For this episode of the Voices from DARPA podcast, we talk with new DARPA program manager, Dr. Alvaro Velasquez (https://www.darpa.mil/staff/dr-alvaro-velasquez), a self-described “researcher at heart.” His current research interests are at the intersection of formal language theory and machine learning for sequential decision-making.Velasquez discusses his path to DARPA and how it serendipitously led him to inheriting management of a new AI program called Assured Neuro Symbolic Learning and Reasoning (ANSR) (https://www.darpa.mil/program/assured-neuro-symbolic-learning-and-reasoning). He also describes his idea for his next project, which will look at neuro symbolic knowledge transfer to accelerate the adoption of machine learning outcomes within modeling and simulation for military systems.* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-vK1WAJ0x8* iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/voices-from-darpa/id1163190520 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/voices-from-darpa/id1163190520)