Shenhar recognized as leading project management scholar

Dr. Aaron J. Shenhar, Institute Professor of Management in the Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology, was honored as the first recipient of the Project Management Institute Research Achievement Award.

The award was bestowed recently at the Project Management Institute (PMI) Global Congress 2003 held in The Hague, Netherlands.

Shenhar was recognized for the many significant contributions that his scholarly research has made to the advancement of the practice of project management. One of Shenhar’s outstanding contributions cited by PMI was a study that considered the strengths and weaknesses of more than 600 industrial projects.

The PMI Research Achievement Award was created to honor an individual or group of individuals who have “significantly enhanced the concepts, knowledge, and/or practice of project management through professionally conducted and authored project management research.” The research must be based upon a stated and/or previously published hypothesis, which is used for the direction of the research, and which also has had an enduring or practical value.

Through his research, Shenhar has developed a new approach to project management called Strategic Project Leadership™ (SPL). The goal of SPL is to focus projects on creating competitive advantage. His approach also provides a framework and a practical step-by-step system for the alignment of project management with business results. SPL also sets out to transform project management practitioners into leaders.

Shenhar holds five academic degrees in engineering and management, including a doctorate from Stanford University. He is also a visiting professor at Tel Aviv University and the Technion in Israel.
In addition to his honor from the PMI, Shenhar has received many awards, including the Stevens Jess H. Davis Research Award, the Henry Morton Distinguished Teaching Professor Award, and the prestigious Engineering Manager of the Year Award from the IEEE Engineering Management Society.

Prior to his academic career, he was involved for nearly 20 years in managing projects, innovation, research and development, and high technology businesses. With more than 150 publications to his credit, his writings and research have influenced project management research, education, and practice throughout the world. Among the organizations that have adopted his framework of ideas for their educational programs are 3M, Honeywell, Trane, the United States Army, BMG Entertainment, Lockheed Martin, Liz Claiborne, and the Israel Aircraft Industry.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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