Engaging with DARPA
DARPA officer shares insights into agency funding during session at UD
9:55 a.m., Jan. 25, 2016--On Oct. 4, 1957, the United States was taken by surprise when the Soviet Union launched a satellite the size of a beach ball into orbit around the Earth.
The following year, the U.S. government established the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create and prevent strategic surprises like Sputnik.
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“We realized that the simplest way to prevent surprise is to create your own surprise,” said Stefanie Tompkins, director of DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office, in an open seminar at the University of Delaware on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Hosted by the Center for Composite Materials (CCM), the talk attracted about 75 faculty members, scientists and engineers interested in learning more about how they can work with DARPA to secure funding for their research.
Tompkins emphasized that DARPA operates differently from agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health but is part of a healthy research ecosystem along with those other funding sources.
“DARPA is a very flexible organization with a high tolerance for risk,” she said. “We’re looking for ideas in science and technology that will change the world.”
In addition to responding to open-office and program-specific Broad Agency Announcements (known as BAAs), researchers can propose their ideas to DARPA by simply approaching a program manager through a phone call, email, or brief written document.
The agency even provides very short-term support through “seedlings” funding for small studies that are aimed at “taking your concepts from disbelief to doubt on the path to accelerate breakthrough discoveries and enabling technologies through multi-year, multidisciplinary programs,” Tompkins said.
“During Dr. Tompkins’ visit, we had the opportunity to showcase our capabilities in composites through interactions with our affiliated faculty, research staff, and students on interactive laboratory tours,” said CCM Director John W. Gillespie Jr., who is also the Donald C. Phillips Professor.
“In addition, Dr. Tompkins engaged faculty from three of UD’s colleges in small-group meetings to discuss ideas and make connections with the key DARPA program managers. We really appreciated her enthusiasm and insights.”
One of six technical offices within the agency, the Defense Sciences Office identifies and pursues high-risk/high-payoff fundamental research initiatives across a broad spectrum of science and engineering disciplines including materials science, computing and autonomy, engineering design and manufacturing, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and social science.
DSO’s current strategy is to accelerate discovery and development; enable rapid, customized production of (nearly) everything; and harness complexity through modeling and design.
Article by Diane Kukich
Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson