter horse "Husky" trying to convince him he really is a trail horse and not a big fuzzy lawn ornament.
I am Melinda Hutson, the geology half of this team. I've got a background in geophysics, geology and planetary science.  I got my Ph.D. studying meteorites (ROCKS FROM SPACE!!). I keep hoping a really rare kind of meteorite will fall onto my house's driveway, but that hasn't happened yet. I'm amused by the way Lynn enthusiastically points out plants and birds when out in the field. I find myself complaining that the blasted vegetation is covering up all of the really neat rocks.  I'm the only geologist I know of who wears skirts or dresses in the field.  I do occasionally get caught on the vegetation when scrambling up or down a slope.  I have a husband who is also a geologist specializing in meteorites, and a rather demanding cat (aren't they all).
Peter Ritson hasn't had a chance to write his bio yet (and he'll probably want a different picture).  Peter bridges biology and geology, and he brakes for snakes.

 
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