Lt. Cmdr. Dan Xu, a biochemist with the Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit SEVEN (NEPMU-7), Rota, Spain, participated in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Service Chiefs’ Fellowship Program from July to September 2023.

During her fellowship, Xu gained insight into the goals and mission of DARPA and its programs, that primarily focused on biological technologies and artificial intelligence enabled biodefense technologies.



DARPA was established by the Department of Defense (DoD) Directive in 1958. DARPA’s mission is to identify and initiate advancements in technology to further improve U.S. national defense capabilities. Every year, DARPA invites outstanding military officers and DoD civilians to their annual technology, research, and development program, and immerses participants with cutting edge science and technological research and create liaisons among DARPA, DoD agencies, and military services.

In his updated strategic guidance, the honorable Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy, noted the importance of building a culture of warfighting excellence fostering talent and innovation. It goes on to say that DARPA’s Service Chief Fellowship is one of the ways through which military scientists are enabled to engage with innovation and state-of-art technologies, to bring innovation to their respective services, and to empower war fighting platforms.

During the visit with DARPA’s industry, laboratory, and university partners, Xu witnessed DARPA’s critical role in strengthening the intellectual and industrial bases for the development of game-changing DoD technologies. At the event, she provided invaluable subject matter expertise advice and military experience to the program managers.



Additionally, Xu actively made a connection between DARPA program managers and other key personnel from other research and development (R&D) entities, such as the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) science and research office, Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense office (JPEO CBRN), Navy Research Labs (NRL), Office of Naval Research, and preventive medicine leaders.

For more information on the DARPA’s fellowship program, please click the following link: https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/darpa-innovation-fellowship