2007 Academy of Distinguished Alumni Announced
The Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering has announced the 2007 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:
David K. Leigh
Outstanding Young Mechanical Engineer
BSME, University of Texas at Austin, 1991
MSME, University of Texas at Austin, 2011
David K. Leigh is a third generation University of Texas at Austin alumnus. David was born in Austin at a time when his father, David E. Leigh, was wrapping up his undergraduate studies in UT Austin’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. He grew up on a farm near Temple, TX and graduated with 35 other classmates from Troy High School in 1986. He grew up around technology, with his father working at IBM in Austin, and was introduced to manufacturing and computers in the 1970s. His father brought home their family’s first IBM PC in 1981, and since there were no internet or computer stores, David had to learn to program in Basic just to be able to use the computer.
While in college, David took advantage of the engineering cooperative education program, and had an opportunity to work in polymer processing at Dow Chemical and manufacturing at Texas Instruments. As he was preparing for his 3rd semester of ‘co-oping’ in 1990, he was introduced to a new high-tech startup in Austin– DTM Corporation. DTM was working to commercialize Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), a new 3D Printing technology that was developed by UT Ph.D. student Carl Deckard and his professor Dr. Joseph Beaman. This introduction ended up channeling David’s career in the emerging technology of rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing. He married his wife Janet and achieved his BS and MS in mechanical engineering from UT while working in this new technology field.
David has been a champion for the SLS process throughout his career, serving on SME’s Rapid Technologies and Additive Manufacturing (RTAM) Steering Committee and ASTM’s F42 Standards Committee for Additive Manufacturing. He worked at DTM Corporation in Austin as part of the original team that commercialized laser sintering in the early 90s. He left DTM and started Harvest Technologies in 1995, continued to partner with UT in the field of additive manufacturing, and was a co-founder of several other 3D Printing-related companies that were eventually acquired during the consolidation in the industry between 2010 and 2015. Much of his work led to the adoption and qualification of the 3D Printing process in aerospace to produce end-use parts.
In addition to his work in additive manufacturing, David has been active in his local community of Belton, Texas, serving on local boards and commissions, participating in the Chamber of Commerce and other local service organizations, serving as a councilmember for the City of Belton, and being active in his local church. David and his wife Janet love serving in their community, spending time with family, attending UT sporting events, and travel. They have continued to support the university through such endeavors as establishing the Leigh Family Endowed Excellence Fund in Engineering for Student Projects, and the Engineering Education and Research Center.
Andrew Mawer
Outstanding Young Mechanical Engineer
BSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1987
MSME, Rice University, 1989
Andrew J. Mawer is a Research and Development Manager at NXP Semiconductors in Austin, Texas. At NXP, he manages an analytical and reliability laboratory within the Product and Technology Enablement organization. Andrew has been with NXP, formerly Freescale Semiconductor and the semiconductor division of Motorola prior to that, for a total of 24 years.
His primary areas of focus there are new packaging technology assessment and implementation, resolution of customer manufacturing issues, and product reliability characterization. One of the highlights of his time there was the transition to lead-free solder from lead-based solder as part of the 2006 Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive.
Prior to joining Motorola, Andrew spent four years at Compaq Computer, now Hewlett Packard, where he was involved with the implementation of some of the first high pin count Plastic Ball Grid Array packages in the industry. While there he also was part of the development team for one of the first laptops in the industry, the Compaq LTE.
He has been active in authoring and presenting on many aspects of packaging and reliability at a variety of conferences, symposia, and in industry publications, including two book chapters.
Andrew is an active member of SMTA and serves on the Technical Committee of the SMTA International Conference, the Review Board of the SMTA Journal, and with various leadership roles within the Central Texas SMTA chapter. He received the National Member of Technical Distinction Award from the SMTA in 2007.
Andrew received his BS degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 1987 and an MS degree in mechanical engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas, in 1989. While at UT he was a recipient of the Cockrell Foundation and Friends of Alec Scholarships, a member of the Pi Tau Sigma Honor Society and an ASME Design Contest Award. He was honored to receive the Outstanding Young Mechanical Engineer Award from UT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2007.
