MICRO JOURNEYS PODCAST
About Dan Marrujo
Daniel Marrujo is a former Chief Strategy Officer and former Director of the Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA) at the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA).
Mr. Marrujo began his career at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, AZ., developing missile guidance systems for their advanced programs. He then moved to DMEA, in his hometown of Sacramento, CA., working for the Trusted Integrated Circuit (IC) program office. In conjunction with working on the Trusted IC program, he began working towards the development of DMEA’s reliability capabilities and was selected to lead the National High Reliability Electronics Virtual Center (HiREV).
Mr. Marrujo also established the NRO’s VS&E program which has executed a number of solutions protecting National Security. As a subject matter expert, he has provided his technical expertise in multiple DARPA, IARPA and National Security Space programs. His focus areas are Microelectronics Obsolescence, State of the Art Microelectronics Acquisition, State of the Practice Microelectronics Sustainment, Advanced Packaging, Supply Chain Risk Management, Semiconductor Reliability, Semiconductor Reverse Engineering and Semiconductor Radiation Effects.
In 2016, Mr. Marrujo was selected as DMEA’s Chief Strategy Officer, directly supporting the DMEA directorate. In this position, Mr. Marrujo works with DMEA senior leadership to define and represent the integrated DMEA message and strategic path forward for future engagements.
Latest Episodes
In this episode of Micro Journeys, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Hap Harlow, Director of the Defense Cooperation Division for Army Forces Africa, live from the Africa Land Forces Summit in Rome, Italy. Hap brings a rare and grounded perspective on the intersection of defense, economics, and global investment, unpacking why Africa — often mischaracterized as an untapped continent — is in fact a sovereign powerhouse of resources, talent, and strategic opportunity that the United States and its allies can no longer afford to overlook.
Daniel and Hap dig deep into the critical minerals race reshaping global supply chains, from lithium and gold to rare earth elements found almost exclusively in Africa, and explore how private capital, venture funding, and public-private partnerships are beginning to converge in a space that was once the exclusive domain of governments. With competitors like China already embedded across the continent, the conversation raises urgent questions about whether American investors and defense industry partners are moving fast enough to secure meaningful footholds in one of the world’s most strategically vital regions.
Hap outlines how the transition from aid to trade, paired with workforce development modeled on military training pipelines, offers a blueprint for sustainable, bilateral investment that benefits both African nations and U.S. defense and economic interests.
In this episode of Micro Journeys, host Daniel Marrujo takes listeners on a rare, behind-the-scenes journey inside Brookhaven National Laboratory, a 5,300-acre federal research facility located in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. Joined by Daniel Marx, Accelerator Physicist, and Alex Jentsch, Associate Staff Scientist, Daniel steps inside one of the most secured and scientifically significant facilities in the United States. From navigating multiple layers of security and suiting up in full construction gear, to walking the tunnels of a machine that has operated for 25 years, this episode immerses listeners in the sights, sounds, and scale of cutting-edge nuclear physics research happening right now on American soil.
At the heart of this episode is one of the most profound open questions in all of science: what actually makes up a proton? Despite decades of research, scientists can only account for roughly 1% of the proton’s total mass through the quarks that compose it. The remaining 99% — driven by the dynamic interactions between quarks and gluons — remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of modern physics. To answer it, Brookhaven is in the middle of a decade-long transformation, converting its existing Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider into the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) , a first-of-its-kind machine designed to take three-dimensional snapshots of the internal structure of protons and atomic nuclei.
The EIC represents the answer — a facility built with unprecedented flexibility, precision down to tens of microns, a detector the size of a three-story building, and the integration of artificial intelligence through Project Genesis to accelerate data analysis and protect the machine, bringing humanity closer to understanding the fundamental building blocks of all matter.
In this episode of Micro Journeys, host Daniel Marrujo takes listeners on a rare, behind-the-scenes journey inside Brookhaven National Laboratory, a 5,300-acre federal research facility located in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. Joined by Daniel Marx, Accelerator Physicist, and Alex Jentsch, Associate Staff Scientist, Daniel steps inside one of the most secured and scientifically significant facilities in the United States. From navigating multiple layers of security and suiting up in full construction gear, to walking the tunnels of a machine that has operated for 25 years, this episode immerses listeners in the sights, sounds, and scale of cutting-edge nuclear physics research happening right now on American soil.
At the heart of this episode is one of the most profound open questions in all of science: what actually makes up a proton? Despite decades of research, scientists can only account for roughly 1% of the proton’s total mass through the quarks that compose it. The remaining 99% — driven by the dynamic interactions between quarks and gluons — remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of modern physics. To answer it, Brookhaven is in the middle of a decade-long transformation, converting its existing Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider into the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) , a first-of-its-kind machine designed to take three-dimensional snapshots of the internal structure of protons and atomic nuclei.
The EIC represents the answer — a facility built with unprecedented flexibility, precision down to tens of microns, a detector the size of a three-story building, and the integration of artificial intelligence through Project Genesis to accelerate data analysis and protect the machine, bringing humanity closer to understanding the fundamental building blocks of all matter.
