Beijia Zhang

Dr. Beijia Zhang is an assistant leader of the RF Technology Group. Her areas of expertise include systems analysis, uncrewed aerial vehicles, geolocation and direction-finding systems, novel search algorithms, fundamental electromagnetics, rapid prototyping, and strategic planning. In her current role, she oversees many of the RF Technology Group's microelectronics and integrated circuit development activities and develops novel sensor systems for applications in space and in other unique domains.

As a technical staff member, Zhang initially worked on ground-penetrating radar technology. She holds two patents and coauthored several papers on this work. She also designed architectures for large systems of air vehicles to enable persistent remote sensing. She later progressed to leading rapid development, integration, and field-testing efforts for several uncrewed aerial vehicle–based sensors.

From 2015 to 2017, she served as an associate technology officer within the Director's Office and took part in the strategic investment of the Laboratory's internal funds. She also led the planning and organization of the Laboratory's annual Technology Office Challenge. During this tenure, she served on the funding boards for the MIT Deshpande Center and the MIT Sandbox program, and fostered new relationships between the Laboratory and MIT campus. 

As part of the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute, she developed a virtual summer program to teach high school students the fundamentals of microelectronics and hardware development, with the goals of providing early-career outreach and improving access to learning opportunities. 

Zhang is a member of the honor societies Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu. From MIT, she received her SB, MEng, and PhD degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, with a primary focus on electromagnetic phenomenology with applied machine learning.