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Dr. Dennis HealyProgram Manager
Dr. Dennis Healy rejoined DARPA in 2003 as a Program Manager for the Microsystems Technology Office (MTO). He had previously headed the Applied and Computational Mathematics Program in DARPA's Defense Sciences Office (DSO) in a prior millennium.
Dr. Healy manages several programs where mathematical algorithms play a central role in the optimization, control, and exploitation of microelectronic and optical systems. The Analog-to-Information (A-to-I) program is exploring new ways to extract information from complex signals, seeking significant reduction of the sampling resources required by classical Shannon representations, effectively concentrating meaningful information into less data. The Multiple Optical Non-redundant Aperture Generalized Sensors (MONTAGE) program investigates an analogous approach in the optical domain, freeing imaging cameras from some of the constraints classical Fourier optics to develop new imaging sensors with radically different form, fit, and function compared to existing systems. The Non-Linear Mathematics for Mixed Signal Microsystems (NLMMSM) program seeks to provide increased ability to extract signals from noisy and interfering backgrounds by dealing more effectively with the non-linearities inherent in all electronics processing.
Adaptability is another theme of Dr. Healy's programs. The STAP-Boy program exploits the raw processing power of inexpensive computer video-processing chips to perform space-time adaptive processing (STAP), a core technique applied to modern radar systems. The Intelligent RF Front-Ends (IRFFE) program is developing microsystems that self-adapt to changing operating and internal conditions enabling wideband radio-frequency receivers and transmitters to automatically compensate for performance variations through a broad range of operating conditions. The Advanced Digital Receiver (ADR) program raises the bar on analog-to-digital converters to achieve wideband digitization without sacrificing dynamic range. The Chemical Engineering at Molecular Scale (CHEMS) program looks at closed-loop manufacturing techniques that "learn" how to create high-value synthetic materials in ways that both exploit and shortcut the evolutionary processes of natural biological systems.
Finally, the CAD-qt program integrates the latest physics modeling with a revolution in robust optimization in a "search engine" capable of guiding designers to revolutionary classes of robust high performance quantum devices; in effect, "teaching" new intuitions not imparted by classical experience. Particular emphasis is placed on solving the design inverse problem for robust designs, which can be manufactured with good yield of functional parts despite variabilities in manufacturing process.
In addition to his responsibilities at DARPA, Dr. Healy is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Maryland, College Park. Previously, he was an associate professor in the Computer Science and Mathematics Departments at Dartmouth College and was Summer Faculty Fellow at the Naval Ocean Systems Center (now SPAWAR). He holds Bachelor's degrees in Physics and Mathematics from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), and earned a Doctorate in Mathematics from UCSD in 1986.
Dr. Healy has authored over 90 publications on the subjects of mathematical physics, statistics, optical sciences, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, magnetic resonance, signal and image processing, mathematics, applied mathematics, and theoretical computer science. He is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Fourier Analysis and its Applications and the IEEE press series on Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Healy has graduated six doctorate students in computer science, electrical engineering, and mathematics.