John D. Wilkinson

John D. Wilkinson is the assistant head of the Cyber Security and Information Sciences Division.

Wilkinson has been a leader in cybersecurity and information sciences since 2013, and a leader and researcher in air and missile defense technology since 1998. Wilkinson joined MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 1998 as a member of the technical staff in the Radar Measurements Group, developing sensors and analyzing data for measurement and signature intelligence. In 2006, he joined the Air Defense Techniques Group to apply advanced RF engineering and high-performance signal processing techniques to problems of detecting and tracking airborne targets in environmental clutter, RF interference, and adversarial jamming, rising to become assistant leader of the group in 2011. In 2013, he transitioned to the Cyber Security and Information Sciences Division, and became the leader of the Cyber System Assessments Group in 2015, leading red-teaming of Department of Defense weapon systems and the development of cyber capabilities for warfighting, intelligence, and law enforcement. In 2022, Wilkinson became the leader of the Cyber-Physical Systems Group, where he managed research and experimentation in the area of nontraditional physical access methods, effects, and instrumentation.

Wilkinson holds an MS degree in electrical and computer engineering from Tufts University and a BS degree in physics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.