2025 Academy of Distinguished Alumni Announced
The Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering has announced the 2025 honorees of its Academy of Distinguished Alumni.
As a way of recognizing the accomplishments and careers of our outstanding alumni, the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering established the Academy of Distinguished Alumni in 2004. The Academy’s purpose is to recognize high-achieving mechanical engineers from among the UT Austin community and from the engineering community at large, to champion the mechanical engineering profession and to build a strong community and facilitate interactions among our students, faculty, alumni and corporate partners.
This year’s honorees include:
Shatel Bhakta
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
B.S.M.E., University of Texas at Austin, 1999
M.S. Space Architecture, University of Houston, 2007
Shatel Bhakta (seh-thul bhuck-tha) is the lead architect on the Lunar Architecture Team for NASA’s Artemis campaign in the Strategy & Architecture office working to realize the Moon to Mars Program. He leads a multidisciplinary team across the agency to develop and refine the lunar architecture and Artemis concepts, which includes its associated mission scoping, concept of operations, trades and analysis, system element conceptualization, and system-of-systems integration. He leads his team on academic, industry, and international engagements to advance the mission.
Bhakta earned his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and his graduate degree in Space Architecture from the University of Houston. With over 26 years of experience in human spaceflight design, development, test and operations, Bhakta started with analysis, testing, and mission support for the Space Station’s active thermal control systems hardware and software where his work earned him numerous commendations including a NASA Spaceflight Awareness award and the coveted astronaut selected Silver Snoopy award. He transitioned over to work on development of the Orion deep space capsule and led the active thermal control system and environmental control and life support subsystems team through their critical design reviews and looks forward to seeing that hardware perform its mission in space on the upcoming Artemis II (2026). He then transitioned to NASA to lead the Gateway thermal team through preliminary design review before taking on his current role.
In his free time, he is a husband and father of three active kids that engage him in robotics, soccer, tennis, and Scouting America activities that currently keep him from watching sci-fi, or reading many good books.
Bunker Hill
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
B.S. PHY, Texas A&M University, 1991
M.S.M.E., University of Texas at Austin, 1993
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1997
Bunker Hill is an engineering executive leading the development of transformative energy infrastructure at Quidnet Energy. Since joining Quidnet Energy in 2021 as the Vice President of Engineering, he has played a key role in developing the world’s first geomechanical battery, a novel long-duration energy system that stores energy underground as high-pressure water. This first-of-a-kind system holds hundreds of megawatt-hours of energy over any length of time with no self-discharge.
Prior to joining Quidnet Energy, Bunker spent over two decades at Schlumberger (SLB), the world’s largest oilfield services company. He held a progression of global leadership roles with responsibilities spanning multiple technologies, including the design, testing, manufacturing, and simulation of electromechanical and electrohydraulic systems for the most severe pressure and temperature conditions on the planet. His favorite accomplishments at SLB are the many new products that he and his teams transformed from ideas into commercial realities.
Bunker earned his undergraduate degree in Physics from Texas A&M University while working as a research assistant at the Cyclotron Institute. He then moved to Austin to join the Robotics Research Group at The University of Texas at Austin, where he completed his Masters and Doctor of Philosophy in 1997.
For fun, Bunker enjoys pushing himself to, and sometimes beyond, his mental and physical limits. He was chosen to represent the United States at a world cup shooting event in Russia in 1986, and still enjoys trap, skeet, and sporting clays. He began training martial arts with his son in 2009 and is now a competitive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athlete. Bunker and his wife, Jennette, met in 2019 and were married in 2023. Together they have one son (Hayden) and three daughters (Cameron, Jordan, and Abigail). They live in Sugar Land, TX, with their four dogs: Lucy Maggie, Fred, and Abraham.
Larry Keast
Mechanical Engineering Hall of Fame
B.S.M.E., University of Texas at Austin, 1967
Larry earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Texas and is a registered engineer in Texas. While at UT, he joined the Army National Guard, graduated from MP school, airborne training, OCS, and was commissioned.
In 1967, he joined Cameron where he gained experience in engineering, offshore service, and manufacturing of blowout preventers and subsea equipment. This was diverse experience in a large global company founded by a great entrepreneur Jim Abercrombie and led by a great engineer and president Herbert Allen.
After nine years with Cameron, Larry joined Worldwide Oil Tools as Vice President & General Manager. It was a startup in complete disarray, and in four years he built this little company into a respected international manufacturer of pipe testing equipment. Traveling worldwide and directing the development of four new product lines, Larry received his first three patents and learned to love startup manufacturing companies.
