[1] She was the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics from Dartmouth College, and is known for her research in infinitary combinatorics and the theory of linear spaces.

Larson was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a minor in English.

As an undergraduate, she had planned to go into teaching, but a mentor at Berkeley, logician John W. Addison Jr., recognized her talent for mathematics and encouraged her to go on to graduate study.

She has been affiliated with the University of Florida since 1974, where she was promoted to full professor in 1987 and served as Associate Chair for Graduate Studies from 1993 to 1996.

She credits her Quaker religious practice for making her a good listener and a "consensus builder", two qualities she sees as important in campus leadership.