Dr. Molly Jahn

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Dr. Molly Jahn joined DARPA as a program manager in the Defense Sciences Office in January 2021 on an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignment from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her current research interests focus on leveraging advances in biochemistry and complexity to improving resiliency in critical U.S. infrastructure and supply chains.

Jahn previously led research groups at Cornell University and UW-Madison where she also served as dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, leading a successful bid for a Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center. She has served as deputy and acting Under Secretary of Research, Education and Economics at the Department of Agriculture.

In the past five years, Jahn held guest appointments at the Naval War College in the Ethics of Emerging Technologies program, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory where she chaired the scientific advisory board for the Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate in addition to serving on the laboratory director’s advisory committee. She also led a cooperative research and development agreement with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and was contracted by NASA headquarters’ Earth Sciences Directorate to build bridges to the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.

Jahn received her doctorate in plant genetics from Cornell University and honorary doctorates from Swarthmore College and Anglia Ruskin University. She also holds a Master of Science in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts with distinction from Swarthmore College.