Kristina M. Johnson

Kristina M. Johnson
Born	1958 Denver, Colorado, United States
Nationality	American
Fields	Optical engineering
Alma mater	Stanford University
Known for	Advances in optoelectronics, stereoscopy
Notable awards	International Dennis Gabor Award John Fritz Medal National Inventors Hall of Fame

Kristina M. Johnson is a noted American business executive, engineer, academic, and former government official. She has been a leader in the development of optoelectronic processing systems, 3-D imaging, and color-management systems.^[1]

Early life and education

Kristina Johnson grew up in Denver, Colorado. 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.^[2] Dr. Johnson received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Career

Johnson was the undersecretary for Energy at the United States Department of Energy until she stepped down Nov. 5, 2010. She had previously been the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University since September 1, 2007.^[3] Previously, she had been the dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University since 1999.

Johnson 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, she co-founded the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute Center of Excellence in Optoelectronics and has been a director of Minerals Technologies Inc., AES Corporation, Nortel and Guidant Corporation.^[4] She also served as director at Boston Scientific Corporation. She was confirmed as Under Secretary of Energy for the Obama Administration in 2009.^[5]

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.

Awards and Honors

In 1993 Kristina Johnson was the first woman to be awarded the International Dennis Gabor Award for creativity in modern optics. In 2008, she received the John Fritz Medal, a prestigious award in the engineering profession.^[6]

In 2015, Johnson was elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame for her work developing polarization-control technologies.^[1]

References