Event
Women in ECE presents: "A World of Opportunity: Career Paths You May Not Have Considered," J. Hodiak
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
5:00 p.m.
A.V. Williams, Rm. 2460
Kris Rosfjord
rosfjord@umd.edu
http://www.ece.umd.edu/wece
Women in Electrical and Computer Engineering (WECE) presents:
"A World of Opportunity for Women Engineers: Career Paths You May Not Have Considered"
Justin Hodiak, Ph.D.
Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton
Microsystems Technology Office (MTO), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Abstract: As technological complexity is increasingly a part of our lives, there are increasing opportunities for rigorously trained science and technology PhDs to contribute the depth of their knowledge outside of the laboratory. Many new roles are opening up for non-traditional career paths that rely on technical insight and scientific rigor to guide complex decision making, in government and elsewhere. In order to help illustrate what type of non-traditional career choices you have ahead of you, Ill relate how I have been able to guide my career from being an engineering researcher, working at the optical bench on microwave photonics experiments, to being in the middle of strategic discussions guiding federal government investment of more than $400M investment in electronics and photonics technologies. Ill reflect on the advice I received as a graduate student, and let you know how I managed to turn what other people called my weaknesses into what are now my strengths.
Biography: Justin Hodiak works for Booz Allen Hamilton as a consultant for the Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Virginia. For the past 4 years, she has been assisting Program Managers and the Office Director at DARPA/MTO in developing and managing microelectronics and photonics research programs aimed at future generations of military and communications systems. She leads a team of 12 technical consultants embedded in a team of 60 people dedicated to DARPA/MTO. Her team consists of 6 PhDs and 6 MS staff, a mix of electrical engineers and material scientists. Prior to joining Booz Allen, she spent five years at the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center in San Diego, a Navy development lab. At SPAWAR Systems Center, she had multiple research projects investigating microwave photonics for signal processing. She was also a technical contract monitor for DARPA funded research. Ms. Hodiak completed a Ph. D. in electrical engineering from the University of California at San Diego in 1999, and an Sc.B. in electrical engineering from Brown University in 1989.
