Technology is a driver of our times. Since its founding in 1958 in the midst of the Cold War, DARPA has been a driver of technology — and it’s the Agency’s program managers who are in the drivers’ seats. As DARPA director Arati Prabhakar often puts it, “Program managers are DARPA’s heart and soul.”
The Agency’s new podcast series, Voices from DARPA, offers a revealing and informative window on the minds of these program managers. In each episode, a program manager from one of the Agency’s six technical offices — Biological Technologies, Defense Sciences, Information Innovation, Microsystems Technology, Strategic Technology, and Tactical Technology — will discuss in informal and personal terms why they are at DARPA and what they are up to.
The goal of Voices from DARPA is to share with listeners some of the institutional know-how, vision, process, and history that together make the “secret sauce” DARPA has been adding to the nation’s innovation ecosystem for nearly 60 years. On another level, we at DARPA just want to share the pleasure we all have every day — in the elevator, in the halls, in our meeting rooms—as we learn from each other and swap ideas and strive to change what’s possible.
To listen to the premiere episode, titled “Molecule Man” and featuring program manager Tyler McQuade of the Agency’s Microsystem Technology Office, visit https://soundcloud.com/voicesfromdarpa/voices_from_darpa_1.