Her research focuses on using GPS and imaging geodesy to examine tectonic phenomena including long-term plate motions, the distribution of relative motion within plate boundary zones, earthquakes, and transient tectonic deformation as well as non-tectonic signals such as glacial isostatic adjustment and glacier dynamics. She received a BA in Physics from Whitman College, an MS and a PhD in Geophysics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and was a postdoc at Cornell University. Julie is PI of an ongoing EarthScope project using GPS to look at fault locking and possible transient tectonic signals along the eastern edge of the Alaska subduction zone.