Peter A. Peterson, an emeritus courtesy joint faculty member in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, died on Sept. 7, 2017, at his Sonoma, Calif., home where he lived for the past four years after moving there from Ames. Peterson was an emeritus faculty member in the Department of Agronomy. 

Peterson joined Iowa State University in 1956 to study trait transmission via corn as an assistant professor of genetics. In 1968, he became a professor of agronomy. His lifelong research focused on transposable elements. He retired from ISU in July 2013 after 57 years of service. At that time, a scholarship was established in his name: The Peter A. Peterson Award for Research Excellence in Genetics and Genomics or Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology.

Click here to read Peterson's complete obituary.