DARPA is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It dates back to the launch of Sputnik in 1957. DARPA comprises of approximately 220 government employees in six technical offices, including nearly 100 program managers, who together oversee about 250 research and development programs. DARPA even has its own podcast, which is called Voices from DARPA.

DARPA’s new podcast series, Voices from DARPA offers a revealing and informative window on the Agency’s program managers. In each episode, a program manager from one of DARPA’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 the Voices from DARPA podcast 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.

At the time I am writing this blog, the Voices from DARPA podcast has six episodes that have been released. You can listen to the episodes on Blubrry, (which hosts the podcast), or on YouTube, or you can get it from iTunes.

Episode 1 is called “Molecule Man”. It features Dr. Tyler McQuade, a program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office. He reveals his vision of accelerating scientist’s ability to discover and make a vast variety of new molecules for medical, military, and other applications.

Topics covered in other episodes include: DARPA’s Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) program, the agency’s work on developing semiconductor materials, a mission to push electronic and electromagnetic technology along new frontiers, and more.