Ronald G. Larson is the AH White Distinguished University Professor of the Univ. of Michigan. He joined the University of Michigan in 1996, after working for 17 years at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. He received a Ph.D. in 1980 in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota. Larson’s research interests include the structure and flow properties of “complex fluids”, which include polymers, colloids, surfactant-containing fluids, and biological macromolecules. He wrote the 1998 textbook, “The Structure and Rheology of Complex Fluids.” Larson has served as Chair of the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of Michigan and has been awarded the Alpha Chi Sigma Award from the AICHE; and the Bingham Medal from the Society of Rheology. He became a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2003.