DARPA initiative eyes scientist, engineer recruitment

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently unveiled a new initiative to recruit early career scientists and engineers.

The DARPA Innovation Fellowship Program is slated to select fellows to develop and manage a portfolio of high-impact, exploratory research efforts to identify Department of Defense breakthrough technologies.

“During their two years at DARPA, the fellows will push the limits of existing technology through rapid exploration and analysis of a high volume of promising new ideas,” DARPA Director Stefanie Tompkins said during the recent inaugural DARPA Forward event at Colorado State University. “Projects will focus on answering high-risk/high-reward ‘what if?’ questions and assessing the impact of further investment on problems of importance to the Department of Defense. We see these fellowships as a great way for the nation’s future scientific thought leaders to have the opportunity to make extensive connections across an extraordinarily rich, technologically focused network that includes DARPA program managers and the DARPA performer community.”

DARPA detailed the position is salaried and will be executed at the DARPA building in Arlington, Virginia. Fellows will collaborate with DARPA program managers, in addition to university, industry, and non-profit performers who work on DARPA-funded research.

The initial DARPA Innovation Fellows class is expected to start in January 2023, with additional classes beginning every six months.