Lisa Porter
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Lisa J. Porter is an American scientist and founding Director of the
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is an organization, within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), that is responsible for leading research to overcome difficult challenges facing the United Stat ...
. Prior to this position, she was the Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Research at
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
and a senior
scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
in the Advanced Technology Office of the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 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 Adva ...
. In March 2012, Porter resigned from IARPA.
Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...
James Clapper James Robert Clapper Jr. (born March 14, 1941) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and former Director of National Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. ...
remarked in
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
that her hallmark as a leader was bringing together the nation's top scientific thinkers to solve difficult problem. She joined
Teledyne Technologies Teledyne Technologies Incorporated is an American industrial conglomerate. It was founded in 1960, as Teledyne, Inc. by Henry Singleton and George Kozmetsky. From August 1996 to November 1999, Teledyne existed as part of the conglomerate Al ...
as senior vice president of the subsidiary Teledyne Scientific & Imaging. She later joined
In-Q-Tel In-Q-Tel (IQT), formerly Peleus and In-Q-It, is an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in companies to keep the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with the lates ...
as executive vice president and director of In-Q-Tel Labs. Porter is the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, a newly created position. After her confirmation by the
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
, she again will be reporting to Under Secretary of Defense
Michael Griffin Mike or Michael Griffin may refer to: Public officials * Michael Griffin (Wisconsin politician) (1842–1899), Irish-born American congressman * Michael D. Griffin (born 1949), American physicist, NASA administrator and Under Secretary of Defense ...
, her former supervisor at NASA. In her role as DUSD(R&E), Porter helped USD(R&E) Griffin established technology modernization priorities for the DoD. In 2009, as the Director of IARPA, Porter cancelled the US Quantum Communications Satellite program nine months before launch. On June 24, 2020, Lisa Porter tendered her resignation effective July 10, 2020 to pursue opportunities in the private sector.


Education

Porter graduated from
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
with a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in
nuclear engineering Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide ...
in 1989, where she also took courses in Russian language and literature. She graduated from
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in 1994 with her doctorate in applied physics, where she worked on
corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...
physics with data from the
Yohkoh Yohkoh (, 'Sunbeam'), known before launch as Solar-A, was a Solar observatory spacecraft of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (Japan), in collaboration with space agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was l ...
solar observatory. She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at MIT. She received the
Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service The Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service is the third highest award presented by the United States Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Defense to non-career Federal employees, private citizens, and foreign natio ...
in 2005, the
NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal The NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal is awarded to US government employees only for notably outstanding leadership which affects technical or administrative programs of NASA. The leadership award may be given for an act of leadership, for sustain ...
in 2008, the
National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal The National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal (NIDSM) is a decoration awarded for service to the United States Intelligence Community. The decoration is awarded to any member or contributor to the National Intelligence Community, either ...
in 2012, and the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award in 2013.


References


External links


Lisa J Porter biography at NASA

Discussion of Porter's appointment at Shepherd's Pi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Lisa Living people MIT School of Engineering alumni Stanford University alumni NASA people American nuclear physicists Directors of intelligence agencies American women nuclear physicists Year of birth missing (living people)