In 1980, Larry started Venturetech in his garage. Venturetech power swivels now lead the field working on oil and gas rigs worldwide. In 2007, Venturetech was honored as one of Houston’s fastest growing businesses by the Houston Business Journal, along with receiving their Enterprise Champion award for community work above and beyond financial performance. Larry continues to direct Venturetech’s development and is excited to be launching additional new product lines. 36 patents so far.
For fun, Larry is building a car collection including a 34 Ford pickup, a 62 Corvette, several Jeeps, a 1923 Ford T-bucket roadster, and a Bonneville Salt Flats race car. To fund this enterprise and create jobs, he started Torque Engineering, LP to manufacture AIRTORQ, a driver-controlled air suspension kit allowing offroad Jeep drivers 8” up-down-tilt on-the-fly.
He also learned to fly and rides his bicycle to work 10 miles twice a week. He loves having a lot going on and does not understand retirement.
Giving back to the community is an important part of Larry’s life. He learned the power of support groups in the substance abuse programs Insight and Lifeway and was an advisory board member of Cornerstone Recovery. After his wife was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 1996, Larry was elected to the board of the Texas Liver Coalition as Director of Support Groups. Under Larry’s direction, the Coalition developed 32 support groups in Texas cities which helped thousands of people each year. Larry also served on Mayor Bill White’s Task Force for Hepatitis C. Thankfully, Larry’s wife was cured after struggling through four years of the earliest difficult treatments. Today’s meds cure Hep C quickly and easily.
Mr. Keast has enjoyed speaking to engineering and entrepreneurship students at the University of Texas and the University of Houston. He has served on the Business Advisory Council of Goodwill Industries. Larry has also served as President of the Dover Club, a support organization of business owners and entrepreneurs, and as a board member of Unity church. Larry is a member of Nomads since 1980, and has enjoyed membership in The Alternative Board, a business owners’ roundtable group. In 2012, he was honored by Dickinson High School as Alumni of the Year and served on the board of their education foundation. Larry is a member of AESC, IADC, SAE, AOPA, EAA, and is a Certified Fluid Power Engineer.
In 2000 Venturetech began hiring people who deserve a second chance including ex-offenders and older folks. Returning these Americans to the workforce continues to increase company morale and productivity. In 2004 Larry founded America in Recovery, a non-profit which encouraged other companies to hire such people.
Married for 57 years, Larry and Zandra have three children and six grandchildren.
Marc Polanka
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
B.S.M.E., University of Dayton, 1992
M.S.M.E., Stanford University, 1993
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1999
Dr. Marc Polanka is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology. His doctoral work on turbine film cooling was accomplished at the University of Texas. He has been with AFIT for the past 16 years following 17 years within the Turbine Engine Division of AFRL. While at AFRL, he managed the Turbine Research Facility performing heat transfer and aerodynamic measurements on full scale turbine stages. Since joining AFIT, Dr. Polanka’s research areas continue to focus on understanding cooling within the turbine and combustor. He has also published heavily on the development of an Ultra Compact Combustor to reduce the size of turbine engines and work on Pressure Gain Combustors include Rotating Detonating Engines. He has written over 70 journal articles on these subjects and over 160 conference articles. He has advised over 50 graduate students.
He has received several awards over the years from the Air Force including the Air Force Outstanding Science and Engineering Educator Award, the AETC AF Outstanding Scientist/Engineer: Senior Civilian Award, the AFIT Civilian Category III of the Year, and the Charles P. Brothers Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. He has also been recognized by ASME winning the Distinguished Service Award, the IGTI Outstanding Service Award, and three Best Paper Awards and by AIAA winning awards for AIAA Outstanding Section Award: Very Large Category (3 times), the AIAA Sustained Service Award, and the AIAA Dayton Cincinnati Section Chairman’s Award (3 times) among other awards.
Dr. Polanka is a Fellow of the ASME and an Associate Fellow of AIAA. He was an Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power and recently concluded his two-year term as Chair of the ASME IGTI K-14 Heat Transfer Committee after serving previously as Vice-Chair and four years as the Membership Chair. He currently serves as one of the four Review Chairs for the IGTI Turbo Expo Conference. Dr. Polanka has also contributed heavily to the Dayton-Cincinnati Section of AIAA where he was Section Chair for four years and has been the Honors and Awards Chair for the past two decades. He also served a three-year term as the Chair of the AIAA Associate Fellow Selection Committee.
