DARPA’s director since 2012, Arati Prabhakar has spent her career investing in world‐class engineers and scientists to create new technologies and businesses. She first joined DARPA in 1986 as a program manager and was the founding director of the Agency’s Microelectronics Technology Office. Arati served as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology from 1993 to 1997. She then spent 15 years in Silicon Valley, including a decade as a partner at U.S. Venture Partners, an early‐stage venture capital firm. Arati is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow. She received her Ph.D. in applied physics and M.S. in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology and her B.S. in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University.