Richard C Petersen

University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA

Undergraduate studies included Stanford University as a California Governor’s Scholar/Ebell Scholar and the University of California at Irvine on a California State Scholarship with early acceptance to the UCLA School of Dentistry in the Center for the Health Sciences. By early enrollment in the UCLA School of Dentistry my Bachelor of Science was combined with a Doctor of Dental Science degree. While in the UCLA School of Dentistry I was awarded a Regent’s Scholarship regarded as the highest academic honor of that time and was the first person to score a 99 average on the Health Science portion of the National Boards. Subsequent clinical practice included work with the Hawaiian Public Health Service and 2 private dental clinics providing treatment in all phases of Dentistry. In 1983 a dental report was included as part of an American Dental Association national television advertising campaign. A hand injury in 1984 prevented further clinical practice, but allowed my participation in dental research through Beauchamp Enterprises-associated with Western Dental. Subsequent interest then focused in polymers during which time I received a Certificate of Appreciation for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Outreach Space Exploration Initiative Program. Between 1992 and 1995 I was invited to participate in a high-priority national chemistry project associated with the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). and was awarded LANL Technical Assistance Program funding. While working in an association with LANL I obtained Joint Certification by the United States and Canadian Governments to Receive Military Critical Technical Data, became a Potential Contractor for the Pentagon's research division in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and gained Access to military technical reports through the Defense Technical Information Center. In 1995 the National Institutes of Health requested that I join in an advanced postdoctoral training grant that competitively identified the best Biomaterials programs in the United States. Between 1996 and 2006 I enrolled in three separate institutional training grants that included Northwestern University to receive a Master of Science in Biological Materials, the University of Missouri-Kansas City in a combined Engineering program with the University of Missouri in Materials Science and Aerospace Engineering and finally the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in Biomedical Engineering to receive a Doctor of Philosophy. Further, between 2000 and 2003 I worked with the United States Department of Energy through two Technical Assistance Programs on the development of a major breakthrough in dental materials with fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) complying with the micromechanics satisfying critical length that prevents total debonding of fibers. While at UAB highly advanced equations were developed with proof validation of Micromechanics for predicting overall properties with fibers in composite materials in addition to accurate comprehensive mechanical test methods with numerical integration for fracture toughness and completion of an accurate Griffith Crack Theory for the KIc critical stress intensity factor. Through UAB I have continued to develop research that has broken grounds for advancements with FRCs in areas that include photocure dental composite fillings, bone implants with related tissue engineering science, Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing or CAD/CAM crown and bridge material and the use of the antimicrobial Triclosan in FRCs. Associated FRC knowledge for free-radical chain-growth polymerization has resulted in a breakthrough advancement with the chemistry on fundamental basics in membrane organization for pathology related to chain-growth polymerization of lipid oils and peroxidation of lipid oils into solids. The solids formed from low viscosity oils can compromise oxygen diffusion where free-radical inhibitors have shown great successes in developing a drug to counteract pathology. In 2011 my book Micromechanics/Electron Interactions for Advanced Biomedical Research was published by LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing Gmbh & Co. KG. I have published much in areas for bone implant success with novel concepts introduced to encourage osseointegration and improved on Mechanomolecular Theory to better help explain membrane transport of molecules and enzyme mixing to speed biologic reaction rates.