Dmitri Perkins

Background

About Dmitri Perkins

Experienced and accomplished leader with expertise in leading sustainable and STEM-based academic R&D enterprises, university administration, innovation translation, and innovation ecosystem building, with proven competence in the conceptualization, design, and implementation of regional and national-scale efforts involving cross-sector partnership spanning academic, industry, and government stakeholders. Most recently, Dr. Perkins served as one of the lead architects of the inaugural NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) Program - a multi-billion-dollar funding program constituting the single largest broad investment in place-based science and engineering in U.S. history. The NSF Engines program was authorized in the "CHIPS and Science Act of 2022" and is designed to accelerate the growth of national-leading regional innovation ecosystems, with an intentional focus on spurring economic growth in regions across the United States that have not fully participated in the technology boom of past decades. With these goals in mind, the inaugural round of the NSF Engines Program is investing up to $1.6B dollars in 9 regions throughout the U.S. Dr. Perkins was instrumental in the design, development, launch, and implementation of all aspects of the NSF Engines Program, including (1) program design and execution (2) planning, launch of national communications and outreach efforts,(3) stakeholder engagement, and (4) portfolio construction. This work received the U.S. National Science Foundation Director’s Award for Superior Accomplishments for outstanding execution of the inaugural NSF Engines Awards. Dr. Perkins is also a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where he conducts research in wireless and mobile communications and networking, where his current work focuses on spectrum management and communications in THz domain. Before joining UMBC, Dr. Perkins was the Hardy Edmiston Endowed Professor of Computer Science and Director/Founder of the Wireless Systems and Performance Engineering Research (WiSPER) Laboratory in the School of Computing and Informatics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He received the NSF CAREER Award for research in adaptive protocol design for multi-hop wireless networks. While at the University of Louisiana, Dr. Perkins held a record of increasing academic administrative responsibilities, including as the elected Chair of the University Graduate Council and a two-year term as Associate Dean of the College of Sciences.