Generously established by members of the Shih-I Pai family, The Dr. Shih-I Pai Distinguished Lecture Series honors Dr. Pai's years of dedication to teaching and research. Annual lectures are given by distinguished scholars in the fields of fluid dynamics and plasma dynamics.
Dr. Shih-I Pai (1913-1996) served on the faculty at the University of Maryland from 1949 until his retirement with Emeritus status in 1983. Dr. Pai was a pioneer in the field of aerodynamics. His breakthrough discoveries helped advance the field from its infancy to its current level of sophistication. Pai was the recipient of a Centennial Medal from the A. James Clark School of Engineering and a founding member of the Institute for Fluid Dynamics and Applied Mathematics, now the Institute for Physical Science and Technology at UMD.