Shen-Chuan Yuan, a native of Hangchow, Chekiang Province, was raised in a rural farm family. During the 1920's, schools were not available in the farming communities. Therefore, his father hired an in-home tutor to teach the primary grades, Mr. Yuan attended Hangchow Senior High School during the Japanese invasion on China. Due to heavy bombing, the school was moved to a distant county where he graduated. His father encouraged him to attend Chiao Tung University in Chungking. After a 35-day trek, overcoming many difficulties, he made it to Chungking and was admitted to CTU,

Mr. Yuan graduated in 1945 with a degree in civil engineering. He worked for Lung Hai Railroad to reconstruct damaged bridges, road embankments and tracks caused by the Japanese invasion. He moved to Taiwan in 1948 and worked for the following companies:Taiwan Railroad Administration designing railroad facilities; Taiwan Fertilizer Company where he helped build a new urea plant; and Shihmen Development Commission to construct an earth dam, a reservoir, irrigation canals and a hydraulic power plant.

Mr. Yuan traveled to the United States in 1963 and received a Master of Science degree at the University of Colorado. In 1964, he went to work for Steams-Roger Engineering Corp. in Denver Colorado. His work involved designing numerous power generating stations and chemical plants until his retirement in 1985. Since then, he has consulted for and designed geothermal power plants and hydraulic projects for Stone & Webster Corp. and Frederic Harris ECI, Inc.

Mr. Yuan married Hazel Chien in 1949. They have three sons, a daughter, and seven grandchildren. He feels that his success was inspired by his father and he established a scholarship fund at CTU Hsinchu campus in 1982 in his memory. In I M, he traveled to China with his family and was very proud and impressed when they visited the CTU Shanghai campus.