Homeland Protection
Dr. Bernadette Johnson - Biography
Dr. Bernadette Johnson is Leader of the Biodefense Systems Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Her current responsibilities include direction of multiple programs in sensor development, laboratory and field measurements, biodetection forensic techniques, and a growing effort in systems analyses for military and civilian biodefense.
Since joining Lincoln Laboratory in 1985, she has been involved in a number of programs related to laser-based propagation and sensing and, more recently, biodetection. Examples of past work include experiments in adaptive optics to facilitate high-energy-laser propagation through the atmosphere, the adaptation and installation of a declassified adaptive optics system on the 60" telescope at Mt. Wilson Observatory, and investigations into the use of photorefractive InP:Fe for applications including wide-field-of-view heterodyne receivers. From 1993 through 1996, she directed the Environmental Monitoring Project, which was established to adapt Lincoln Laboratory technologies to environmental-monitoring applications.
Dr. Johnson subsequently became involved in experiments to investigate microlaser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for in situ elemental analysis. She then developed and managed a program to investigate the feasibility and utility of combining active illumination with hyperspectral imaging for a variety of military and civilian applications, including unexploded ordnance and land-mine sensing.
In 1999, she became involved with Lincoln Laboratory’s growing biodetection program area. She holds a BS in physics from Dickinson College, an MS in condensed matter theory from Georgetown University, and a PhD in plasma physics from Dartmouth College.
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