Careers in Quality

 What is the DARPA Innovation Fellowship? 

The DARPA Innovation Fellowship is a two-year position at DARPA for early career scientists and engineers. The fellows will develop and manage a portfolio of high-impact, exploratory efforts to identify breakthrough technologies for national security. 

Why become a DARPA Innovation Fellow? 

Fellows will push the limits of existing technology through the rapid exploration of a high volume of promising new ideas focused on answering high risk/high reward “what if?” questions and assessing the impact of further investment. 

Fellows will also have the opportunity to work with DARPA program managers as well as the university, industry, and non-profit performers who work on DARPA-funded research. Being a DARPA Innovation Fellow is a great way to begin a career in the sciences. DARPA Innovation Fellows will have the opportunity to make extensive connections across an extraordinarily rich, technologically-focused network. The fellowship is an in-person salaried position at DARPA in Arlington, Virginia. Fellows will be part of the?Defense Sciences Office; however, the fellows will work across disciplines represented in all DARPA technical offices. 

Who may apply to become a DARPA Innovation Fellow? 

Recent Ph.D. graduates (within five years of receiving a doctorate) and active-duty military with STEM degrees may apply to become a DARPA Innovation Fellow. In exceptional cases, DARPA may consider bachelor- or master’s-level candidates with STEM degrees. As DARPA is part of the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. citizenship is required for the fellowship, and selected candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a security clearance as well as pass a pre-employment drug test and random testing during the two-year employment period. 

How to apply to become a DARPA Innovation Fellow? 

To begin the application process, submit a cover letter describing your background and interest in the program and CV or resume to?fellowship@darpa.mil.  

Fellowship Website: 

www.darpa.mil/innovationfellowship  

Fellowship Contact: 

fellowship@darpa.mil 

About DARPA

For 60 years, DARPA has held to a singular and enduring mission: to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security. The genesis of that mission and of DARPA itself dates to the launch of Sputnik in?1957, and a commitment by the United States that, from that time forward, it would be the initiator and not the victim of strategic technological surprises. Working with innovators inside and outside of government, DARPA has repeatedly delivered on that mission, transforming revolutionary concepts and even seeming impossibilities into practical capabilities. The efforts have resulted in not only game-changing military capabilities, but also such icons of modern civilian society such as the internet, self-driving cars, and most recently, mRNA vaccines. DARPA explicitly reaches for transformational change instead of incremental advances. But it does not perform its engineering alchemy in isolation. It works within an innovation ecosystem that includes academic, corporate and governmental partners, with a constant focus on the Nation’s military Services, which work with DARPA to create new strategic opportunities and novel tactical options. For decades..., this vibrant, interlocking ecosystem of diverse collaborators has proven to be a nurturing environment for the intense creativity that DARPA is designed to cultivate.

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Connections working at DARPA