Pearce, John

Biography:

John A. Pearce attended Clemson University where he received the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1968 and the Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1971. He received the Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 1977 and the Doctor of Philosophy in 1980.

Between 1969 and 1975 he was employed at the Medical University of South Carolina in the departments of Surgery and Biometry where he participated in research on burn treatment, kidney transplantation and immuno-suppression, and electrical safety. He also taught courses in biomedical instrumentation, automatic controls, fluid mechanics, and the thermodynamics of diathermy. He is actively engaged in research on tissue fusion, coagulation and cutting processes with electrosurgery, electrosurgical safety, thermographic imaging, and industrial applications of microwave and radio frequency power.

Research Interests:

• Tissue Fusion: Coagulation of tissues by electrosurgery (RF current) or lasers to achieve fusion or "welding" during surgery.
• Cardiac Ablation: Thermal damage to achieve deactivation of selected cardiac cells, "ectopic foci", for relief of arrythmia.
• Thermographic Imaging Application of nonlinear processors for enhancement of infrared images used for temperature estimation.