Ross Larsen received his Ph.D. in Physics in 1998 from Brown University. He worked on developing theoretical and simulation methods to understand at an atomistic level how atoms and molecules move and exchange energy in solution. From 1998 to 2001 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Santa Barbara studying near-field optics of nanostructures. From 2001 to 2009 he was, variously, a postdoctoral researcher, staff scientist and lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of California, Los Angeles, applying mixed quantum/classical simulation methods to simulate quantum solutes in solution. In 2009, Ross joined the Computational Science Center at NREL. His research interests involve combining classical simulation methods with electronic structure calculations to understand the chemical and physical properties of novel disordered and organic materials for energy applications. Ross has been the principle investigator on projects spanning a wide range of chemical and material science applications, including organic photovoltaics, chemical kinetics of reflector degradation and using machine learning to predict inter-atomic forces.