Stefanie Tompkins
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Stefanie Tompkins is an American geologist. She is the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (
DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...
).


Biography

Tompkins was born in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, where her father, a career
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
officer, was serving. Her mother is a
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
. The family spent time in Japan and Taiwan before moving to Hawaii. She attended the ʻIolani high school in Honolulu, graduating in 1983.Stefanie Tompkins, LinkedIn biography
/ref> Tompkins graduated from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1987 with a degree in geology and geophysics. She then served as an Army Intelligence officer from 1987 to 1991. She returned to the study of geology this time at
Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
from 1993 to 1997 where she was awarded a master's degree and a doctorate. While she was studying at Brown, Tompkins also worked as an associate scientist at SETS Technology in
Mililani Mililani () is a city located near the center of the island of Oahu in Honolulu County, Hawaiʻi, United States. It consists of two census-designated places, Mililani Town, with a population of 28,121 at the 2020 census, and Mililani Mauka, wi ...
in Hawaii from 1993 until in 1996, she became a Senior Staff Scientist at SAIC, where she studied the geology of
Moon rock Moon rock or lunar rock is rock originating from Earth's Moon. This includes lunar material collected during the course of human exploration of the Moon, and rock that has been ejected naturally from the Moon's surface and landed on Earth as ...
s, with funding from
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
. In 2007 Tompkins joined DARPA's Strategic Technology Office as a program manager. In the next decade, according to DARPA, she held many roles at the agency, including a stint as director of the
Defense Sciences Office The Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is one of seven technical offices within DARPA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense that is responsible for the development of advanced technology for national security National security, or national ...
. In 2017 she took up the temporary position of acting deputy director of DARPA. In February 2018, she left DARPA to become vice president for research and technology transfer at
Colorado School of Mines The Colorado School of Mines, informally called Mines, is a public research university in Golden, Colorado, founded in 1874. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, and mathematics, with a focus on ener ...
, spending three years there. Regarding her decision to leave DARPA for Mines, Tompkins told an interviewer:
I spent my career in a combination of national service and science and technology development. I was in the military. I have worked for the federal government. I have worked in industry doing science and technology. When you're in the intersection of these spaces, you start to develop an idea of what is important to you and what is needed to solve hard problems.
According to Tompkins, her time at Mines was a valuable preparation for understanding "critical mineral supply chains" and the role of academia "in the national security ecosystem".


DARPA leadership

In 2016, Tompkins described to
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
faculty DARPA's mission: "to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security" in order to prevent, or to create, "strategic surprise". Tompkins was on the list of President Biden's first political appointees to
Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...
positions, released January 19, 2021. ''
Air Force Magazine The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is " ...
'' noted that this would be the "third recent shuffle" of DARPA leadership. Former director
Victoria Coleman Victoria Stavridou-Coleman is currently serving as the 37th Chief Scientist of the United States Air Force. She took her oath of office on April 6, 2021, administered by the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. ...
resigned the directorship the day after, having served for only four months in the position. The position of DARPA director does not require Senate confirmation. On March 15, 2021, Tompkins became DARPA's 23rd director.


References


External links


"Statement by Dr. Stefanie Tompkins, Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Submitted to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense" (April 13, 2021)

Staff page at DARPA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tompkins, Stefanie DARPA directors Biden administration personnel Princeton University alumni Brown University alumni American geologists Military personnel from Hawaii Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women scientists United States Army officers 21st-century American women