Penn State Altoona rail trans­portation engineering professor Shihui Shen was conferred one of Penn State’s 10 dis­­­­ting­uished professors this year. Courtesy photo

Penn State Altoona rail transportation engineering professor Shihui Shen was given the university’s highest professional merit when she was conferred one of 10 distinguished professors this year.

Shen said she was excited and honored when she found out she was receiving the title, which recognizes outstanding academic contributions to the university and is only bestowed upon a limited number of professors.

According to the university, professors must be leaders in their fields of research or creative activity and demonstrate significant accomplishments with respect to teaching, research and service to be eligible for the distinction.

In 2006, Shen earned her doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in transportation engineering from China’s Southeast University. Before joining Penn State Altoona in 2013, Shen was an assistant professor at Washing­ton State University for six years.

For more than 15 years, Shen has been a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and was awarded fellow status in 2021, an honor held by only 3% of ASCE members.

She studies civil materials and their applications in rail transportation systems and highway engineering. As a co-principal investigator, she recently received a three-year $6.8 million grant to develop and transfer affordable technologies to enhance the safety, efficiency, reliability and sustainability of short line and regional railroads.

Steve Dillen, the campus’ rail transportation engineering program coordinator, said Shen’s acclaim as a scholar has brought significant recognition to the program at Penn State Altoona.

“Dr. Shen’s drive for excellence is reflected in her research, teaching and student engagement,” Dillen said. “In recognition, being named a distinguished professor is a way for the university to show how impactful her accomplishments have been on the railroad industry.”

With the title, Shen said she feels a bigger responsibility to help the university, her students and the community at large to thrive and prosper.

“I think it’s a responsibility and indicates I should do more to return back to the campus and to the university,” Shen said.

Part of her contributions to the university include overseeing the Women in Engineering (WE) Design competition, an idea Shen proposed after Norfolk Southern professionals decided a few years ago to donate to the program and help it grow.

Since women are “very underrepresented” in the railroad industry, Shen said she wanted to expose more women to engineering concepts in the railroad industry because “they don’t think they can be successful in this industry,” when she knows they can.

Even if they are not in the rail transportation engineering program, what students learn in mechanical engineering or computer engineering could contribute to the railroad industry in the future, Shen said.

The competition is open to all Penn State engineering students and its organizers come up with a new theme every year, Shen said.

“We try to first expose them to some railroad concept. The second thing is we want to give them opportunities to work hands-on and practice their team spirit,” Shen said, noting the competition has gone “really well” over the past five years.

The $6.8 million grant is another important project that faculty members have been trying to secure for years, Shen said, noting she has worked closely with her husband, Hai Haung, and other faculty members to secure the funding.

Since Altoona has a big and unique railroad history, they wanted to do something to gain a national reputation for Penn State Altoona, Shen said, noting they originally wanted to build a railroad research center.

But, “it didn’t fly” — for many reasons, Shen said, noting the campus couldn’t obtain the funding support to build the center, so they joined a University Transportation Center in University Park and became their partners for five years.

Now they partner with other universities, but it’s possible Penn State Altoona could initiate its own research center through the grant funding, Shen said.

Shen said helping her students succeed is another motivating factor to continue making tangible contributions to the university.

She said the student body at Penn State is “very different” compared to Washington State, noting every Penn State Altoona student comes into the rail transportation engineering program because they have a passion for railroads.

“They just love trains and love railroads,” Shen said. “A lot of times I admire them because they know, not just the theoretical background, they know so many things about railroad-related history. That makes them very engaged in the classroom and their eyes light up when you talk about railroads or specific things happening in the industry.”

Shen said her third-floor classroom at the Penn Building in downtown Altoona is near railroad tracks and students get excited whenever an Amtrak or Norfolk Southern train passes by.

“Their eyes light up and they are so interested. I think that’s so different and special compared to many other students I taught from a previous university,” Shen said.

Every year, Shen attends conferences and enjoys seeing graduates, who often tell her the knowledge they learned at Penn State Altoona has helped them to succeed in their careers.

“That is a very satisfactory feeling as well to me,” Shen said. “That makes me feel very satisfied and makes me want to continue this job and teach more students.”

Shen and Huang live near State College and have two daughters, Sarah and Katherine. Outside of work, Shen enjoys spending time with her family and her dog, Luna, a German shepherd.

Shen grew up in Nanjing, China, and never left the country before coming to the United States to continue her education. At that time, Shen said she never thought about staying in the country.

After earning her doctorate, Shen decided to earn some work experience at Washington State University, where her area of concentration was in highway transportation.

Shen said she moved to Penn State Altoona to join her husband, whom she met while they attended college together in China.

Although she took time off and went back to China to take care of her mother before she passed away, Shen said her parents did not want her to sacrifice her career, life and family in America to be with them in China.

She said Penn State Altoona and the community at large is full of friendly people, and because her children have friends here, she’s happy to live and work in the area.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.

The Shen file

Name: Shihui Shen

Age: 49

Education: Bachelor’s degree in 1998 and a master’s degree in 2001, both in transportation engineering from Southeast University, China; doctorate in 2006 in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Career: Assistant professor, Washington State University, 2007-13; professor of rail transportation engineering, Penn State Altoona, 2013-present

Family: Husband, Hai Huang; daughters, Sarah and Katherine Huang; Luna, a German Shepherd

Hobbies: Enjoys cooking and spending time with her family and dog