Graduate Student Spotlight: Nicolas Matthey

Nicolas Matthey, who is both Swiss and South African, joined the Department of Chemistry in 2022 after earning an SM in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. A member of Professor Robert Guy Griffin‘s group, Nicolas uses Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to create useful new techniques and methods. Currently, he is working to implement the study of Oxygen in solid state NMR of Proteins. When he was growing up, attending MIT was “heralded as an impossible goal to achieve”, so he was pleased to jump at the opportunity to make it a reality for himself.

As the subject of this Graduate Student Spotlight, Nicolas shares the best person he could be stuck with in an elevator (which, in this case, is not a hypothetical, but actually did happen), the best vacation he’s ever taken, the skill he’d most like to master, and more!

1. What game or movie universe would you most like to live in? What would be the worst to live in?
   Honestly the world of Mass Effect seems like a fun place to live in. Of course before the Giant Alien Space Robot Squids come back to kill us all, but hey “on peut pas avoir le beurre et l’argent du beurre”.
2. If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?
   My Steam Backlog would be completed by now, and I could catch up on all the movies I missed.
3. What bit of trivia do you know that is very interesting but also very useless?
   Activision would not be as big a game company today if Steven Spielberg’s kid had not played Golden Eye on the N64 on front of his dad.
4. What is the best vacation you’ve ever taken?
   At the end of my bachelor’s degree, I was a part of the Chemistry Student Association. We had a trip to the Singapore University Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Department, which was the official part of the trip, but the whole group stayed in Singapore for a week and then all over Malaysia for the following two weeks. So I spent three weeks with my best friends, in big cities, jungles, forests, on beaches, cabins in the woods. Cherry on top was the cancelation of our return flight from Schiphol in Amsterdam, which allowed us to have a pretty good sendoff to that whole trip and reimbursed all of our plane tickets costs.
5. Who would be the best person you could be stuck in an elevator with?
   [The late] Quincy Jones. Because I already have, and it was the funniest “Stuck in an elevator” moment of my life. Quincy Jones was in a wheelchair, with a cigar, giving us anecdotes about Michael Jackson and Freddy Mercury…and life advice, along with tickets for free drinks he didn’t want. The most random interaction of my life.
6. What could you give a 40-minute presentation on with absolutely no preparation?
   If you listen to my family, apparently everything I talk about is always for too long. But for real, I can probably talk about Video Games development for an unhealthy amount of time. I have to ask my roommates which one was my last hour long rant on a random subject.
7. What is something that a ton of people are obsessed with but you just don’t get the point of?
   Taylor Swift. Come on people. It’s time to get real.
8. What’s worth spending more on to get the best?
   Food. Buying quality ingredients and taking the time to cook tastes better, is better for your health and is probably as expensive as ordering take-out all the time.
9. What movie title best describes your life?
   The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent of course.
10. What is special about the place you grew up?
    Where it is located. It is 2 minutes away from the lake, 30 minutes train ride from the city, 1 hour away from the mountains, 1 hour away from where they grow wheat and cows live. It is calm, warm in Summer, cold in Winter, Rainy in Fall and Soft in Spring. I love it and I hope I can go back to it. Visit Switzerland people!
11. If someone narrated your life, who would you want to be the narrator?
    Ooooh Imagine Cristopher Lee narrating your life. Or the narrator from The Stanley Parable.
12. What movie, picture, or video always makes you laugh no matter how often you watch it?
    The “Important Videos” playlist on YouTube. I get back to it once a month, the YouTube algorithm is not helping me with shoving it in my face all the time.
13. If money and practicality weren’t a problem, what would be the most interesting way to get around town?
    Pogo sticks. Or we all go back to the shoes that had integrated wheels under it.
14. What’s the funniest TV show you’ve ever seen?
    Probably “The Good Place”. It is also one of those where I cried the most.
15. What one thing do you really want but can’t afford?
    I want a boat. But like a real boat, with sails. Something where you can cross seas/oceans on.
16. What skill would you like to master?
    I wish I could play the guitar better. It takes too long and as we go forward I have less and less time to practice.
17. What piece of entertainment do you wish you could erase from your mind so that you could experience for the first time again?
    It is a video game called “Outer Wilds”. You play a little alien with four eyes that goes exploring space. I won’t spoil anything, but I have never played anything like this game, and probably never will. For anybody reading this, give it a try. It is cheap, made by indie developers and you will not regret it.
18. Who would be in the lineup for your ideal music festival? 
    I’ll make an eclectic choice there,  so Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, The Bloody Beetroots, The Who, Metallica, Gojira, The Pretty Reckless and Elton John. Imagine all of that in a single day.
19. If you owned a boat, what would you name it and why?
    Hey callbacks to previous questions! Probably “Paumanimo”. It is the beginning of my parents name, mine and my sister, and I love them so they would go with me everywhere.
20. If you could know the absolute and total truth to one question, what question would you ask?
    Will my research be useful to anybody at any point?