Sep 28, 2026 · 13 min · 6 segments
In the second episode of “Finding Amelia,” we’re talking to Chad Pittman, president and CEO of the Purdue Research Foundation. He shares the story behind Amelia Earhart’s famed Purdue-funded Lockheed…
Chad PittmanGuestKate YoungHostWhy was it special? Why was it unique? And how did Purdue Research Foundation get involved?
And they formed it for the purposes of bridging the university and all of its capabilities from research labs to, most importantly, the people inside the university, the faculty, and the students with industry.
The idea was to match industry with its contemporary problems that it was working on as part of that land grant mission of Purdue with the contemporary university faculty.
so that the faculty are working on most current problems and the industry gets the benefit of those solution sets.
And I would say that this option with Amelia Earhart brought in those early days was one of the early endeavors that has really anchored Purdue and set the foundation in its aviation prominence for the almost 100 years that PRF has been here.
The way that the Amelia Earhart and Purdue Research Foundation and the Purdue University got connected was Amelia had just completed her Atlantic crossing and had become somewhat of an international celebrity.
And she was doing speeches and giving presentations around the country and came across, at the time, Purdue President Edward Elliott, and then captured the imagination of David Ross and Josiah Lilly.
David Ross, he was an incredible Greater Lafayette resident, inventor himself, and very accomplished business person.
But one thing that I think people often know about David Ross is the Ross-Ade Stadium.
One of the first things the Research Foundation did was raise funding to help Amelia acquire the Lockheed Electra 10E that served as that flying laboratory.
They raised, in today's dollars, over a million dollars to make that mission possible.
And then with all the intellectual talent at the university, again with the contemporary industry, cutting edge technologies to outfit her flying laboratory.
Why was it special? Why was it unique? And how did Purdue Research Foundation get involved?
And they formed it for the purposes of bridging the university and all of its capabilities from research labs to, most importantly, the people inside the university, the faculty, and the students with industry.
The idea was to match industry with its contemporary problems that it was working on as part of that land grant mission of Purdue with the contemporary university faculty.
so that the faculty are working on most current problems and the industry gets the benefit of those solution sets.
And I would say that this option with Amelia Earhart brought in those early days was one of the early endeavors that has really anchored Purdue and set the foundation in its aviation prominence for the almost 100 years that PRF has been here.
The way that the Amelia Earhart and Purdue Research Foundation and the Purdue University got connected was Amelia had just completed her Atlantic crossing and had become somewhat of an international celebrity.
And she was doing speeches and giving presentations around the country and came across, at the time, Purdue President Edward Elliott, and then captured the imagination of David Ross and Josiah Lilly.
David Ross, he was an incredible Greater Lafayette resident, inventor himself, and very accomplished business person.
But one thing that I think people often know about David Ross is the Ross-Ade Stadium.
One of the first things the Research Foundation did was raise funding to help Amelia acquire the Lockheed Electra 10E that served as that flying laboratory.
They raised, in today's dollars, over a million dollars to make that mission possible.
And then with all the intellectual talent at the university, again with the contemporary industry, cutting edge technologies to outfit her flying laboratory.
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