Draft:Prof. Surendra shah

Surendra Poonamchand Shah has an impressive career spanning nearly 55 years. He is currently serving as the Presidential Distinguished Professor of the Department of Civil Engineering and Materials Science Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington since 2019. He also holds the title of Walter P. Murphy Professor emeritus at Northwestern University since 2012. His tenure at Northwestern University includes various positions and responsibilities such as director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Center for Advanced Cement-Based Materials from 1990-2012, Professor of Civil Engineering from 1981-2012 and the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Civil Engineering within the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. Dr. Shah’s academic journey began at the University of Illinois, where he rose through the ranks from assistant professor (1966-1969) to associate professor (1969-1973) and the director of the graduate program in the department of materials engineering from 1973-1981.

Education

Dr. Shah completed his bachelor’s degree from BVM Engineering College, India in 1959. He pursued his graduate studies at Lehigh University in 1960. He then went further to pursue Doctor of Philosophy from Cornell University which was awarded to him in 1965.

Professional career

Dr. Shah has extended his expertise beyond his primary professional duties, serving as a consultant for United Nations, various government bodies, and industries across the United States, France, Switzerland, China, Denmark and the Netherlands. He has been a visiting professor at prestigious universities including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Delft University of Technology, Technical University of Denmark, LCPC in France, The University of Syndey and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He served as a visiting scientist at NATO in 1992. In addition to this, Dr. Shah has held the post of distinguished professor at the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras starting in 2014.

He has held esteemed positions as an honorary professor at several universities including the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Tongji University among others. He is a member of Institute of Advanced Studies at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. A prolific author, Dr. Shah has co-authored significant works such as Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites” and “High Performance Concrete and Applications” and has over 500 articles to his credit in scholarly journals. As an editor, he has overseen the publication of 20 books and served as editor-in-chief for Materials and Structures from 2001 to 2005 and the co-author-in-chief for Frontiers of Structural and Civil Engineering since 2017. His editorial expertise extends to multiple international journals.

Dr. Shah was appointed as the chairman of the technical committees of the American Concrete Institute and the International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures. His involvement with the American Society of Civil Engineers as the past chairman of the technical committee, executive committee member and a member of the advisory board member of the Engineering Mechanics Division. Furthermore, he is part of the committee conducting research on concrete materials for the Transportation Research Board.

Honors and Awards  

Dr. Shah has received numerous prestigious awards throughout his distinguished career. He stands out as the sole civil engineer to be inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Indian Academy of Engineering, Academy of Athens, and Russian Academy of Engineering. He is a two time recipient of Fullbright Lectureship Award and the Della Roy Lectureship from the American Ceramic Society. He is recognized as an honorary member of the American Concrete Institute, and the Internation Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures. He accepted the Thompson award from the American Society of Testing and Materials in 1983. Further accolades include the Distinguished U.S. Visiting Scientist Award from the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation in 1989, the Swedish Concrete Award in 1993, the Engineering News Record Award of Newsmaker in 1995 and the ASCE Charles Penkow Award in 1997.