Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
BSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1975
MSME, The University of Texas at Arlington, 1980
Ph.D., The University of Texas at Arlington, 1993
Fred Buckingham has almost fifty years of mechanical engineering and engineering leadership experience. Fred’s professional career is focused in the electric power generation industry sector. He has worked with clients and engineering teams in over thirty countries around the world.
Past employers include Southwestern Public Service Company, Texas Instruments, Forney Engineering Corporation, Triconex Corporation, Electric Power Technologies, Inc., Clean Fuels Technology, Inc., MPR Associates, and NAES Corporation. Fred has served in roles ranging from design engineer to executive management as well as on boards of directors in organizations that produce electric power, design and manufacture equipment and systems for power plants. He also continues to serve as a senior consultant to power plant operators.
Fred has authored numerous technical papers that have been published in refereed journals and trade publications. He also has delivered numerous technical presentations and speeches including the Fall 2012 commencement address for the University of Texas at Arlington College of Engineering.
At every stage of his career, Fred has volunteered his time and talent to support industry and professional associations and events. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code Committee which recently published ASME PTC 53, Performance Test Code for Mechanical and Thermal Energy Storage Systems. He is a member of the Texas Education Agency 2024 career and technical education (CTE) Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) review work group. This work group develops and revises courses for a new high school career cluster in engineering.
Since the early days of his career, Fred has supported professional development of practicing engineers, engineering students, and high school students considering engineering as a profession. He served as a judge for the Formula SAE Student Design Competition for mechanical engineering students from 1980 through 1990. He also was an officer in the North Texas Section of ASME from 1986 through 1989 and served on its Industry Advisory Board from 1989 until 1998. He was a member of the Dallas Student Engineer’s Banquet Organizing Committee which awarded scholarships to area high school students on behalf of local professional society chapters from 1987 through 1991. Fred also was a member of the UT Austin Mechanical Engineering Department External Advisory Committee from 2006-2013 and was most recently a member of the University of Texas at Arlington Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Industry Advisory Board. He recently served as a Mentor in the National Science Foundation 2021 Spring Cohort for the UT Arlington Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Team.
Fred met his wife, Cathy, during his tenure at SPS. Fred and Cathy moved to Dallas in 1976 where they raised their daughter, Claire. They relocated from Dallas to Houston in 2008 and moved to San Antonio in 2021. When he is not consulting or volunteering, Fred enjoys photography, fishing, and golf.
