Dr. Julie Smith is a Principal Research Physicist for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space Vehicles Directorate. Julie received her master’s degree in physics from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 2008 and her PhD in Electrical Engineering in Dec 2024. After graduation in 2008 Julie began working for AFRL’s Directed Energy Directorate at Starfire Optical Range. For 7 years in the Directed Energy Directorate, Julie worked on advances in atmospheric propagation, atmospheric modeling and simulation, MEMS technology, adaptive optics, quantum communications and optical communications. During her time in Directed Energy, she published numerous papers on atmospheric propagation and was an active member in the Optical Society of America, OSA. In 2015, Julie moved to AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate to work with the Future Space Communications group where she led efforts to advance communication technologies throughout the DoD. In 2016 she was named the Laser Communications Strategy Lead for the Space Vehicles Directorate and in 2020 became the lead for the Communications Tech Area. Julie works with DoD and commercial organizations to develop novel communication and Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technologies as well as standards for interoperability. She is also an active member of SPIE, IEEE, WIE and SWE.