John Petersen is the Paul Sears Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences and Biology at Oberlin College. A systems ecologist by training, Dr. Petersen's research focuses on understanding the role of feedback control in both environmental and social systems. Through the Environmental Dashboard project he leads, he has been instrumental in developing real-time feedback display technologies for buildings, organizations, and whole cities with the goal of engaging, educating, motivating and empowering communication, climate adaptation and community resilience. Dashboard implementations span Oberlin College's campus, the City of Oberlin, Oberlin's K–12 schools, the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, and the MidTown Cleveland neighborhood. He is president and founder of Community Hub Incorporated, an Ohio-based company that makes Environmental Dashboard applications available to organizations and communities. He has played a leadership role in Oberlin College's and the City of Oberlin's climate action and resilience planning, education and communication efforts. His research on dashboards and environmental communication has been published in a broad range of peer-reviewed journals.