Rich DeVaul is the senior technical leader at X, formerly Google[x].  He leads X's Rapid Evaluation team and Design Kitchen, which prototype, build, and test ideas that could become "moonshot" technologies and, someday, the foundation for large and successful businesses within Alphabet.

He is co-founder and was the first leader of Project Loon, an X project to explore delivering the internet via high-altitude balloons to the 4.8 billion people who don't have connectivity. Rich has been involved in a number of other X explorations, including the Foghorn investigation into carbon-negative synthetic fuels and Calcifer, an ambitious effort to accelerate global development by means of low-cost cargo airships.  DeVaul works in a secret lab that may or may not be filled with hoverboards, space elevators, and talking refrigerators.

At X, DeVaul is a team leader, innovator, and in-house skateboarding consultant.  He mentors researchers, invents things, builds stuff, does math, and usually avoids (unintentionally) setting things on fire.  In between attending meetings, filing patents, and drinking coffee, DeVaul specializes in inspiring others to be audacious, take risks, and to fail as quickly and productively as possible. Prior to joining Alphabet (then Google) in mid 2011, DeVaul worked in Technology Advancement at Apple, investigating new technologies, features, and approaches for Apple products.

DeVaul holds Master of Science ('98) and Doctor of Philosophy degrees ('04) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Design from Texas A&M University (class of '93).