Poring over all the minutia of biographical data that all federal nominees apparently must submit these days (especially where a new administration is concerned), HD Notebook did a double-take on part of the background of Kristina M. Johnson—President Obama's nominee for U.S. Under Secretary of Energy.
Johnson is currently the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and previously served as dean of Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering until 2007, where the White House said she "helped to set up interdisciplinary efforts in photonics, bio-engineering and biologically inspired materials."
But it was Johnson's work starting more than 20 years ago that got our attention: As an electrical engineer with nearly 130 U.S. and foreign patents (and patents pending), some of the inventions the White House said she helped to formulate include "pioneering work on liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) micro-displays and their integration into demonstration and commercial systems such as heads-up automotive displays (HUD); HDTV and 3D projection displays; and 3D holographic memories."
Not too shabby, even if she seems headed to a top energy post and not somewhere else in the new administration where perhaps she could have applied her vast cutting-edge TV technology insight and background—like the FCC or Commerce Department.
