Matthew Larson

B.S. 2004, Ohio State

I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1982. In 2000 I made the long 2 hour trip north to Columbus, where I attended The Ohio State University. I received a BS in Chemistry in 2004, while also completing an Honors Thesis in the lab of Dr. Bern Kohler, where I studied the ultrafast dynamics of DNA polymers using femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy.

In addition to my research at Ohio State, I also spent a summer working for Procter & Gamble in their Folger's division, where I worked on a design project to bring gourmet coffee to the masses. In 2002 I worked at JILA as a summer REU student in the lab of Dr. Carl Lineberger at the University of Colorado. My summer project involved the construction of an ultrafast pulse-characterization device known as GRENOUILLE. The coffee machine is now available in your neighborhood grocery store. GRENOUILLE is not.

In 2004 I drove across the country to Stanford, where I am currently a first year PhD student in the Biophysics Program. I joined the Block Lab during my first quarter, and I am currently working with Ravi Dalal on observing the dynamics of RNA polymerase under load.