Dr. Francis W. Patten

Program Manager

Dr. Patten joined DARPA in 1982, as Program Manager within the Defense Sciences Office (DSO). From 1960 to 1982, Dr. Patten was with the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., where he was a Research Scientist, and subsequently Section Head and Branch Head in the Solid-State and Materials Sciences Divisions, and Manager of the Navy Laser-Hardening Program. He conducted and directed basic research on the electronic and photonic properties of solids, employing various spectroscopies such as electron/nuclear resonance and optical transmission, to understand the effects of radiation damage in functional materials. In 1967-68 he served as visiting Research Professor at Dartmouth University.

At DARPA, Dr. Patten has been active in materials research and the development of sensors to detect threats, by means of their radio-frequency and chemical "signatures". He has been mainly responsible for the application of high-temperature superconducting materials to advanced radio receivers, using superconducting filters as efficient preselectors. He has been active in developing techniques for the detection and identification of chemical threats.

Dr. Patten received the BS degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1956, and PhD in Physics from Duke University in 1960. He has published papers in Physical Review and major journals on point defects and radiation-damage centers in wide bandgap materials, and has given presentations on these specialties at many universities and research laboratories.