In Loving Memory of - Morgan State University

Dr. Shinya Kikuchi, 69, Chaired Professor of Transportation Systems Engineering atVirginia Polytechnic Institute of Technology in Falls Church, VA, died on December6, 2012, at Christiana Hospital in Delaware.Among hundreds of students I have taught, my contacts with Shinya have beenspecial because during more than 40 years since he came to study at Penn, he was mystudent, then alumnus and one of the founders of our Alumni Club - TSEAC, he wasprofessional colleague, as well as personal friend, including families on both sides.From many memories of him that I have, I will select some that are most significantand memorable.Personal BackgroundProfessor Kikuchi grew up in Kobe, Japan and obtained Bachelor’s and Master’sdegrees at Hokkaido University in Sapporo. Interestingly, his grandfather studied atthe Rensselaer Institute of Technology many decades ago. That may have influencedShinya to go to the United States for his further studies: in 1970 he came to theUniversity of Pennsylvania, where he studied Transportation Systems Engineeringand obtained Ph.D. degree in 1974.Shinya worked hard to adjust to living alone in this country. After his doctorate hegot a job with a consulting firm in Seattle. To get there, he rented a car and drovealone across the country After three years he transferred to General Motors in Detroit,Michigan, where he worked for another five years.I met Shinya’s father in Japan in 1979, while Shinya worked for General Motors. Thefather asked me how Shinya was doing. My answer was that he was doing all right,but that he has more potential for a stronger professional career which he was not yetusing. “He could do more” was my answer.Shinya Kikuchi did decide to try to get into academia. He applied and got a positionat the University of Delaware, where he worked then 25 years. There he introducedmany initiatives. He founded a program in Transportation Engineering incooperation with other departments and their programs. He obtained funds to doresearch and attract students from many countries. It was obvious that in academicenvironment he was using much more of his intellectual potential that I knew he had.In 2005 Dr. Kikuchi transferred to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute of Technology asa Charles E. Via Chair Professor and director of its Civil and EnvironmentalEngineering Program.In his personal life, Shinya did maintain some contacts with his family and with someprofessional colleagues in Japan. However, he also found many friends in his newnative country, the United States. Here he met Laura and they got married during abeautiful event which we like to remember – it was 37 years ago! Through Laura hegot a new family in Peru, with which he developed stronger ties than with his ownfamily on the other side of the Pacific.45