Sarah Campbell is the Associate Vice President of Research for Defense & Security, and Head of Special Projects at George Mason University. In this role she is responsible for organizing and elevating the various defense and security research initiatives on campus to enhance the university’s research profile. Sarah works closely with the VPR and university leadership as well as the respective academic units to identify university-wide applied research goals, key resource needs, and funding sources to support defense and security programs at Mason. She also directly leads operations on behalf of the VPR with a shared goal to increase operational efficiency and effectiveness, enhance GMU’s ability to scale research and build infrastructure and improve risk management and compliance.

In 2004 she joined Future Technologies Ventures, LLC as an advisory board member. Future Technologies Venture, LLC is a North American wireless solutions provider with a longstanding history in providing wireless networks to Industrial, Enterprise and Military customers, dating back over 25 years.

Sarah was previously the Chief of Staff at the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS) at the University of Maryland, College Park, (one of the 15 DoD sponsored University Affiliated Research Centers UARC) and Principal Faculty member since 2020. In this role she administered and established consistent processes and information flow to manage all aspects of ARLIS research and operations for the UARC, helping to launch ARLIS as one the fastest growing DoD UARCs in the country with 240 employees and over $140 million in active contracts.

From 2020 to June 2022 Ms. Campbell served on IPA assignment from ARLIS at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) Research component as the Director for Strategic Partnerships & Communications. As a senior leader, Sarah led all efforts related to strategic communications, outreach, legislative affairs, and international affairs on behalf of NGA Research. She spearheaded the first technology accelerator program for NGA, created to fund, mentor, and accelerate the next generation of geospatial technologies, and worked to establish the agency’s first Education Partnership Agreement with a Historically Black College and University.

Prior to UMD, Ms. Campbell was a Senior Program Manager for SAIC, providing strategic support to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OSD USD R&E). In this role she helped support and execute legislative and public affairs long range strategic plans across the newly established Research and Engineering enterprise. Ms. Campbell also served as lead for the Office of International Cooperation at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from 2012-2017. At DARPA she helped to execute the agency’s international cooperation engagement in areas of interest, as well as assist and advise on critical bilateral and multilateral relationships and agreements with foreign partners across the globe. Ms. Campbell also supported the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in various capacities to include the Research and Development Enterprise, Office of International Cooperation, where she helped lead the first DoD S&T bilateral workshop and Chemical/Biological project agreement with India in 2010. She began her career as a public policy analyst with Austin-based geopolitical publishing firm, Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor), where she helped communicate and advise Fortune 500 companies on public policy and geopolitical risk.

Ms. Campbell received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Mary Washington, and her master’s degree in International Commerce & Policy from George Mason University, Schar School of Policy & Government. Ms. Campbell is a 2015 AILA Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC.