Advanced Technology Development at MIT Lincoln Laboratory: Focus on Microsystems

Bernadette Johnson is the Chief Technology Officer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Since joining the Laboratory, she has been involved in a number of programs related to laser-based propagation and sensing, as well as biodefense. Examples of past work include experiments in adaptive optics, microchip laser-based sensing, and the use of photorefractive InP:Fe for communications applications. From 1993 through 1996, she directed the Environmental Monitoring Project, which was established to adapt Lincoln Laboratory technologies to environmental-monitoring applications. She led experiments to investigate microlaser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for in situ elemental analysis. She developed and managed a program to investigate active hyperspectral imaging for applications such as unexploded ordnance and landmine sensing. In 2001, she became the founding Group Leader of the Biodefense Systems group. Her responsibilities included direction of programs in sensor development, laboratory and field measurements, biodetection forensic techniques, and systems analyses for military and civilian biodefense. In 2008, she became the Assistant Division Head in the Homeland Protection and Tactical Systems Division, where she served until her current appointment in 2009. Dr. Johnson is the 2007 recipient of M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory’s Technical Excellence award. She holds degrees in various branches of Physics from Dickinson College, Georgetown University, and Dartmouth College.