Ph.D. (Physical Chemistry), Stanford University, 1989
B.S. (Chemistry), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1983
Dr. Peterson joined the staff of Southwest Sciences as a Senior Research Scientist in May, 1997. From 1995 to 1997 she was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at New Mexico State University. She is a member of the American Chemical Society, the Optical Society of America and the Biophysical Society. Her main areas of research have been the development of time-resolved and nonlinear laser-based spectroscopic techniques and their application to the study of condensed phase, macromolecular and biomolecular materials. Her interests include energy and electron transfer, vibrational dynamics, photochemistry and spectroscopic imaging. At Southwest Sciences, Dr. Peterson is working on the development of optical diagnostics and imaging methods for a variety of applications including molecular biology and medicine, combustion, and electronic circuits.
Dr. Peterson's accomplishments include 1) the first measurements of vibrational lifetimes in proteins, using picosecond infrared pump/probe spectroscopy, 2) studies of the effects of binding pocket mutations and metal-porphyrin structure on the vibrational lifetime of carbonmonoxide bound to heme proteins, 3) the construction of a picosecond visible/infrared spectrometer and its application to photo-induced ligand transfer dynamics in cytochrome oxidase and to energy transfer dynamics in mixed valence organometallic dimers and, 4) determining chain aggregation and conformation in polymer blends using fluorescence depolarization detected electronic energy transfer.
Dr. Peterson has 29 publications. peterson@swsciences.com
Contact Information
e-mail sciences@swsciences.com