2011 Academy of Distinguished Alumni Announced

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:

Marcus Ashford

Outstanding Young Mechanical Engineer
BSME, Louisiana State Unviersity, 1994
MSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 2002
Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin, 2004

Associate Professor Marcus Ashford joined the University of Alabama Mechanical Engineering faculty in fall 2004 after earning his Ph.D. and completing a postdoctoral appointment at The University of Texas at Austin. Marcus has worked at Ford Motor Company as a powertrain development engineer, and at Exxon Chemical as a Mechanical Contact Engineer.

He has extensive experience in engine and vehicle dynamometer testing, with both PFI and direct-injection engines. Working under Dr. Ron Matthews for his dissertation research, he developed the On-Board Distillation System (OBOS), which reduced hydrocarbon emissions by 80% in a full-size SUV. This research led to him being named the 2004 Graduate Student of the Year by the National Society of Black Engineers.

Marcus specializes in combustion and computer control of engines, particularly in the reduction of emissions during cold-starts. Specific research projects include the development of high-speed exhaust hydrocarbon sensors and fuel volatility sensors to be used as engine computer inputs. Also under development are fuel preprocessors that help reduce hydrocarbon emissions from cold starts and fugitive releases. Marcus has an extensive program to develop optimal strategies to use hydrogen as an internal combustion engine fuel.

Marcus’s teaching experience includes advanced thermodynamics and internal combustion engine fundamentals and controls. Active in mentoring and community outreach programs, Marcus is currently developing Rockets and Racecars, a program to generate enthusiasm about science and technology majors in middle and high school students. More than half of the students under Marcus’ supervision have been from traditionally underrepresented populations (in engineering), and he is very involved in consulting students in design projects for both class and intercollegiate competition.

Joseph Beaman

Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
BSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1972
MSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1975
ScD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1979

Joseph (Joe) Jefferson Beaman, Jr.’s parents were both native Texans, but Joe grew up in Tennesee, Japan, Illinois, France, and, most importantly, Marshall, Texas. Joe’s father was a career U.S. Army officer and was stationed throughout the world, but he came back to his beloved Texas for good in 1962, where he became manager of the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant close to Marshall, Texas.

With this pedigree, it was clear that Joe was destined to be a University of Texas Longhorn. Joe applied to only one university, The University of Texas at Austin, and he was accepted and enrolled in the fall of 1964 to study mechanical engineering. He graduated with a BSME in 1972 and enrolled as a masters student at The University of Texas. While working on his Masters, he joined IBM Austin in 1974. He finished his Masters in 1975 and applied to one graduate school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was accepted and enrolled as a doctoral student in the Fall of 1975. While at MIT, he worked on the control of nonlinear stochastic systems.

After graduating from MIT, Joe became an assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin in the Fall of 1979. He became a full professor in 1989. His career work at UT has been in both manufacturing and control. His specific manufacturing research interest is in Additive Manufacturing (AM), sometimes called 3D Printing. He was the first academic researcher in the field. One of the most successful AM approaches, selective laser sintering, was a process that was developed in his laboratory. He was one of the founders of DTM Corporation (now merged with 3D Systems), which markets selective laser sintering. Joe has also worked extensively with the special metals processing industry to develop next-generation process control for super alloys and titanium alloys. He is a Fellow of ASME and the technical editor of the Journal of Dynamic Systems Measurement and Control of ASME. He was chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT Austin from 2001 to 2012. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineers in 2013, received the FAME Award in additive manufacturing in 2014, was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2015, and received the SME Albert M. Sargent Award in 2016.

Daniel Crowley

Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
BSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1985
MSMSE, The University of Texas at Austin, 1991
MS, Management, Stanford University, 2001

Daniel J. Crowley joined Triumph Group Inc. as president and CEO in January 2016. He oversees 14,000 employees across 65 factories producing commercial and military aircraft components. Dan joined Triumph from Raytheon Company, where he served as president of Integrated Defense Systems with annual revenues over $6 billion and Network Centric Systems from 2010 until 2015.

Mr. Crowley brings 34 years of industry experience where he has held key leadership roles in the development, production and deployment of some of the largest and most complex military and commercial products, including the P-3 and S-3 aircraft, the Atlas launch vehicle, commercial and classified spacecraft, the THAAD and Patriot defense missile defense systems, flight training simulators and logistics, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, air traffic control systems, and commercial aircraft components.

Dan began his career as a cooperative engineer his junior year working at Lockheed in south Austin, where he designed and outfitted several factories. After a corporate assignment at Lockheed’s headquarters in their Engineering and Technology group, Mr. Crowley worked on the merger of Lockheed and Martin Marietta. 

