Purdue Research Foundation names Mark Lewis as first-ever chief national security officer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation (PRF) announced Friday (July 10) the appointment of Mark Lewis as PRF’s first-ever chief national security officer. Lewis, previously the president and chief executive officer of the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI), is charged with enabling greater national security research activities across the university to meet vital national needs.

Working in West Lafayette and Washington, D.C., Lewis assumed his new responsibilities July 1. As chief national security officer, he reports to Chad Pittman, president and CEO of the Purdue Research Foundation, and Purdue President Mitch Daniels while working in close collaboration with Dan DeLaurentis, executive vice president for research, and Michelle Giuda, CEO of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue (KITDP). As part of Lewis’s transition to chief national security officer, DeLaurentis will assume additional responsibilities as president and CEO of PARI. Additionally, Camilla Shanley will join Lewis from PARI in support of the new role.

Working across Purdue, PRF, PARI and KITDP, Lewis will foster research engagements with federal entities, including the U.S. Department of Defense, national laboratories and the intelligence community, as well as private-sector defense and aerospace partners.

“Mark brings strategic leadership and research experience from the public and private sectors that will be vital to our applied and translational research programs,” Pittman said. “We could not be happier to have him as chief national security officer leading the critical work of fostering strategic and large-scale research collaborations with partners.”

With an extensive national security record dating back to World War II, Purdue has a full spectrum of national security and defense research capabilities, talent and world-renowned facilities. Topical areas include hypersonic and space systems, energetic materials, secure microelectronics, cybersecurity, AI, quantum science and nuclear energy. All are considered top-priority fields for the United States.

“Purdue has a wide national security portfolio and deep research expertise,” Lewis said. “I look forward to working with our research faculty, staff, students and partners to translate science and technologies into solutions for critical national security missions.”

Lewis is one of the world’s foremost experts on hypersonics. His unique career has seen him in strategic roles in both academia and government, including serving as chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force, director of the Science and Technology Policy Institute, director of defense research and engineering for modernization at the Pentagon, and as acting deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. In 2023, Purdue appointed him as PARI’s inaugural president and CEO.

More information about Purdue’s national security work is available here.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a research institution ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. As a land-grant university committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free.