Remembering Steven J. Fenves (1931-2025)

Steven J. (Steve) Fenves, university professor emeritus and a distinguished member of the Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty at Carnegie Mellon from 1972 to1999, passed away peacefully with his family by his side in Chevy Chase, Maryland on December 23, 2025. 

Steve Fenves earned BS (1957), MS (1958), and PhD (1961) degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and subsequently joined the UIUC Civil Engineering faculty.  In 1962-63, while working at M.I.T, he along with several colleagues developed a computer program, named STRESS, that began the transition of structural engineering into the computer age. The National Academy of Engineering did an interview of Steve by then-NAE President John Anderson, which goes into more detail about how Steve developed and named STRESS, and its many impressive applications to real-world structural engineering challenges (https://www.nae.edu/313156/Conversations-with-Engineering-Pioneers-Steven-J-Fenves). Steve’s subsequent research at UIUC focused on the use of computers in engineering design and analysis.  He was also a pioneer in forging collaborations with researchers at other institutions, in other fields, and outside of academia such as engineers at the National Bureau of Standards (now National Institute of Standards and Technology) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory.   

Former president Richard Cyert recruited Steve to CMU in 1971 as Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, and to lead the development and expansion of an educational and research program in the emerging field of computer-aided engineering (CAE).  After three years of leading the department Steve turned his full attention to building the CAE program.  He went on to supervise dozens of graduate students and to have an important role in recruiting faculty members to grow the CAE program.  One reflection of Steve’s prominence in advancing the CAE field was his election to the National Academy of Engineering in 1976.  A major accomplishment  for CMU that Steve had a central role in was the  Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Steve and his colleagues (Fritz Prinz in MechE, Art Westerberg in ChemE, Steve Director in ECE, Ulrich Flemming in Architecture, and Dan Siewiorek in ECE/Computer Science and others) transformed the Design Research Center into the EDRC as one of the first NSF awards for Engineering Research Centers.  The EDRC achieved a broader and deeper understanding of design by applying both cognitive and computer science techniques.  Steve was very proud of the EDRC and felt that such a center could only succeed at CMU with its interdisciplinary culture.

Steve’s leadership combined with the work of his students and faculty colleagues and collaborators brought the CAE program to national and international prominence.  In June 1994, to honor Steve’s leadership and contributions, his faculty colleagues organized a two-day gathering at Carnegie Mellon of leading CAE researchers and practitioners entitled “Bridging the Generations:  An International Workshop on the Future Directions of Computer-Aided Engineering.” 

One of the faculty members that Steve helped recruit to Carnegie Mellon was CEE professor emeritus Chris Hendrickson, who joined the faculty in 1978.  "Steve was a visionary leader in engineering analysis and design using the then new technology of computers.  He led the formation of a distinguished team of researchers not only in CEE but across the college and the university.  Steve was a wonderful professional colleague and friend."

Provost, former Dean of Engineering, and CEE Professor Jim Garrett was a PhD student with Steve from 1982-1986, joined the faculty at UIUC after graduation, and Steve helped recruit him back to Carnegie Mellon in 1991.  “I first met Steve Fenves when I was 19 years old.  He taught Structures II in the Spring of 1980.  I was so impressed with his approach to computer-aided engineering that I later asked if I could do my PhD with him.  I could not have asked for a better PhD advisor.  He was infinitely patient, encouraged his students to be curious, was always supportive of exploring new ideas and amazing in his ability to see and help remove the obstacle standing in the way of his advisee’s progress. Steve taught his advisees what an excellent advisor looked like and how he/she behaved.”

Former CMU CEE faculty member Mary Lou Maher, now a Professor at the University of Sydney in Computer Science and Professor Emeritus at UNC Charlotte, was advised by Steve for her PhD starting in 1979 and joined the CMU faculty upon receiving her PhD in 1984.    “In 1979, Steve agreed to be my advisor for my PhD at Carnegie Mellon. At one of our first meetings, he suggested we look into AI for Engineering Design. Steve was prescient and able to sense which questions are about to become the most important areas in the world. As an advisor and mentor, Steve was empathetic and encouraging, and treated his students like collaborators. In a time when there were very few women in engineering, and even fewer who started their family at the same time as starting their PhD, Steven encouraged me and made my career possible. We have kept in touch ever since and I am honored to have one of his mother’s sketches and several of Steve’s doodles.”

Steve Fenves had an enormous impact on the CEE department, the College of Engineering, the University, the field of CAE, and on generations of students who carried forth and built upon his vision. 

A beautiful tribute to Steve and overview of his life and career by his son Gregory L. Fenves, president emeritus and now chancellor at Emory University, is available at: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7409636423286550528/

As expressed by his son, even more important to Steve than his professional accomplishments were his family and the responsibilities that he felt as a survivor of the Holocaust, to inform current and future generations about the reality of what occurred.  He began speaking as a survivor after joining CMU and helped establish the city’s Holocaust Survivors Organization, serving as its president. Accounts of Steve’s experiences are available from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where Steve dedicated many hours as a survivor-volunteer.

https://www.ushmm.org/remember/holocaust-reflections-testimonies/eyewitness-to-history/steven-fenves

https://www.ushmm.org/remember/holocaust-survivors/volunteers/steven-fenves

The CEE family of faculty, staff, students and alums express condolences to Steve’s wife of 70 years, Norma, their four children and spouses, their seven grandchildren and spouses, and their six great-grandchildren.  Steve Fenves will always be remembered for everything he did for Carnegie Mellon and for the students and colleagues whose lives he enriched. 

There will be a memorial held for Steve at Carnegie Mellon University on April 16, 2026.  The announcement with details will be made by email and posted on the CEE website.