Biography
Dr. Peterson received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, San Diego, in 2005. Her dissertation, based on field research in Baja California Sur, Mexico, evaluated the decision-making processes of various stakeholders in a national marine park.

In describing the development of the marine park and its management plan, the daily operations of the marine park staff, and a group of women from a fishing community, her study assessed the importance of sociocultural context on decisions and decision-processes, including the role of social networks, personal relationships, institutional constraints, and cultural models.

While at UCSD, she also worked with David Kirsh in the Cognitive Science Department on issues of group collaboration and emergency response. As a postdoctoral researcher at CRED, Nicole Peterson focuses on lab and field projects involving participatory processes.

CRED Projects
» Surveillance and Control of Rift Valley Fever in the Greater Horn of Africa and the Middle East

» Making Sense of Forecasts: the Role of Group Discussion in Understanding Climate Information

» Effective Use of Scientific Information: Social Goals, Incentive Structures, and Learning Under Uncertainty

Last Updated: June 1, 2006