Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
BSME, University of Dayton, 1992
MSME, 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.