At age 33, he became plant manager of the historic Atlas launch vehicle factory in San Diego, and went on to serve in a variety of leadership positions at Lockheed Martin, including president of their training and logistics business, executive vice president of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. As COO, Mr. Crowley was responsible for supporting Lockheed Martin’s key tactical fighter and military transport programs as well as the Advanced Development Programs (Skunk Works®) organization.

While serving as executive vice president of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, Mr. Crowley was responsible for the design, development, and transition to initial production of three fighter variants and logistics system. Over his career, his contributions have been critical to our nation and generated billions of dollars in backlog and revenue for the firms he served.  

Mr. Crowley earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in manufacturing systems engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He also received a master’s degree in management from Stanford University as a Sloan Fellow.

Janet Ellzey

Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
BSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1978
MSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1980
Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, 1985

Dr. Janet Ellzey was born and raised in Alice, Texas. She received her BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining the faculty of UT Austin in 1990, she was on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin and then was a staff scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. She is currently a professor of mechanical engineering and holds the Engineering Foundation Centennial Teaching Fellowship at The University of Texas at Austin.

Her research has spanned a broad range of topics in the field of combustion, and she currently studies low emissions burners and additive manufacturing of novel combustors. She has presented her work in numerous international venues and was awarded a Faculty Research Assignment to conduct research at the Laboratoire de Combustion et de Detonique in Poitiers, France in 1999-2000.  She initiated a collaboration with Cranfield Univeristy in the UK in 2000 and was awarded the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Research Fellowship in  2001. In 2011 she was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. 

In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Ellzey has made many contributions through administration and leadership. She is a strong advocate for international educational experiences and has led a summer program in Toulouse, France for 13 years for engineering students. In 2004, as associate director for international studies for UT Austin’s Chair of Free Enterprise and then as assistant dean for the Cockrell School of Engineering, she founded International Engineering Education, which now sends over 400 engineering students a year abroad. She created an innovative academic program, Projects with Underserved Communities, in which undergraduate student teams partner with communities around the world to solve technical challenges. The teams work through the academic year selecting a project, designing, and planning implementation, and in the summer travel to implement with their partner community. From 2009 to 2017, she served as vice provost for international programs at The University of Texas at Austin. In this capacity, she led the international academic strategy for the university and was head of the International Office, which includes English as a Second Language, Study Abroad, Global Risk and Safety, and International Student and Scholar Services. Under her leadership, international education expanded significantly, particularly for underrepresented groups. 

Dr. Ellzey is the 13th woman to receive a mechanical engineering degree from UT Austin, and she has been a mentor and role model for many women in her field. She is a passionate advocate for the advancement of women, and launched Women in Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT Austin. She served on the Gender Equity Task Force for The University of Texas in 2008. In addition, she founded Women in Combustion as part of the Combustion Institute, the primary professional organization for researchers in her field.

John MacGuire

Mechanical Engineering Hall of Fame
BSME, The University of Texas at Austin, 1943

John MacGuire graduated as a devoted engineer from The University of Texas at Austin with a mechanical engineering degree in 1943. His career included engineering, farming and ranching, road construction, work in the oil and gas business, and founding the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico to display planes from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, all of which he had personally purchased and restored to put on display at the museum.

John was born in Schenectady, New York in 1920. He attended Penn State after high school and worked for General Electric for a year prior to receiving his degree at The University of Texas at Austin, after which he went on to developing his career as an engineer and museum curator. His career included Douglas Aircraft, General Electric and Allis-Chalmers before he began his farming and ranching career. John’s interest in farming and ranching led to the purchase of properties in the Southwest region of the United States and Northern Mexico, which in turn led to his passion for airplanes and flying. He began flying an Aeronca K in 1945 and continued flying all kinds of planes throughout his life alongside his wife Betty. He received a plaque of recognition for having flown as Pilot-in-Command for over 10,000 hours.

John was chairman of the board of Southern Union Gas Company for 12 years and served on several other oil and gas company boards, including Aztec Oil and Gas, Chieftain International, Supron Industries, Delhi Oil and Arkansas Western. He also served as a board member for 42 years of the Lee and Beulah Moor Children’s Home in El Paso, a charity founded by his wife’s parents. John was a life member of the UT Austin Texas Exes, a member of the UT Chancellor’s Council, and a member of the Friends of Alec.

In 1990, John approached former El Paso Mayor Jonathan Rogers with a business proposition, a $10 million investment in the Bank of the West that has grown into a more than $950 million institution.

John and his lovely wife of 58 years, Betty, have two daughters: Mela and husband Doug Gunton of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Carol Carnes Johnson and husband Steve Johnson of El Paso; two granddaughters: Lee Carnes of Austin, and Jenny Leavell-Smith and husband Jay of Denver, Colorado, and three great-grandchildren: Chloe Grace Carnes, Audrey Jaquette Smith, and Walker John Smith.