Julie Bert

Julie Bert is the lab director for the Hardware Research and Technology Lab (HRTL). Her personal expertise includes developing electronics hardware/software systems from first prototype through production. She has developed systems utilizing both custom and COTS sensors, and done the analog and digital electronics design, mechanical design, and data analytics.

As a Principal Investigator, she led a series of projects focused on increasing the maturity of electronic hardware systems including developing a design for a portable x-ray imager that was licensed to an external company and is now sold as a commercial product.  She also led the DARPA Ocean of Things program to produce ocean drifter sensors for enhanced maritime awareness. This program expanded PARC’s capabilities to push products further along the development chain into small-scale manufacturing, producing 5,000 drifters.

Dr. Bert completed a Ph.D. in Physics at Stanford University where she used magnetic imaging to study superconductivity in novel material systems. She earned an A.B. degree in Physics from Princeton University.

Key Skills and Technologies

• Prototype System Development 
• Low power (battery operated) system design and optimization 
• Distributed sensing 
• Ocean sensing and system ruggedization 
• Analog/Digital Electronics Design, Build and Test 
• Review of electronics schematics and layout 
• Thin Film Transistor Large Area Electronics and Readout 
• Embedded firmware 
• Programming (Python, C, C++) 
• Small scale manufacturing (in house and with a contract manufacturer) 
• Superconductivity and Superconducting Magnetic Sensors (SQUIDS) 
• Scanning Probe Microscopy 
• Operating cryogenic systems and dilution refrigerators