Purdue’s Jewell nominated for assistant defense secretary 

The leading expert in hypersonics and aerospace research would spearhead efforts on science and technology

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Joseph Jewell, the John Bogdanoff Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to be the next assistant secretary of defense for science and technology, the White House announced this week. 

Jewell, who also serves as director of the HYPULSE reflected shock/expansion tunnel  at the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI), said he is deeply honored by the nomination.

“Public service in the interest of national security is a hallmark of what we do at Purdue and the Purdue Applied Research Institute,” he said. “I have worked hard to make it a hallmark of my own work as well.” 

At Purdue, Jewell advises graduate students as director of the Boeing/Air Force Office of Scientific Research Mach 6 Quiet Tunnel research group, and director of the HYPULSE research group. A highly regarded hypersonic and aerospace research expert, Jewell focuses his research on boundary layer instability, transition and turbulence, and nonintrusive aerothermodynamic diagnostic methods.

Keeping its technological edge is critically important for the United States, Jewell said.

“We know our adversaries are working very hard to take away the advantage we have historically had in science and technology,” he said. “I’ve been pleased to contribute to that for the past 20 years as a researcher in hypersonics and, if confirmed, will be excited to contribute in this new role as well.” 

The White House sent Jewell’s nomination to Capitol Hill on March 31. The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold hearings on his nomination, and the full Senate will vote for confirmation. Dates on the hearings and vote are pending. 

If confirmed, Jewell will lead the Defense Department’s science and technology endeavors, which include emerging technologies, laboratories and partnerships with industry and academia, among other goals. He would report to the defense undersecretary for research and engineering. Emil Michael, the nominee for that position, is awaiting Senate confirmation.

The announcement of Jewell’s nomination came April 1, exactly a year to the day since the first test of HYPULSE, which Jewell was instrumental in bringing to the Purdue Hypersonics and Applied Research Facility from Northrop Grumman. HYPULSE allows flight simulations at speeds from Mach 5 to Mach 40 and has tested well in the year since it arrived.

HYPULSE is among many contributions Jewell has made to Purdue. Leaders at Purdue and PARI, who have known and worked with Jewell over the years, commend and congratulate him on his nomination.

“Professor Jewell has been an outstanding researcher, educator and leader at Purdue since we recruited him in 2019,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said. “His deep expertise in hypersonics and rich understanding of defense ecosystem make him an ideal nominee to lead DOD Science and Technology. Purdue continues to proudly support America’s national security and defense, including through such national leadership in service of our country.”

“Joe will be spectacular in this critical defense science and technology leadership position,” said Mark Lewis, PARI president and CEO. “He brings incredibly impressive scientific credentials to this role, and he understands academia and government laboratories from his work at Purdue and the Air Force Research Laboratory.” 

“Professor Jewell’s nomination is evidence that Purdue faculty members are working in important areas that support the Department of Defense,” said Bill Crossley, the Uhrig and Vournas Head of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue. 

Purdue has world-leading capabilities in hypersonics evaluation and testing. It is home to a complex of hypersonics research and testing facilities, through PARI, that can help the United States meet and exceed the progress of adversary nations. Purdue also leads in training tomorrow’s hypersonics experts. Under the guidance of expert researchers, more than 100 undergraduate and graduate students design, test and evaluate equipment in real-world conditions.

Before joining Purdue in 2019, Jewell spent more than five years as a research scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory, after winning the National Research Council’s Research Associateship fellowship to support work on hypersonic boundary layer transition and instrumentation in the AFRL Mach 6 Ludwieg Tube at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He received his bachelor’s degree in science and PhD from Caltech, supported by the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. He has master’s degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Jewell is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics associate fellow. He was a U.S. representative on the NATO RTO/AVT-200 Task Force on Hypersonic Laminar-Turbulent Transition, for which he received the NATO Panel Excellence Award. He is a subtask lead for NATO task forces on hypersonic turbulence and hypersonic boundary layer transition on complex geometries. He is also the American co-chair of a new NATO Exploratory Task Force in hypersonics.  

About Purdue University  

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 107,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 58,000 at our main campus in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its comprehensive urban expansion, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives. 

Writer/Media contact:  Evamarie Socha, ecsocha@purdue.edu