Jean Peterson, Ph.D., NCC, LMHC, and counselor educator, has focused most of her clinical work and research on children and adolescents with exceptional ability, often exploring the experience of development with longitudinal and qualitative methods and often focusing on populations that do not fit common stereotypes and are therefore not often studied.

Among her nearly 100 publications are Gifted at Risk: Poetic Profiles, The Essential Guide to Talking with Gifted Teens, Talk with Teens About What Matters to Them, Models of Counseling Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults, and Portrait and Model of a School Counselor. Her first career was in K-12 education as a classroom and gifted-education teacher and counselor. Her research interests include school counselor preparation, as well as social and emotional development of high-ability children and adolescents, particularly of populations underrepresented or under-studied in the field of gifted education. Currently, she is Professor Emerita in Counseling & Development in the Department of Educational Studies at Purdue University, where she has been on faculty for nearly 20 years.