Joseph Jewell joined the AAE faculty as an assistant professor in hypersonic aerodynamics, effective Aug. 12.

Jewell’s research interests are primarily in experimental fluid dynamics, especially hypersonic aerothermodynamics. He will take over the existing Boeing/AFOSR Mach-6 Quiet Tunnel and be involved with the development of the Large Mach 8 Quiet Ludwieg Tube. This fall, Jewell will teach fluid dynamics (AAE333).

“This is a critical time for hypersonics in the United States, and especially here at Purdue. The growth that the University has planned in high-speed aerodynamics research is ambitious and will significantly increase our nation's hypersonic wind tunnel capacity,” Jewell said. “I'm especially excited to take over such an active research group, and also to be involved with the development and operation of the new, large Mach 8 Quiet Tunnel."

Jewell serves on the AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology Technical Committee, as well as the NATO Working Group on Hypersonic Boundary Layer Transition Prediction.

Prior to Purdue, he was a research scientist in the Hypersonics Branch at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where he worked through Spectral Energies, LLC. Previously, he held a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship.

He earned a Ph.D. in Aeronautics from California Institute of Technology in 2014, after completing two master’s degrees (Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan; hypersonics at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar) and receiving a bachelor’s with a double major (Aeronautics and Medieval History, Caltech).