Robert Olsen
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
BSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1972
Prior to his retirement in 2013, Robert C. Olsen held the position of executive vice president of the ExxonMobil Production Company with responsibility for the company’s global oil and gas producing operations.
After graduation from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, Mr. Olsen joined Exxon Corporation. He progressed through a series of technical and managerial assignments and in 1985 was named production manager for Exxon’s offshore Gulf of Mexico oil and gas operations.
After serving as an advisor to the Management Committee of Exxon Corporation in New York, he was appointed as division manager for the company’s onshore producing division, headquartered in Midland, Texas in 1988.
In 1992 he accepted an assignment as production manager for Esso Production Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. In 1994 Exxon formed a venture company to secure new oil and gas production opportunities in Russia and the Caspian region. Mr. Olsen became the vice president for Exxon Ventures (CIS) and was responsible for negotiations of oil and gas development agreements in Russia. In 1998, Mr. Olsen was appointed chairman and managing director of Esso Australia Ltd., located in Melbourne, Australia.
In 2004, he relocated to London and was named chairman and production director of ExxonMobil International Limited with responsibility for the company’s producing business in Europe, the Caspian and Russia. He also served as a director of South Hook LNG Terminal Company and vice chairman of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP).
Mr. Olsen was elected to the board of directors of Imperial Oil Limited, Canada’s leading integrated petroleum company, in 2008 and served on the board until 2013. He is a former member of the board of the Children’s Museum of Houston. Mr. Olsen and his wife, Sue, have created the Robert C. Olsen Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering.
Bear Poth
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
BSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1986
MBA, The University of Texas at Austin, 1991
Bear Poth has an extensive entrepreneurial and operations background founding and growing numerous telecommunications and technology-based companies over a 25+ year professional career. Mr. Poth’s experience includes being Founder and CEO of a wide range of companies that have built and operated IP Networks with 3,000+ route miles of microwave/fiber transport, built and serviced 25,000+ VoIP connections, constructed over 1,300 miles of hybrid fiber/coaxial broadband plant, provided 50k+ CATV/telephone/Internet connections, constructed 100k+ square-mile canopy of wireless networks and constructed and operated 500+ wireless towers. During his career, Mr. Poth has raised more than $400M in venture equity and debt capital to finance a wide array of infrastructure-based businesses.
After receiving his undergraduate degree, Mr. Poth started his career as a mechanical engineer with Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems, where he held a Secret clearance and worked on a variety of airborne communication projects. Projects included the E-4B and its communications systems. Mr. Poth then went to graduate school and received his MBA. After graduate school he was recruited into consulting with Deloitte, where he served as a senior consultant in the Dallas office. It was there that Mr. Poth began to work in the telecommunications industry, serving a wide range of clients both public and private. While at Deloitte, Mr. Poth was recruited to work for his client, Central and Southwest Corporation of Dallas, a Public Utility Holding Company, where he served in the Telecommunications and later the Corporate Ventures group. Mr. Poth was then recruited to lead ClearSource, Inc., a competitive broadband overbuilder that raised $170M in venture capital. Mr. Poth served as ClearSource’s President and CEO and led the company’s development of fiber optic networks across Texas. ClearSource initiated Mr. Poth’s entrepreneurial career, and he went on to found a total of six different companies in a wide variety of technology and telecommunications areas, including fiber optics, telephony, IP network services, wireless services, wireless towers and more. Mr. Poth’s newest business, LumenServeSM is the nation’s first Tower Lighting as a ServiceSM (TLaaSSM) company, providing tower owners with LED lighting systems, monitoring, and compliance as a service.
Mr. Poth has a legacy of building businesses with strong value systems, operations, and customer service track records. Mr. Poth and his wife Gina have five children and live in Austin. Mr. Poth received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin.
B. Elliot Short
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
BSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1973
MSME & MSAeroE, University of Arizona, 1977
Ph.D., Southern Methodist University, 1994
Dr. Elliott Short grew up in the UT Mechanical Engineering Labs on the north side of Taylor Hall where his father, Dr. Byron E. Short, taught heat transfer, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and thermal sciences labs. He was introduced to heat exchangers, dynamometers, a foundry, machine shops, and a slide rule at an early age. He also attended UT football, baseball (at Clark Field), and basketball (at Gregory Gym) as early as he can remember.
