Dr. Arati Prabhakar is the director of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), a government body that commissions advanced technological research for the Department of Defense. The director since 2012, she has spent her career investing in world-class engineers and scientists to create new technologies and businesses. She first came to 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 a Member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

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.