Matt completed his B.S. in biology with a minor in astronomy at Elon University as a research fellow. During his time as an undergraduate researcher in the Hamel lab, he studied animal behavior through the lens of evolutionary theory. After graduating, he spent two years in the Carstens lab at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine investigating the molecular mechanisms of alternative splicing, focusing on the interactome and regulatory role of RNA binding proteins during development. While at MIT, he worked within a team of individuals from both the Tsai and Boyden labs to research the relationship between neurodegeneration and cognitive function. His personal research interests include the intersection of cellular/molecular biology, neuroscience, and behavior.