The focus of Dr. Peterson’s lab has been on the nutritional approaches to bone health, and, recently the lab has become interested in vitamin D and its implications for human health including and beyond bone. Dr. Peterson currently has three on-going projects including: 1. Vitamin D status and inflammation. Dr. Peterson’s lab recently completed a cross-sectional, observational study of pre- and postmenopausal tanning bed users to explore the relationship between vitamin D status and inflammatory marker status with a focus on 25(OH)D levels; 2. Efficacy of ultraviolet B radiation in the treatment of vitamin D insufficiency in children with cystic fibrosis; 3. Vitamin D status and pain perception/muscle strength.

Lawrence Steel is a special services teacher at Centennial High School in Ellicott City, Maryland. Prior to becoming a teacher in 1993, he worked as a computer system operator for a United States Senator in Washington D.C.

Shortly after becoming a teacher, he began to realize that there was a great need and demand for productivity software in the field of education. Several of Mr. Steel's computer programs are in the area of special education, and are designed to help streamline paperwork tasks. Mr. Steel is the author ofTeacherEvaluationWorks Pro, Student Discipline Data Tracker, and IEP Pro all of which are designed to increase school administrators' productivity and streamline necessary paperwork. Mr. Steel is also the author of the evaluation software that accompanies Writing Meaningful Evaluations for Non-Instructional Staff--Right Now!! and Writing Meaningful Teacher Evaluations - Right Now!!, Second Edition.

Mr. Steel, an avid traveler and bicyclist, currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife Kristin and twin daughters Sydney and Samantha.