Tactical Technology Office
Col. Timothy W.C. Zens, Ph.D., U.S. Air Force, joined DARPA in August 2026 as a program manager in the Tactical Technology Office. His research interests include space systems, advanced space materials, satellite propulsion, and cislunar operations.
Immediately before DARPA, Zens served as military assistant to the Chief Scientist of the Department of the Air Force, supporting efforts to provide strategic science and technology advice to senior Department leadership, including the Secretary of the Air Force, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and Chief of Space Operations.
Zens entered the Air Force in 2003 through ROTC. He served as a materials scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory working on crystal growth systems to enable new infrared countermeasure technologies. He also served as an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Physics at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), where he researched fabrication of novel infrared sensors, radiation-hardened space-based weapons-of-mass-destruction detection technology, and radiation-hardened high-speed electronics for satellite systems. Zens then attended the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) and interned at the Curtis E. LeMay Center, where he ran advanced wargames to develop concepts of operation for emerging technologies, including hypersonic standoff weapons, autonomous swarms, and directed energy defense systems.
Following ACSC, he served as deputy director for the Advanced Systems and Technology (AS&T) Directorate’s Future Concept Group at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to manage a multi-million-dollar research group focused on delivering disruptive technologies critical to the future of space reconnaissance. Additionally, he led an advanced manufacturing branch there focused on delivering stronger, lightweight components, and directed an NRO Cube Satellite program integrating nanomaterials with additive manufacturing. Zens later served as NRO’s legislative liaison for AS&T and the Survivability Assurance Office, where he defended an R&D budget of over one billion dollars.
After NRO, Zens was assigned to the U.S. Department of State, where he was the military advisor for the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. He followed that assignment to become mission architect at the Space Development Agency, where he led spectrum allocation for a multibillion-dollar satellite constellation that included the first Link-16 transmission from space.
Education
- Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base (AFB)
- Master’s in Military Operational Arts and Science, Air University
- Doctor of Philosophy, Materials Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Squadron Officers School, Maxwell AFB
- Air and Space Basics Course, Maxwell AFB
- M.S., Engineering Physics, AFIT