Karl S. Pister | |
|---|---|
 Receiving the Berkeley Medal, 1996 | |
| Born | 27 June 1925 |
| Died | 14 May 2022 (aged 96) |
| Nationality | United States |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1952 - 2012 |
| Known for | Academic leadership |
| Title | Professor, Dean, Chancellor |
| Signature | |
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Karl Stark Pister (1925-2022) was an American academic in engineering. He held various leadership positions at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, including Dean of the College of Engineering and Chancellor.
Karl Stark Pister was born June 27, 1925, in Stockton, California. [1] He graduated from Stockton High School as class valedictorian in 1942, [2] and from UC Berkeley with a BS in Civil Engineering in 1945. After a short stint in the Naval Reserve and an assignment to Okinawa, Japan, during World War II, he commenced studies at Berkeley during the fall of 1946, and graduated with an MS in Civil Engineering in 1948. This was followed by a PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1952. [3] [4]
When Pister was hired at UC Berkeley in 1952, he initially conducted research on material properties of Portland Cement Concrete and the behavior of torpedo nets. For this early research work, he received the Wason Medal for Research, awarded by the American Concrete Institute. [lower-alpha 1] During the late 1950s he also began a multi-decade association with Lawrence Livermore National Labs. [4] Over the next two decades, he served as vice-chair of the Civil Engineering Department (1964–65), Chairman of the Division of Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics (1970–71), Chairman of Committee on Educational Policy at Berkeley (1972–73), Senate Policy chair and Academic Senate, Berkeley Division, vice chair (1976–78), and Vice chairman and chairman of the nine-campus Academic Council and Assembly of the Academic Senate (1978–1980). [4]
A distinguished alumnus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, [3] Pister was appointed Dean of the College of Engineering in 1980, a position he held for ten years. From 1985 to 1990, he was the first holder of the Roy W. Carlson Chair in Engineering. [6] From 1991 to 1996 he served as Chancellor, UC Santa Cruz. He then returned to Berkeley to work as vice president for Educational Outreach in the UC Office of the President (1999–2000) and to chair the task force on upgrading California Memorial Stadium (2004–2012). Pister was committed to promote social justice. [4]
A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected in 1994 while being the Chancellor of the University of California at Santa Cruz, in the area of "Mathematical and Physical Sciences" with specialty "Engineering and Technology," [lower-alpha 2] Pister was the recipient of the Berkeley Medal (1996) [lower-alpha 3] and the Presidential Medal of the University of California (2000). In 2006, The California Alumni Association named him Cal Alumnus of the Year. [4]
The American Society for Engineering Education presented him with the Vincent Bendix Award for Minorities in Engineering, and the ASEE Lamme Medal (from the American Society of Engineering Education), which is "bestowed upon a distinguished engineering educator for contributions to the art of teaching, contributions to research and technical literature and achievements that contribute to the advancement of the profession of engineering college administration." He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an Honorary Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. [4]
Pister was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1980 for his "Contributions in the use of advanced principles of mechanics in understanding the behavior of engineering materials." [6]
Karl Pister married Rita Olsen in 1950. They have four daughters and two sons. [4]
Part 1 consists of eighteen items, a biography of Professor Pister followed by seventeen individual tributes to Professor Pister. Part 2 consists of fourteen technical papers dedicated to Professor Pister, followed by Part 3, a memory-lane with photos of the participants from way back when, particularly around the time of their closest interaction with Professor Pister, either through research or through administration.
Specifically, we intentionally arranged Part 1 to reflect a certain balance of diversity that Professor Pister sought for much of his later career as a university administrator, as described in detail in the long tribute by Dr. Sheila Humphreys titled “Karl S. Pister and the Foundation of Diversity in Engineering”. It is with regret that the same extent of the balance in Part 1 could not be replicated in Part 2.
We pay particular attention to the permanence of Web resources cited in this special issue. For example, the University of Maryland Office of the President (umd.edu), which would show different UMD presidents depending on when this webpage is accessed many years in the future, is accompanied by the archived, permanent webpage Internet archived on 2021.06.05, which will always display the photo and leadership of UMD President Darryll Pines, an alumnus from the University of California at Berkeley, and a contributor to this special issue. A website could have its address changed, or removed completely in the future, but its Internet archived version remains permanent.
Similarly, as Wikipedia articles constantly continue to evolve, with new information added and errors corrected by many editors (and are sometimes vandalized, but almost always quickly reverted to the previous good version), the version of any Wikipedia article at the time of access in this special issue, such as the article ‘Cesar Chavez’ in connection with the tribute by Ms. Lola Martin-Atilano, is immediately followed by the archived, fixed version closest to the time of writing for this special issue, such as Wikipedia version 19:58, 19 May 2021 .
We are well aware of the birthdate of Professor Pister. This special issue was started in 2020 when we underestimated the time it took to put it together with a quality level where it is now. Since many participants were informed of the special issue title, we keep it the same, as the (late) birthday present, and the effort expanded into creating it, would mean more than the actual age in the title. In addition, a mid-decade celebration seems to resonate well.
So Happy Birthday Karl. We wish you continued good health and good spirit.
With our appreciation, gratitude, respect, and very best regards,
Karl Pister Special Issue editors
Loc Vu-Quoc1 and Shaofan Li2 (2021 Nov 25)
1Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, USA ∙ vql@illinois.edu
2Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ∙ Shaofan@berkeley.edu [8] ❞
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