Dave Hankins

Dave Hankins PortraitSenior Project Manager, Purdue Military Research Institute (PMRI)
USAF, Colonel, (Ret)

Phone: 765-494-9816
Cell: 765-427-8621
dhankins@purdue.edu

Dave retired from the Air Force in 2002 at the rank of Colonel after serving almost 30 years.  He began his career as a navigator flying KC-135’s and accrued some 2,000 hours, including numerous hours as an Instructor Navigator.  His world-wide flying experience includes unique operational missions such as the Saigon evacuation, the Mayaguez ship rescue effort, and with operational refueling sorties flown out of Thailand, Guam, England, Spain, the Azores, Panama, Turkey, Iran, Alaska, Hawaii, and numerous other state-side bases.  In staff positions, he served temporary duty in Japan, Korea, and Germany.

As a Colonel, his assignments included Commander of Purdue’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC); serving as the Support Group Commander at Columbus AFB, Ms (in charge of all air base support functions providing essential base services with a 1,000+ person workforce and a $40 Million budget); and serving as the Division Chief for Operations Officer Assignments (responsible for virtually one-half of the AF officer population for Lieutenant Colonels and below) at the Air Force Personnel Center.  In 2005/2006, Dave also served as an Adjunct Professor with Aviation Technology here at Purdue teaching courses in Air Traffic Control Procedures, and Weather and Air Transportation.

Dave joined the Purdue Homeland Security Institute (PHSI) team in April 2005 and served as the Senior Project Manager.  When the Purdue Military Research Institute (PMRI) stood-up in 2014, he transitioned to a similar position with PMRI.  With PMRI, Dave is the “rubber meets the road” person talking with active duty military officers about their intentions and then working with faculty to match students to faculty advisors.  As well, Dave works with the Service Academy’s to bring in cadets/midshipmen in the summers to both introduce them to research and to our graduate school.  He is committed to the growth of the PMRI program and ensuring a win-win environment exists for Purdue, the military services and for the service member.