Vivek Sakhrani
Outstanding Young Mechanical Engineer
B.S.M.E., The University of Texas at Austin, 2008
M.S. Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015
As Vice President at Atlas AI, Vivek oversees the enterprise customer life cycle for AI products across the company’s global portfolio of customers in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Vivek also leads Atlas AI’s portfolio of international development and supply chain analytics services. He brings fifteen years of experience in systems planning, design, and investment advisory for civil infrastructure and supply chain projects in energy, transport, water, ICT, public health, agriculture, and urban built environment.
Vivek also leads the applied AI research function for Atlas AI and serves as Principal Investigator on more than USD 8 million in funded research grants from the National Science Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, World Bank and other entities.
Vivek was previously the Global Director for Infrastructure Analytics at CPCS, a global civil infrastructure advisory firm, overseeing the firm’s modeling, analytics, and visualization services across North America, Africa and Asia. Among his past clients are the World Bank, Millennium Challenge Corporation, African Union Commission, FCDO, PIDA, GIZ, private firms, ministries and agencies.
Vivek has a PhD in Systems Engineering and Master’s in Technology and Policy both from MIT, where he also led research at the KACST-MIT Center for Complex Engineering Systems, the MIT Energy Initiative, and MIT Tata Center for Technology & Design. He is a member of the US National Academies’ Transportation Research Board Urban Freight Committee, Assistant Editor for Engineering Project Organization Journal, and a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
H. Davis Thames
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
B.S.M.E., University of Texas at Austin, 1989
M.S.M.E., Texas A&M University, 1991
M.B.A., University of California Los Angeles, 1999
Davis Thames is the founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Western LNG LLC, an independent liquefied natural gas export project developer. Western’s first project is the Ksi Lisims LNG liquefaction facility and the associated Prince Rupert Gas Transmission natural gas pipeline located in Northwestern British Columbia, Canada. Prior to founding Western, he held several senior positions at Cheniere Energy Inc., the industry pioneer in exporting LNG from the lower 48 US states. Mr. Thames was Senior Vice President of Cheniere Energy Inc. and President of wholly-owned Cheniere Marketing LLC, where he was responsible for Cheniere’s commercial activities and its LNG trading business. In this role he developed the commercial model for Sabine Pass Liquefaction and led the team that negotiated and entered into its sales and purchase agreements. Mr. Thames later became Cheniere’s Chief Financial Officer and led the initial public offering of Cheniere Energy Partners Holdings LLC, the proceeds of which were used as equity capital to launch Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG export project. Prior to Cheniere, and following the receipt of his MBA, Mr. Thames worked for the non-debtor pipeline subsidiaries of Enron Corp. and in the treasury function of the commodity trading unit. Prior to Enron Mr. Thames worked for Flowserve Corp. in its Los Angeles commercial products and research and development groups.
Mr. Thames has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University, and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and is a registered Professional Engineer in California.
Tim Van Pham
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
B.S.M.E., University of Texas at Austin, 1994
With over 35 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, Tim Pham currently serves as Vice President of Sales at Amkor Technology. In this role, he oversees worldwide account management for all semiconductor customers based in Austin, Texas, driving more than $250 million in annual revenue and helping clients navigate complex business and technology trade-offs.
A proud graduate of the University of Texas with a BSME earned while working weekend shift at Motorola Semiconductor, Tim spent 25 years at Motorola/Freescale, where he held influential roles in process engineering and technology development. During that time, he made significant contributions, including developing the industry’s first fully integrated assembly process and pioneering fully automated wafer-level burn-in methods to enhance automotive reliability.
As a leader in semiconductor package intellectual property licensing, Tim managed a portfolio of over 500 package technology patents and personally holds 15 U.S. patents. He also represented Freescale’s IP Licensing team on the company’s patent committee, shaping strategic decisions around innovation and technology protection.
For the past decade at Amkor Technology, Tim has been in technical sales, helping clients select optimal packaging solutions tailored to their needs—bridging the gap between cutting-edge engineering and strategic business goals.
Outside the world of semiconductors, Tim is an avid fisherman with a particular passion for chasing summertime Salmon and Halibut across Alaska’s Cook Inlet. When he’s not fishing, Tim and his wife Carol spend their time camping and hiking through Alaska’s breathtaking wilderness—fully embracing the serenity and adventure the Last Frontier has to offer.