Presentation of the Ashton Cuckler New Investigator Award to Dr. Kyle Gustafson

This year the Ashton Cuckler New Investigator Award is presented to Dr. Kyle Gustafson. Dr. Gustafson is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology and Environmental Health at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri. Dr. Gustafson completed his Ph.D. in my laboratory at Oklahoma State University in 2016. He then completed his postdoctoral work in wildlife population genomics and disease ecology in the Department of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Wyoming under Dr. Holly Ernest in 2018. Dr. Gustafson's dissertation research focused on environmental effects on host–parasite interactions, and more specifically on how natural and anthropogenic factors affect trematode life cycles and their transmission. As an example, and to highlight some of Kyle's scientific creativity, he exposed 3 hemiurid trematode stages (miracidia, cercariae, and metacercariae) along with the first- and second-intermediate hosts to various concentrations of atrazine. As a result, he was able to evaluate the effects...