Dr. Lenny Tender joined ARPA-H as a Program Manager in July 2026 after serving as a Program Manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the Biological Technologies Office. His work focused on smart bandage technologies, wound infection monitoring and treatment, ocean-powered sensors, and biological approaches to converting waste into useful materials.
Before DARPA, Tender led the Laboratory for Molecular Interfaces in the Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, where his team made widely recognized contributions to microbial electrochemistry and supported collaborations across academia, industry, and government.
He earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, and served as a visiting scientist at Stanford University. He also co-founded the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology and is a recipient of the Arthur S. Flemming Award.