 Education
1948B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University
Distinguished Alumnus Award (1964)
1949M.S., Applied Mechanics, Harvard University
1953Ph.D., Applied Mechanics, University of Maryland
Honor and Professional Societies
Sigma Xi, Phi Eta Sigma, Pi Tau Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, Order of the Engineer
While giving a student lecture as a senior at Northeastern University, Irving Shames decided to forego the plan of entering the family engineering company and instead to become a university teacher.
Positions, Activities and Recognitions by Institution
University of Maryland
1949-1953Instructor
1953-1955Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Naval Ordnance Laboratory
1953-1955Lectured while at UM
Stevens Institute of Technology
1955-1957Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Pratt Institute
1957-1962Professor and Chairman, Engineering Science Department
1960-1961Acting Chairman, Physics Department
University at Buffalo
1962Professor and Chairman, Division of Interdisciplinary Studies and Research, School of Engineering, beginning a thirty-plus-year relationship
● Instrumental in starting: Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Science, Nuclear Engineering
● For over thirty years, was UB Engineering’s lead engineering mechanics professor ● Worked on membranes with famous biologist, Professor J. Danielli 1964TBP NY Nu chapter Teacher of the Year Award
1966Faculty Teaching Award (first to ever be awarded)
1969Visiting Professor: Technion, Israel
1970-1973Faculty Professor, Engineering and Applied Sciences
1973 Professor and Chairman, Department of Engineering Science, Aerospace Engineering and Nuclear Engineering
1975Student Teaching Award (university-wide, first to ever be awarded)
1975Visiting Professor: Technion, Israel
1978SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence
1980SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, the highest faculty rank in the SUNY system.
1986 & 1987 Obtained support for two summers to conduct Mechanics workshops for lead mechanics professors at community colleges
1989Golden Key Honor Society (member of the first group of faculty inducted as honorary members)
TBP NY Nu chapter Teacher of the Year Award
1991The Mechanics Workshops (1986 and 1987, above) were later supported by a National Science Foundation grant as a two-week workshop for faculty in the U.S., to share instructional techniques in mechanics and computers. Thus, techniques that Dr. Shames developed through the years in his own teaching have been shared with college instructors throughout the United States, further disseminating instruction to an even larger group of engineering students.
1993Retired and named Professor Emeritus
Engineering Dean’s Award, the School of Engineering’s highest honor
When he left Buffalo, at least 18 faculty colleagues remained, whom he had brought to the School.
1995UB Engineer of the Year Award, a recognition from the UB Engineering Alumni Association
George Washington University
1993Distinguished Visiting Professor for first two years
Honored by the Civil & Environmental Engineering department with a regular professorial appointment Speciality Areas
Statics & Dynamics
Strength of Materials
Thermodynamics (Classical)
Statistical Thermodynamics
Linear Systems
Fluid Mechanics
Vibrations
Heat Transfer
Continuum Mechanics
Electromagnetic Theory
Advanced Mathematics
Variational Methods
Photoelasticity
Theory of Elasticity
Incompressible Flow
Compressible Flow
Finite Elements
Advanced Dynamics
Classical Mechanics
Calculus of Variations
Inelastic Stress Analysis
Selected Textbooks
Engineering Mechanics: Statics (Vol. 1), Prentice Hall, 1959, now in its fourth edition
(Translations: Arabic; Chinese; Spanish) Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics (Vol. 2), Prentice Hall, 1959, now in its fourth edition, as Engineering Mechanics: Statics and Dynamics
(Translations: Chinese; Spanish) Published in paperback editions for distribution in Asia, Australia, and Europe Mechanics of Fluids, McGraw-Hill, 1962, now in its fourth edition
(Translations: Korean; Portuguese; Spanish) Published in paperback editions for distribution in Asia, Australia, and Europe In its description of this title, Amazon.com says, “Irving Shames is one of the best-known scholars in the field of engineering mechanics. He pioneered the use of vector calculus techniques in teaching statics and dynamics. He has written successful books in solid mechanics as well as fluid mechanics.” Mechanics of Deformable Solids, Prentice Hall, 1964; now published by R. Krieger
(Translations: Korean; Portuguese; Spanish) Published in paperback editions for distribution in Asia, Australia, and Europe Introduction to Statics, Prentice Hall, 1971
Solid Mechanics: A Variational Approach, with Clive L. Dym, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1973
(Translations: Chinese; Japanese) Published in paperback editions for distribution in Asia, Australia, and Europe Introduction to Solid Mechanics, with James M. Pitarresi, Prentice Hall, 1975, now in its third edition
(Translations: Korean; Portuguese; Spanish) Published in paperback editions for distribution in Asia, Australia, and Europe Energy and Finite Elements in Structural Mechanics, with Dym, McGraw-Hill, 1985, later published in a revised edition by CRC Press
Elastic and Inelastic Stress Analysis, with Francis A. Cozzarelli, Prentice Hall, 1991, later published in a revised edition by CRC Pres
Published in paperback editions for distribution in Asia, Australia, and Europe | ||||
● Researched high-speed deformation of solids