Dr Nils Petersen

Dr Nils Petersen has been appointed VP research at the Univ of Western Ontario (UWO) for a five-year term, effective January 1, 2002. A professor in UWO’s Department of Chemistry, Petersen will be responsible for promoting and enhancing the university’s broad range of research activities including university-industry partnerships and global projects. Petersen received a BSc in chemistry from UWO and a PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, where he was honoured for best chemistry PhD thesis. After teaching stints at Cornell Univ and Washington Univ, he returned to UWO in 1981 and chaired the chemistry department from 1993 to 1999. In 1999 he was appointed associate VP research. Petersen is chair of the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s innovation expert committee for science facilities. His research focuses on understanding cell-cell communications, signal transduction, adhesion and cell locomotion….