Program Manager
Information Innovation Office
Nathaniel D. Bastian, Ph.D., joined DARPA in August 2023 as a program manager to design, develop, execute, and transition programs in artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber operations. His primary research interests include designing and developing intelligent, assured, human-aware, data-centric, and decision-driven capabilities that enable decision advantage for multi-domain operations across the complex, contested, congested, and evolving battlefield.
As a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, he joins DARPA from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the U.S. Military Academy, where he currently serves as deputy director of the Robotics Research Center (RRC) and principal investigator of the Laboratory for AI Research & Engineering (LAIRE) within RRC. He previously served in roles as chief scientist, Data & Decision Sciences division chief, and chief data scientist at the Army Cyber Institute (ACI). He also teaches courses and advises cadets in systems engineering, mathematical sciences, and computer science as a West Point faculty member.
Prior to joining West Point, Bastian served as the chief AI architect at the Department of War’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, operations research scientist at the ACI/USMA, and analytics officer at the U.S. Army Human Resources Command. He also previously served as a UH-60 Black Hawk MEDEVAC aviator with the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, including a year-long deployment supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Bastian was a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow, a Fulbright U.S. student fellow to the Netherlands, and served on DARPA’s Information Science and Technology Study Group. He also served as a distinguished visitor professor at the National Security Agency and a visiting research fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
He is a senior member of INFORMS and IEEE, as well as an active member of MORS, ACM, and AAAI. His work has been included in more than 200 journal articles, conference papers, and books.
Education
- Ph.D., Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Pennsylvania State University
- M.E., Industrial Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
- M.S., Econometrics and Operations Research, Maastricht University
- B.S., Engineering Management (Electrical Engineering), U.S. Military Academy