Voices from DARPA

There are many ideas in the world, but truly good ones are few and far between – especially when it comes to breakthrough technologies that can change the course of history. Surfacing these types of ideas calls for a constant infusion of fresh perspectives and imagination. That’s why DARPA created the DARPA Innovation Fellowship , a two-year position for early career scientists and engineers. Fell...

Generative artificial intelligence has captured the world’s attention after recent advances in the commercial sector. Its ability to create deepfakes, or highly realistic multimedia, has turned a once highly specialized skill into something as easy as clicking a button.   As a result, the threat of manipulated media –audio, images, video, and text – has increased while social media provides a ripe...

Imagine you are going to space. There is a long list of items and supplies you definitely will need, but there is an even longer list of things you might need, depending on how your mission progresses. This includes known unknowns like fuel for unplanned maneuvering, replacement parts or tools, and a wide range of other products that could be useful, but may not be utilized. The current paradigm i...

This episode of the Voices from DARPA podcast series explores the possibility of an “energy web” that, much like the World Wide Web easily and quickly spreads information, could instantly distribute energy from remote, currently untapped sources. DARPA Program Manager Col Paul Calhoun describes his bold POWER program, aimed at leveraging power beaming for near-instantaneous energy transport throug...

At a time when the race to create the best artificial intelligence-enabled technology is at its fiercest, experts at DARPA say we need to recalibrate the direction of research in the field. Within DARPA’s Information Innovation Office, one of the research thrusts focuses on proficient artificial intelligence (AI), which the office defines as how to build AI-enabled systems that we could trust with...

If it seems like microchips have been a consistent conversation topic lately, it’s for good reason. Supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors created a new level of awareness about microelectronics. However, the research and development that advance these increasingly powerful technologies goes back decades, with DARPA teaming up to play a key part. This episode of...

For this episode of the  Voices from DARPA  podcast, we will be hearing from CDR Jean-Paul Chretien about the newly-launched DARPA Triage Challenge. Previous DARPA challenges have contributed to the self-driving car evolution, responsive space launch, and robotics for disaster response and recovery, and we expect equally transformational results from this one. The DARPA Triage Challenge will use a...

In this episode of the Voices from DARPA podcast, we talk with DARPA program manager Dr. Joshua Elliott, and Dr. Graham Lederer, research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey about a recent DARPA competition geared at automating elements of the U.S. Geological Survey’s critical mineral assessment workflow.   The experts discuss the motivations behind the competition, plans for next steps on imp...

For this episode of the Voices from DARPA podcast, we talk with new DARPA program manager, Dr. Alvaro Velasquez , a self-described “researcher at heart.” His current research interests are at the intersection of formal language theory and machine learning for sequential decision-making. Velasquez discusses his path to DARPA and how it serendipitously led him to inheriting management of a new AI pr...

DARPA’s Manta Ray program seeks to demonstrate innovative technologies allowing payload-capable autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to operate on long-duration, long-range missions in ocean environments without the need for on-site human logistics support or maintenance. Such UUVs would offer the potential for persistent operations in forward environments, allowing host vessels increase...

For this episode of the  Voices from DARPA  podcast, we spoke with Dr. Joeanna Arthur who joined DARPA in August 2022 as a program manager, or PM, in the Biological Technologies Office. Her research interests include operational neuroscience, human performance optimization and predictive analytics, leveraging advances in cognitive and behavioral science.  We asked Dr. Arthur to provide her perspe...

For this episode of the Voices from DARPA podcast, we sat down with DARPA Director, Dr. Stefanie Tompkins , to discuss the agency’s upcoming DARPA Forward regional event series. Held on leading research and development campuses throughout the United States and open to all, these conferences will connect DARPA leaders with new communities of talent and partnerships. We also speak with Dr. Max Shula...

In this episode of the Voices from DARPA podcast, we explore the portfolio of cryptography expert, privacy advocate, and DARPA program manager, Dr. Joshua Baron . Baron details the possibilities – and potential pitfalls – of technologies such as zero knowledge proofs and blockchains. He also provides a sneak peek into new research that will preserve one’s privacy by rapidly making complex computat...

