Kristina M. Johnson
Kristina M. Johnson is an American former government official, academic, engineer, and business executive.
Biography
Johnson was the undersecretary for Energy at the United States Department of Energy until she stepped down Nov. 5, 2010. She has previously been the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University since September 1, 2007.[1] Previously, she had been the dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University since 1999. Dr. Johnson received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. She has also served as director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Optoelectronics Computing Systems at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Additionally, Dr. Johnson co-founded the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute Center of Excellence in Optoelectronics and is a director of Minerals Technologies Inc., AES Corporation, Nortel and Guidant Corporation (until Guidant's merger with Boston Scientific).[2] She also served as Director at Boston Scientific Corporation[3] until her recent confirmation to be Undersecretary of Energy for the Obama Administration.[4]
A strong proponent of women in leadership, science and engineering, she is writing a book chronicling some of the best stories and anecdotes from women leaders. Johnson grew up in Denver, Colo. She attended Hamilton Junior High School, where she was the self-appointed president of the environmental club. At Thomas Jefferson High School, she won two state science competitions and played attack on the boys' lacrosse team. After graduating with her first degree from Stanford University, she aspired to play field hockey at the international level but was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease and turned to focus on her academics.[5]
In 1993 Kristina Johnson was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious International Dennis Gabor Award for creativity in modern optics and In 2008, received the John Fritz Medal, widely considered the most prestigious award of the engineering profession.[6]