Kathleen Fisher

Kathleen Fisher, Ph.D., joined RAND in September 2025 to start a new center in the Global and Emerging Risks division with a focus on using AI and formal methods to reduce our vulnerabilities in cyberspace. Dr. Fisher previously served as the Information Innovation Office (I2O) director at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from May 2022-September 2025. As I2O director, she created and shaped the development of research and development programs that resulted in technologies and capabilities to ensure an information advantage for the United States and its allies. Fisher was previously the deputy office director for I2O from October 2021 – April 2022. This is Fisher’s second tour at DARPA, having previously served as a program manager in I2O from 2011 to 2014. As a program manager, she conceptualized, created, and executed programs in high-assurance computing and machine learning. Her High- Assurance Cyber Military Systems (HACMS) and Probabilistic Programming for Advancing Machine Learning (PPAML) programs continue to benefit the Department of Defense and U.S. commercial industry. Fisher joined DARPA from Tufts University, where she was a professor in the Department of Computer Science, and served as chair of the department from 2016 – 2021. Earlier in her career, she was a principal member of the technical staff at AT&T Labs. She is an AAAS fellow, an ACM fellow, and a Hertz Foundation fellow. Fisher has served as chair of the ACM Special Interest Group in Programming Languages (SIGPLAN) and as program chair for three of SIGPLAN's marquee conferences: PLDI, OOPSLA, ICFP. She has also served as an associate editor for TOPLAS and as an editor of the Journal of Functional Programming. Fisher was co-chair of the Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women (CRA-W) for three years, and she co-founded SIGPLAN's Programming Language Mentoring Workshop (PLMW) series. Fisher is a recipient of the SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award. She is a past chair of DARPA's Information Science and Technology (ISAT) Study Group and a member of the Board of Trustees of Harvey Mudd College.