Clarkson University Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering Hayley H. Shen has been named professor emeritus for exemplary service to the University. Formal recognition will take place at commencement, which is currently planned for August 15.
Over the past 44 years, Shen has been a dedicated educator and researcher.
Shen began her career at Clarkson in 1976 as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics. She pursued a second Ph.D. degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering after teaching in the Mathematics Department for three years. She then transferred to Civil & Environmental Engineering after completing her Ph.D. in fluid mechanics and thermal sciences in 1982, and rose from assistant to full professor. In addition, she served as the first associate director of the Honors Program from 2003-2011 with a one-year break for sabbatical.
In addition to graduate courses that helped students build foundations for research skills, Shen routinely taught large undergraduate classes with a total of more than 3,000 students. She believed in teaching from a student point-of-view, with a teaching style described by her students as “vibrant.” She brought in laboratory components to large fluid mechanics classes in which every student gained true hands-on experience with instrumentation, data collection and analysis, to verify the theories found in print.
Together with Professor David Craig, then the director of the Honors Program, Shen established an undergraduate thesis process within the Honors Program. As associate director she was able to reach a 100 percent completion rate in honors theses by the time she finished her tenure. It was from this platform that the annual Symposium on Undergraduate Research Experiences became part of the Clarkson fabric.
She co-directed a National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program from 2000-2013. Each summer, undergraduate students recruited from Clarkson and universities all over the United States went to to four top Chinese universities for research projects in marine science and engineering, and advanced materials. In total, more than 163 undergraduate student from 43 U.S. states participated. Many of the alumni of this program received highly prestigious national and international awards.
Shen’s research covers two distinct areas: granular materials and wave-ice interaction. In each area she has shown a ground-breaking approach to problems. When she started, both areas of research were in their infancy. Now, both hold multiple conferences annually across the globe. She introduced the energy balance concept to determine the “granular temperature” intensity and developed a phase-diagram for granular flows to smoothly bridge the rapid and quasi-static flows, thereby connecting the distinct mechanics underpinning chemical and geotechnical engineering. Since 2007, the start of the public awareness of the rapid change in the Arctic, Shen’s work in the marginal ice zone has become a focal point in the sea ice community. Her wave-ice interaction model is now part of NOAA’s WAVEWATCH III, a global wave forecast model used by the international research and applications community.
A long-term contributor to the American Society of Civil Engineers Mechanics Institute, Shen began as a news correspondent in 1989, rising to governor in 2013. There she promoted a broad range of mechanics advancements. Her roles included chair of the fluids committee, granular materials committee, associate editor for J. Engineering Mechanics, the executive committee and the advisory committee. She was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers Mechanics in 2018.
Through her career, Shen secured $4.3 million in total research funding. She edited five books, and published 93 journal papers, five book chapters, 89 peer-reviewed conference proceedings papers and hundreds of presentations. She directed 12 Ph.D. students, four visiting Ph.D. students, six M.S. students, and co-directed three Ph.D. students.
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