Biographical note

Spiridoula Matsika received a B.Sc. in Chemistry at the National and  Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, and a Ph.D. in  Chemical Physics from The Ohio State University. After completing her Ph.D. she spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at  Johns Hopkins University working with Prof. David Yarkony. In 2003  she started her independent career in theoretical chemistry at Temple  University in Philadelphia, where she is currently a Professor of  Chemistry. Spiridoula Matsika’s research interests focus on the theoretical quantum mechanical study of excited states, and theoretical modeling of photophysics and photochemistry of molecules, particularly of biological interest. 

Andrew H. Marcus received a B.A. in Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego. He received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Stanford University where he worked withMichael D. Fayer on the photophysics of macromolecular systems. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, where he studied the kinetics and thermodynamics of colloidal liquids with Stuart A. Rice. He began his independent research career in 1996 at the University of Oregon in Eugene, where he is currently a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His research interests focus on studies of the ‘breathing’ dynamics of nucleic acids and the mechanisms of protein-nucleic acid interactions using novel ensemble and single-molecule spectroscopic methods.