Dr. Joseph Durek

Dr. Durek joined DARPA in 2007 as a Program Manager for the Strategic Technology Office. Dr. Durek's program thrusts involve geophysical surveillance technologies and systems to detect and characterize activities shielded within under- and above-ground facilities, small tunnels, and urban environments. Multiple signal phenomenologies including acoustic, seismic, electromagnetic, and gravity are being investigated and exploited across both ground- and airborne sensor platforms. By leveraging spatial and multi-modality sampling diversity, these system applications provide intelligence with increased fidelity, confidence, and reduced false alarms.

Prior to joining DARPA, Dr. Durek worked at SAIC and SRI International on research and development of surveillance systems for improved detection, tracking, and characterization of intruders, vehicles, facilities, equipment, and illicit nuclear materials. In these tactical and strategic applications, Dr. Durek led the development of advanced signal processing including data fusion across sensor locations and technologies for enhanced characterization, as well as robust methods to optimize intelligence from incomplete and imperfect observations.

Additional research contributions include phenomenological model development and validation, adaptive techniques for detection of geophysical anomalies, clutter rejection, and novel sensor technologies and processing techniques.

Dr. Durek received a BA in Geophysics with Highest Honors from the University of California at Berkeley and a PhD in Geophysics from Harvard University.