Julie Smith is a Senior Research Physicist for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space Vehicles Directorate. She also serves as the lasercom strategy lead for the directorate.  Julie received her Master’s degree in Physics from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 2008 and is currently pursuing her PhD in Electrical Engineering from UNM.  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 where she leads the Space Communications Technical Area to advance technologies for space-based communication and Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems.  Julie is a SME for multiple Department of Defense organizations and works across the enterprise to develop and transition communication and PNT technologies.