THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY INVESTIGATIONS OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS BY FAITH COLDREN A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Physics December 2008 Winston-Salem, North Carolina Approved By: David L. Carroll, Ph.D., Advisor ______________________________ Examining Committee: William D. Wagner, Ph.D., Chairman ______________________________ Keith D. Bonin, Ph.D. ______________________________ Gregory B. Cook, Ph.D. ______________________________ Martin Guthold, Ph.D. ______________________________