John D. Petersen

Who is John D. Petersen?

John D. Petersen is an American chemist and educator who was president of the University of Tennessee system.

A native of Los Angeles, California, John Petersen attended California State University, Los Angeles, where he received a B.S. degree in chemistry in 1970. In 1975 he received a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where his dissertation was entitled Photochemical and Photophysical Studies of Rhodium Ammine Complexes.

After completing his Ph.D., Petersen took a position as assistant professor of chemistry at Kansas State University. In 1980, he joined the faculty of Clemson University, where he was associate dean for research for the College of Sciences and head of the chemistry department. In 1986-87, he spent a year at Universitat Regensburg in Germany as Alexander von Humboldt research fellow and guest professor. In 1994, he went on to Wayne State University, where he was dean of the College of Science and professor of chemistry. During his career as a university researcher, from 1980 to 1995, he participated in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Photochemistry Program.