The Inaugural Jaquish & Kenninger Foundation Seminar: A Fireside Chat with Dr. Joseph Jewell
The Inaugural Jaquish & Kenninger Foundation Seminar
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
12:30-1:20 PM
Pfendler Hall, Dean’s Auditorium, Room 241
Presentation by Dr. Joseph Jewell
John Bogdanoff Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Purdue University
Dr. Jewell received his PhD from Caltech and is a tenured faculty member currently holding a named professorship in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue. He is the Director, Boeing/AFOSR Mach 6 Quiet Tunnel group and Director, HYPULSE high enthalpy reflected shock/expansion tunnel group. He teaches fluid mechanics and advises a lab group of PhD and thesis-based MS students pursuing research in hypersonic aerodynamics, fluid dynamics, and aerospace engineering. He also spent over five years researching hypersonics technology at the Air Force Research Laboratory.
President Donald Trump has picked Joseph Jewell to be the next assistant secretary of defense for science and technology. Jewell’s nomination was sent to Capitol Hill on March 31 and will be considered by the Senate Armed Services Committee, according to a notice posted on Congress.gov.
The S&T job at the Pentagon that Jewell has been tapped for, was one of the new roles established in the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act as part of a reorganization within the department’s research and engineering directorate. If confirmed, Jewell would be tasked to oversee the Defense Department’s extensive S&T enterprise — including emerging technologies, workforce, laboratories, and partnerships with industry and academia.
The Jaquish & Kenninger Foundation supports charitable organizations whose efforts strengthen Americans’ personal and economic freedoms.
Gail A. Jaquish is founder of Jurix, Inc., a behavioral research firm. She obtained her B.A from Stanford University, M.S. & Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University, and was on the faculty at the University of Notre Dame. Gail has published in psychology journals and co-authored a college text on human development. She has served as Vice-Chairman of the U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, Trustee of the Falcon Foundation, on the Stanford University Law School Board of Visitors, Stanford Athletic Board, Hoover Institution Board of Overseers, and Trustee of the Pacific Legal Foundation. Gail is Co-Founder of the Jaquish & Kenninger Foundation. She is a Daughter of the American Revolution and a liberty advocate.
Steven C. Kenninger is founder of QMO, LLC, a private investment firm. Previously, Steve co- founded a real estate firm that developed and acquired major hotels, and then went public as Signature Resorts on the NASDAQ. Steve also co-founded and took public a real estate operating company in Japan, KK daVinci Advisors. In his early career, Steve was a business attorney with the law firm of Paul Hastings, and with Riordan & McKinzie, where he was a partner. Steve graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and from the Stanford Law School. He is the 2003 recipient of the Purdue University Outstanding Mechanical Engineer Award, has served on the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors and as a Judge Pro Tem in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Steve is co-founder of the Jaquish & Kenninger Foundation. He is an avid skier.
