Paula J. Donovan

Paula J. Donovan leads the Integrated Missile Defense Technology Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The group's mission is to advance the missile defense of the United States, deployed forces, and allies through analysis, algorithm development, and capability development and testing.

Donovan joined Lincoln Laboratory in 2000, spending her first decade in the Communications Systems Division and her second in the Cyber Security and Information Sciences Division. During this time, she made significant contributions to communication networks and cybersecurity through analysis, metrics development, simulation, algorithm and protocol development, and prototyping. These contributions include modeling the first all-optional network, directing a team in reverse engineering and emulating the Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL) waveform, and leading a program to study the workflows of combatant command warfighters and deploy advanced capabilities to them. In 2022, she transitioned to the Air, Missile, and Maritime Defense Technology Division. Donovan now leads research teams in an array of areas advancing missile defense—including through artificial intelligence, autonomy, and cyber technology—and integrating related advances in support of Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2).

Donovan is a Senior Member of IEEE. She holds a patent on an all-optical transceiver for communication networks and has led several teams that received Laboratory recognition awards. She earned her MS in applied mathematics with a concentration in computer science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and BA in mathematics with a concentration in pre-medical from the College of the Holy Cross.