“I have had the unusual fortune of being a 40-plus-year participant, since the dawn of the space age, in working at the forefront of aerospace technology development and applications with the finest engineers on unprecedented space programs. Purdue provided me with the engineering foundation and business world springboard that made my achievements possible.”
Dwight Abbott graduated from Purdue in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering. He earned a master's degree in industrial administration from the Krannert Graduate School in 1965.
Abbott spent 40 years at The Aerospace Corporation before retiring in 2000. He was responsible for directing systems engineering support to all the company's space programs. Before that, he directed activities in design engineering, space transportation development and space technology applications. Abbott also was responsible for several advanced systems planning studies for the U.S. Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
After graduation, Abbott's first employment was with the Northrop Corporation in Los Angeles as an aerodynamicist on the T-38, the U.S. Air Force's first supersonic trainer.
Abbott has served on the National Academy of Science's Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, the Visiting Committee of the Purdue Dean of Engineering, and the Public Policy Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he is an associate fellow. Abbott is a patentee in the field. He has been a private pilot since 1959.
He was promoted to Director, Strategic Planning for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, in 2005 and assumed his current position of Vice President, Strategic Planning, in 2008.