Episode 17: Guardian of the Chips

In this episode of Voices from DARPA, electrical engineer Kerry Bernstein, a program manager since 2012 with the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Microsystems Technology Office (MTO), chronicles how his decades of experience in the trenches of the microelectronics manufacturing world drives what he does at DARPA. He is all about ensuring the reliability and integrity of the microelectronic chips the country needs and uses in just about every military and civilian setting you can think of. With electronics manufacturing distributed over so many countries and manufacturing facilities now, the threat of tampering, counterfeiting, and other nefarious actions has become more complex and in need of management than ever. For his part, Bernstein has been shepherding the development of some of the highest technology there is—in tiny glitter-sized packages, no less—to keep our electronics supply chain safe and sound.