Elliott graduated from UT in 1973 with a BSME and a commission in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate, a Cactus Outstanding Student, and was elected to Pi Tau Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, and Phi Kappa Phi. Elliott and his future wife, Carol, were also members of the Longhorn Band.
During 10 years on active duty, Elliott had tours in Missouri, Virginia, Korea, Texas, Hawaii and graduate school at the University of Arizona. Positions included combat engineer platoon and company command, engineer battalion maintenance officer, and assistant division engineer. As a project engineer in the Corps of Engineers San Antonio Area Office, he supervised construction of a dental clinic and the U. S. Army Pentathlon Center Competition Obstacle Course.
In 1983, Elliott began his career with Texas Instruments’ Defense Systems, later acquired by Raytheon. He completed the mechanical design of the receiver for a terrain following radar upgrade. Since 1986, as a member of the Thermal Design Group, he has focused on thermal design, analysis, development, and test of electronics systems including radar, electro-optic, and processor systems. Designs successfully operate in environments and platforms ranging from handheld units, stationary platforms, ground vehicles, various aircraft, ships, and space. He holds 12 issued U.S. Patents and has authored 30 peer-reviewed articles and numerous professional presentations. He retired from his parallel U.S. Army Reserve career in 2007 as a Colonel and received the Legion of Merit.
Elliott has served in ASME leadership roles and committees in the North Texas Section, Region X, District E, the Heat Transfer Division’s K-16 Committee on Heat Transfer in Electronics Systems, and the Early Career Engineer Program Committee. While District E Leader, he worked with student and professional members in nine States from Texas to Utah plus Mexico. He is an ASME Fellow and received the ASME Dedicated Service Award. Elliott has served as chair of the AIAA Thermophysics Technical Committee and served as Technical Program Chair for AIAA conferences in 2003 and 2011. He is an AIAA Associate Fellow. He has also served as a director of the TSPE Dallas Chapter.
Elliott and Carol enjoy their family, UT athletics, and travel. He has continued support for the ME Department as a member of the Visiting Committee (2000-03), through gifts, and by helping to organize the Mechanical Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni.
Richard Walton
Mechanical Engineering Hall of Fame
BSME, The University of Oklahoma, 1950
MSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1955
Richard Lee “Dick” Walton was born March 1, 1928 in Oklahoma City, OK, the only child of Mary Spencer Walton and Loren Lee Walton. He passed away on November 6, 2010. Dick’s mother was a well-loved teacher in the Oklahoma City Schools. His father was an attorney and later a salesman and a manufacturer. Dick attended Classen High School in Oklahoma City.
Dick graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1950. He was named outstanding Ordinance Officer in the ROTC and was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, in which he served several years as treasurer.
His first job out of college was with Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas. He served in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corp in La Rochfocauld, France and in Mannheim, Germany. In 1955, Dick received a master’s in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, where he was an assistant professor. Later he did graduate work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1956, Dick joined his father in Walton Manufacturing Company in Dallas. The company designed and made products for the automotive and lighting industries for several years. Eventually, the firm became one of the premier manufacturers of exercise equipment. Dick and his wife, Carolyn, worked together at the company for 33 years.
Dick retired in 1988 when the firm was sold. He and Carolyn celebrated 50 years together in March of 2010. Throughout his business career, Dick was active in First Presbyterian Church of Dallas, where he and Carolyn met and were married. He was a deacon and an elder, and served in many church capacities and offices throughout his life. He lent his financial and leadership skills to numerous committees and church projects, and volunteered as an assistant treasurer of the church for several years. He was president of the First Presbyterian Church of Dallas Foundation and served several terms on the Board of Grace Presbyterian Village. He also served as a trustee of the Texas Presbyterian Foundation.
Dick was a member of the Chancellor’s Council of The University of Texas at Austin. In October 2007, he was named to the Mechanical Engineering Department Hall of Fame at The University of Texas at Austin. In retirement, Dick continued his church-affiliated activities. He also served as treasurer of the Board of Glen Lakes Homeowners’ Association, where he and Carolyn moved in 1995. Dick always kept up with his friends from junior high through college and beyond. His steadfastness, fairness, loyalty and genuine concern for people will be his legacy.