Hannah Larson, PhD

2017 Hertz Fellow

Hannah Larson is a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and Clay Research Fellow. Starting in Fall 2023, she will join the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley as an assistant professor.

Larson’s work is in the field of algebraic geometry, particularly algebraic curves. Her doctoral work at Stanford University was advised by Ravi Vakil. In her thesis, Larson explained the unexpected behavior of certain special curves and their maps to projective spaces. Using a new invariant called the splitting type, her results give a new understanding of when curves with certain properties exist.

Currently, Larson is involved in multiple collaborations researching the geometry of curves and their moduli spaces. Joe Harris, who advised Larson’s undergraduate senior honors thesis, continues to be a mentor during her postdoc at Harvard.

Larson is also an avid musician, playing cello and piano. In her free time, she enjoys swimming. She grew up in Eugene, Oregon.

“The Hertz Fellowship is an incredible opportunity to take your research in the directions you want. There is a vibrant community of fellows working in a wide range of areas that is exciting to be part of.”
– Hannah Larson

Graduate Studies

Stanford University
Mathematics
Brill–Noether theory over the Hurwitz space

Undergraduate Studies

Harvard College

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