A grating-pair Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA) system is simulated and built with the goal to amplify a 535 fs sech2 intensity pulse with a pulse energy of 3.36 pJ to a final output pulse of 400 fs width and 30 nJ of energy. The MATLAB simulation code, schematic design of the setup, experimental measurements, and analyses are presented. It is the hope that the reader will be able to easily simulate and build a CPA system by using the code and information presented in this thesis.