An ARPA-E Program Director Must Have:
An ARPA-E Program Director is selected, in large part, based on their technical expertise. To trail-blaze into the unknown, they need to have an expert understanding of the current state of the art. Program Directors need to know and understand what’s been done before, why it did or didn’t work, and how this history impacts what can be accomplished going forward.
“Innovation is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Edison can be a polarizing figure, but the wisdom of this quote stands the test of time. ARPA-E Program Directors must have the drive, focus, and perseverance to advance through obstacles, challenges, and critics – letting the science be the ultimate judge of what works and what doesn’t.
ARPA-E Program Directors are experts in their field who are smart enough to know that they don’t know everything. Like any successful trailblazer, they constantly look for new paths to their destination and will follow the road where it takes them, not just where they expect it to go. ARPA-E project teams purposely go where the established science doesn’t, so Program Directors need to do the same.
ARPA-E Program Directors have access to an impressive array of resources to pursue their transformative ideas, but such access comes with the responsibility of unwavering technical honesty and full scientific rigor. Program Directors work with their project teams to establish and attain technical program milestones and must remain fully transparent with their successes or failures along the way, in order to effectively position their work for successful commercialization and impact.
