Dr. Pamulapati is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology (S&T) Foundations in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)). He is responsible for overseeing all foundational S&T initiatives within the Department of Defense (DoD). In this role, he champions DoD’s S&T equities, maintains oversight and awareness of research and development (R&D) throughout the Department, and advocates for the Department’s S&T
workforce and laboratory infrastructure.
Dr. Pamulapati is responsible for policy and oversight of the DoD’s R&D enterprise, comprising the Department’s federally funded research and development centers, university affiliated research centers, and over 60 DoD laboratories, warfare centers, and engineering centers – and the more than 63,000 scientists and engineers who work within them – across 22 states and the District of Columbia. He also manages DoD's basic research investments, from establishing Department-wide policy for grants to supporting education and workforce development programs, including initiatives across the Department in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and for historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions. In his strategic partnership-building role, Dr. Pamulapati oversees the Department’s technical interchange with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (Five Eyes partners).
Dr. Pamulapati was selected for the Senior Executive Service (SES) in January 2016. Prior to this, Dr. Pamulapati was in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology from June 2006. In this position, he was responsible for developing and implementing policy initiatives for the Army’s laboratories. He also fulfilled the role of the Executive Director for Strategic Plans and Program Planning, an SES position, where he was responsible for the Basic Research, Innovation Enablers, Manufacturing Technologies, Technology Wargaming, and International portfolios. During his time with the Army, Dr. Pamulapati served as a senior policy analyst within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, responsible for a broad portfolio of national security interest items; as the chief scientist and chief technical officer responsible for technology integration for the Army’s Future Combat Systems program, the Army’s leading transformational initiative integrating soldiers and manned and unmanned systems within a unifying network; and as a scientific liaison to the Army Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, where he provided technical expertise and insight on S&T issues.
Dr. Pamulapati began his distinguished career at the Army Research Laboratory, where he developed advanced ultra-submicron high-speed devices for next-generation optoelectronic integrated circuits and monolithic millimeter-wave integrated circuits; infrared materials for forward-looking infrared imagers; and high-power infrared laser sources for countermeasure applications.
Dr. Pamulapati received his B.S.E., M.S.E., and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He holds 11 patents, has contributed to more than 40 archival journal publications and three books, and has lectured at numerous national and international fora for industry and academia. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the University of Maryland, College Park, and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in Piscataway.
Dr. Pamulapati has a myriad of talents and interests outside of science and technology. In addition to being a single-digit-handicap golfer, he is a pastry arts and design chef holding a degree in pastry arts from L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Maryland.