Johnson is both an entrepreneur and educator, and has worked extensively with the Engineering and Technology Industry Council to create research and educational programs with Oregon Industries. He led MSI’s efforts to create the Graduate Internship Program (Industrial Internship Graduate degree program). This program now partners with over 60 companies as well as universities and colleges across the country, providing both Masters and Ph.D. students in chemistry and physics at the University of Oregon with opportunities to spend 6-9 months as engineers and research scientists solving problems in an industry setting or to spend a quarter or semester as an instructor at a primarily undergraduate institution. These internships build skills and provide experience that lead to informed career decisions and opportunities for the participating students. Industry in the Northwest has benefited short term from the productivity of the interns and long term from gaining outstanding employees. The relationships formed setting up the Graduate Internship program formed the basis of the government, industry, and academic research collaborations that developed into ONAMI, the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute. ONAMI promotes collaboration between scientists at UO, OSU, PSU, PNNL, and Oregon Industries. Johnson was one of the founding faculty directors of ONAMI.