About the Speaker

After receiving a B.S. in Physics from Polytechnic Institute of New York (Brooklyn), U.S. in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Physics in 1981 from the City College of New York (CCNY/CUNY), Johnson spent 14 years conducting research at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He joined the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in 1995. At NJIT he was chairperson and distinguished professor of physics for eight years prior to joining the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in August 2003.  He is currently the director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) and is a professor of physics as well as a professor of computer science and electrical engineering (CSEE) at UMBC.  His research has been in the general area of ultrafast optics and optoelectronics. He has published over 80 refereed papers, two book chapters and holds four U.S. patents. He has provided unceasing service to the optics community as an active member of several professional organizations and scientific commissions.

His roles have included: Editor-in-Chief of Optics Letters (1995-2991); member of Optica’s Board of Directors and Board of Editors; member of the National Research Council's Committee on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Science and the Board on Assessment of NIST Programs; member of the governing boards of the American Institute of Physics and IEEE LEOS (now IEEE Photonics Society) and the Executive Board of the American Physical Society and a member of the U.S. Department of Energy's Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee. He has also served on the program committees for CLEO (Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics) and the LEOS Annual Meeting and co-chaired CLEO in 1992.

Johnson is the recipient of APS's 1996 Edward A. Bouchet Award. He is a fellow of Optica, APS, IEEE, AAAS, National Society of Black Physicists, and elevated to IEEE Life Fellow in 2020. In 2021, he received the Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award "for decades of principled leadership and steadfast service to The Optical Society and to the optics community, and especially for serving as a tireless ambassador for Optica." He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. He has also served as co-chair of the Women & Minorities in Optics Committee (1994-1998). In 2000, he was elected Vice President of Optica and served consecutively as President-Elect, President in 2002, and Past President the following year. He remains active with the Society and sits on the Presidential Advisory Committee and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Rapid Action Committee. Currently, he is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Board on Physics & Astronomy (BPA) (2024-) and a member of the APS Physics Policy Committee (PPC) (2023-).