In this episode of the Voices from DARPA podcast, we will discuss DARPA’s Influence Campaign Awareness and Sensemaking (INCAS) program. Adversaries exploit misinformation and true information through compelling narratives propagated on social media and online content. INCAS seeks new tools to help analysts quickly identify geopolitical influence campaigns amidst today’s noisy information environme...

Did you know that there’s more energy in the packaging of an MRE than what’s in the food? In this episode of the  Voices from DARPA  podcast, we’re discussing “The Future of Food: Meals from Microbes.” First, we will hear from Dr. Molly Jahn, program manager for the Cornucopia program, which seeks to enable food production on-demand and on-site. Next, we’ll speak with Dr. Blake Bextine, who manage...

In this episode, we’ll hear from some of the key stakeholders - including Drs. Al Emondi and Dustin J. Tyler - related to the DARPA Hand Proprioception and Touch program, or HAPTIX for short. The goal of HAPTIX, which is part of DARPA’s extensive neurotechnology portfolio, is to create and transition clinically relevant technology in support of wounded warriors suffering from single or multiple li...

In this episode of the Voices from DARPA podcast, we’ll explore a new program with the goal of better identifying and predicting sudden and catastrophic climate change tipping points. Such events could cause major and abrupt disruption to both weather and life on our planet. DARPA’s AI-assisted Climate Tipping-point Modeling (ACTM) program aims to advance artificial intelligence and machine learni...

In this episode of the  Voices from DARPA  podcast, listeners will hear a “best hits” medley from program managers (PMs), who since 2016 have chronicled in the podcast their joy, sense of accomplishment, scientific stimulation, privilege to influence entire fields of research and development, sense of mission as they further the cause of national defense and security, fun, and, in short, the overa...

In this episode of the  Voices from DARPA  podcast, listeners will learn about an emerging component of DARPA’s institutional culture for delivering technologies that strengthen the nation and redefine what is possible. Called the Embedded Entrepreneurship Initiative (EEI) , this effort is designed to help creative scientists and engineers usher their new high-technology visions all of the way to...

In this episode of the  Voices from DARPA  podcast, Sergey Bratus , a program manager since 2018 in the agency’s Information Innovation Office , shares his educational and professional journey, beginning in the late 1970s as a computer-smitten middle-schooler in the former Soviet Union and leading to his current and prominent role among those who aim to render the increasingly prevalent and perilo...

In this episode of the  Voices from DARPA  podcast, Gordon Keeler , a program manager since 2017 in the agency’s Microsystems Technology Office , takes listeners on a scenic tour of his efforts to integrate electrons and photons in ways that do more computing, more sensing, more decision-making, and more artificial intelligence in cheaper, smaller, lighter, and more energy-efficient pack...

This episode of the  Voices from DARPA  podcast takes listeners on a tour of an audacious, decade-long project to merge biology and engineering into one of the most powerful engines of molecular invention the world has known. Although plenty of work remains to be done, the program, Living Foundries, is winding down to a close. But not before its community of research performers and colla...

  In this episode of the  Voices from DARPA podcast, John-Francis Mergen , a program manager since 2020 in the agency’s  Information Innovation Office , recounts how his interest in science took off as a child when he received a gift of a low-power magnifier from a family friend who was a geologist. From that gift, Mergen says, he learned about the power of observation and of the mindset one bring...

  In this episode of the  Voices from DARPA podcast, Tristan McClure-Begley , a program manager since 2017 in the agency’s Biological Technologies Office , recounts how he knew he wanted to be a biologist at the age of 7. That, thanks to an engineer dad, a psychologist mom, and a catalytic high-school teacher, all of whom ignited Tristan’s curiosity. Now Tristan is a program manager overseeing an...

  Voices from DARPA podcast, Alexander (Xander) Walan, a program manager since 2017 in the agency’s Tactical Technology Office , pegs the source of his lifelong fascination with aircraft and flight to the Chicago Air and Water Shows his dad took him and his four siblings to when they were children. At DARPA, he has applied that interest, his training in aeronautical engineering, a 22-year career i...