Laura Kaufman is Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University, where she leads research in physical chemistry at the forefront of chemistry, physics, and biology. A Columbia College alumna, she graduated summa cum laude in 1997 with a B.A. in Chemistry and English, having been selected for the prestigious I.I. Rabi Scholars Program. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2002 from the University of California, Berkeley, in the laboratory of Graham R. Fleming, developing multi-dimensional Raman spectroscopy techniques for simple liquids. Kaufman then pursued postdoctoral research at Harvard University with X. Sunney Xie and David A. Weitz, applying CARS microscopy to investigate colloidal glasses and cellular dynamics in gels. Joining the Columbia faculty as an assistant professor in 2004, she advanced to full professor, served as Director of Undergraduate Studies starting in 2012, and assumed the role of department chair in summer 2023 for a three-year term.

Kaufman's interdisciplinary laboratory employs advanced imaging modalities, including single-molecule and super-resolution techniques, to probe the dynamics of crowded and complex systems. Her research spans heterogeneous relaxations in supercooled liquids and polymeric glasses, exciton dynamics in conjugated polymers for optoelectronic applications, mechanical and structural properties of biopolymer hydrogels, and mechanisms of cancer cell invasion and sorting in three-dimensional tissue mimics. Among her major honors are the NYSTAR Young Investigator Award, the Beckman Young Investigator Award in 2006, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and the 2012 Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award. Key publications include "Exploiting differential effects of actomyosin contractility to control cell sorting among breast cancer cells" (Molecular Biology of the Cell, 2021), "Volumetric chemical imaging by clearing-enhanced stimulated Raman scattering microscopy" (PNAS, 2019), "Confocal rheology probes structure and mechanics of collagen through the sol-gel transition" (Biophysical Journal, 2017), and earlier influential works such as "Glioma expansion in collagen I matrices: analyzing collagen concentration-dependent growth and motility patterns" (2005, 340 citations). With over 5,700 citations on Google Scholar, her contributions have significantly impacted fields ranging from soft matter physics to cancer biophysics, informing designs of responsive materials and therapeutic strategies.