Courtney Petersen
Current Position
Associate - Exponent
Research Interests
- Computational modeling
- Articular cartilage wear
- Osteoarthritis treatment & surgical techniques
- Medical device design
Education
- B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, 2017
- M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, 2019
- M.Phil. Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, 2021
About
Courtney began working in the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Lab in January 2018 as a master’s student before starting her Ph.D. work in the fall of 2018. Prior to beginning at Columbia, Courtney attended the University of Washington in Seattle, WA as an undergraduate. While at UW, she worked with a team to design and build a compression device to treat and heal venous ulcers, which resulted in a provisional patent. The design process and direct clinical application of this project drew Courtney into the world of biomechanics.
Nowadays with MBL Courtney has pivoted from ulcers to cartilage. Her interests include studying cartilage wear and damage as well as osteoarthritis treatment methods and finite element modeling. Her current work focuses on osteoarthritis, from designing and patenting surgical tools to verifying novel surgical techniques using finite element analysis (FEBio).
In her spare time, Courtney enjoys running, concerts, food, playing lacrosse, and exploring New York. As a Utah native, she is obsessed with skiing, hiking, and just the mountains in general.