Julia Ann Hopkins

Dr. Julia Ann Hopkins is a technical staff member in the Human Resilience Technology Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. She specializes in geophysical fluid dynamics, flood disasters, and sustainable solutions for infrastructure resilience. Her research ranges from modeling the impact of storm waves on coastal infrastructure, to field observations of fluid dynamics and analyzing complex natural and built systems through the lens of water resilience.

Hopkins earned a BS degree in both mathematics and civil and environmental engineering from MIT and a PhD in applied ocean science and engineering from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. Her post-doctoral research was in coastal dynamics at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, during which she separately helped launch a start-up to design and evaluate floating wetlands for flood defense. Prior to joining the Laboratory, Hopkins was an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University with a research portfolio focused on urban flood resilience, including understanding the impact of intensified storms on cities, collecting novel observations of high-energy waves in complex harbors, and developing robust methods to leverage remote sensing for critical coastal processes.