In a major coup, Facebook has poached Regina Dugan from Google. Dugan led the search giant’s Advanced Technology And Products team since 2012.
At Facebook, Dugan will be leading Building 8 -- not an actual building, but
rather a new unit tasked with developing highly experimental, future-focused hardware. Facebook is saying little about Building 8 other than its plan to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the
unit.
“We’ll be investing hundreds of people and hundreds of millions of dollars into this effort over
time, and I'm excited to see the progress they make," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.
Regina left the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to join Google, in mid-2012. At Google, Dugan’s
team developed 3D-mapping devices, modular smartphones, and other experimental projects.
Dugan became the
first female director of DARPA in 2009.
In 2014, Dugan was accused of violating ethics rules by DARPA for using
her position within the agency to push RedXDefense -- a company she founded and led prior to joining DARPA. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) alleged that RedX received $1.75 million in
contracts following Dugan's appointment to DARPA.