Dr. David Babson serves as a Program Director for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA E). His program focus at ARPA-E includes agricultural system innovation, natural resource management, carbon dioxide removal, and sustainable production processes.

Prior to ARPA-E, David served as the Senior Advisor for Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment in the Office of the Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), where he led R&D coordination efforts on climate change, innovation for agricultural production, biotechnology, and the bioeconomy. Before USDA, David served as a Technology Manager in DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) promoting new technologies to advance the emerging drawdown bioeconomy and to address global energy and climate challenges. Prior to BETO, he advocated for sustainable fuel and energy solutions as a Senior Engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists and worked as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

David has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University, and he completed postdocs at the University of Minnesota and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.