Dr. Patrick Carrick
Former Chief Scientist, DHS S&T Director & Former Director, HSARPA
2022 Breakthrough Energetics Conference : Impact of Adjacent Technologies on Energetics: Additive Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Autonomous Systems, and Continuous Process, Bio Synthesis (Unclassified Session)
Dr. Patrick Carrick was a member of the Senior Executive Service upon retirement from federal government service in December 2018. During his four years at the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, he served as Deputy Director of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA) from October 2014 until June 2015, where he managed the staff and resource allocation for 5 divisions, each led by a Senior Executive. He was selected as Director of HSARPA in June 2015 and acting Chief Scientist in July 2016 until November 2017, and Chief Scientist from 2017 until 2018. As HSARPA Director, he was responsible for four SES-led divisions, a staff of around 120 government and contract personnel and 8 Senior Scientists, and an annual budget of $300M to $400M. His final position was Chief Scientist, responsible for scientific and technological advice to the Undersecretary for S&T and the Department of Homeland Security.
Dr. Carrick earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemistry from Rice University in 1983 and was an assistant professor of physics and chemistry at Mississippi State University, and Director of the Shared Laser Facility at the University of Oregon, prior to joining the Department of Defense in 1989. He served for 11 years at Edwards Air Force Base, California, becoming the Chief of the Propellants Branch at the Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate in 1994. He successfully led a team conducting cutting-edge scientific research and engineering. He also directed the High Energy Density Matter Program, which developed advanced rocket propellants and energetic materials. As a senior research scientist, he developed the concept of the first cryogenic solid hybrid rocket and demonstrated feasibility in a model system using solid oxygen.
Dr Carrick served for two years as the Air Force Program Element Monitor for Propulsion and Power Technologies and Deputy for Science and Technology Policy in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology and Engineering. He monitored and provided guidance for the $300M science and technology investment in propulsion and power. He served on national steering committees for both rocket propulsion and turbine engine programs and was the lead editor and coordinator of the national report on hypersonic technology. Dr. Carrick also served as the Air Force representative to the Department of Defense Functional Integrated Process Team on Science and Engineering Career Field Management.
Prior to becoming HSARPA Deputy and Director and DHS Chief Scientist, Dr. Carrick was Director of the Basic Science Program Office, and Acting Director, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arlington, Virginia where he guided the management of the entire basic research investment for the Air Force. Dr. Carrick led a staff of 200 scientists, engineers and administers in Arlington, VA, and foreign technology offices in London, Tokyo, and Santiago, Chile. Prior to that, he was Director of the Physics and Electronics Directorate at AFOSR from 2007 to 2013.
Dr. Carrick has published more than 25 articles in peer-reviewed professional journals. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Since his retirement, Dr. Carrick has served as a research and development advisor to an international consulting company (A.T.Kearney) in 2019, with three months consulting in the Middle East, as a member of an Independent Program Assessment team (SciTech) for the USAF in January 2020, as a member of the DHS Senior Advisory Council, subcommittee on Emerging Technology, and an ETC contract (remote work) on Energetic Materials in 2020-2021.