Prof finds you don't have to live like a refugee

Michael Larson of New Orleans is a refugee professor. In September, his wife, two daughters, and his mother-in-law climbed into one minivan, while he, his son, and their dog crammed into another packed with their belongings and headed north from Tulane University to continue his research at MIT after Hurricane Katrina.

Although their home in New Orleans wasn't one of the thousands submerged, it had sustained enough roof and water damage that they were forced to move out. While in limbo in Fayetteville, Ark., Larson, who received his PhD from MIT, got an e-mail from the head of the school's mechanical engineering department inviting him to be a visiting professor. He decided to accept and join about 10 other displaced professors from Tulane.

For the past four months, Larson has set up shop with two graduate students from his department at Tulane who were also able to get appointments at MIT, continuing his research and also running his latest enterprise, a toy business.

All of this while living in Westwood with longtime friends who have a four-bedroom house, in which everyone has now had to double, even triple, up.

''I sent out an e-mail to everyone I know looking for mattresses," said Colleen Campion, who along with her husband and four children offered their home to the Larsons.

''We went from a family of six to a family of 12."

For Campion, the additional family has been working out fine, even bringing added bonuses.

''The extra adult hands in the house has made it great," she said. ''We share the cooking, we share the driving, grocery shopping . . . the kids share chores."

Larson said the experience has been a rewarding one.

''The Campions have taught me a lot about sharing," he said.

When he's not busy with his extended family, Larson and one of the Tulane students with him at MIT have been working on a chess-like game called Deflexion that uses lasers to eliminate an opponent's pieces from the board. The university has been supportive of his efforts, placing a copy of the game for sale in the MIT Museum as well as selling it at the MIT Coop Bookstore.

The school also allowed them to organize a tournament under its famous dome.

''Basically, since we were up in the area and just launched they let us have it under the dome," said Luke Hooper, one of Larson's graduate students who helped create the game.

''It was just a good time in general," Hooper said of the event, which attracted 24 players and crowned a current MIT PhD candidate in mechanical engineering as champion.

For Larson, the move to MIT has given him time to focus on marketing the product, which he said has made a splash in the online world of tech blogs and received a favorable plug in Wired Magazine's ''100+ supercool gadgets for the technophile's holiday wish list."

But Larson's future remains uncertain.

Because of financial problems attributed to Katrina, several departments at Tulane, including his own, will be cut over the next 18 months.

Larson said his experience with MIT and the Boston area has made him consider relocating here.

''I have to say that the hospitality we've been shown has just been amazing," he said. ''I am definitely open to the possibilities in the area, but there's nothing concrete so far."

Larson said his family will stay in the area and finish out the school year at Roxbury Latin and the Deerfield School in Westwood while he returns to Tulane this coming semester to help his students readjust.

''I feel for the students who are going to Tulane and are having their programs cut. I feel a sense of obligation to go back and help them," he said.

With five evacuations in 12 years of living in New Orleans, Larson at first figured his most recent exodus would be short-lived.

''We had a practice run every time a big storm moved into the gulf," he said.

''It really was always the case of going back home the following day."

Contact Colleen Walsh at cwalsh@globe.com.