Ralph Stephens, a mechanical engineering professor emeritus who was internationally renowned in fatigue and fracture mechanics, died at the age of 89 on May 8, 2024. Stephens left a professional legacy of developing student abilities by creating opportunities for them to experiment. Throughout his career, Stephens would also provide cultural and professional observations as he lectured and taught around the globe, including in the Soviet Union and other communist nations.
Stephens was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 3, 1934. After earning a PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Stephens was hired by the University of Iowa. He and wife, Barbara, moved to Iowa City in 1965 with their young children, Susan and Bob. Their third child, Kristen, was born in 1966.
At Iowa, where he would work for 47 years, he helped start the bioengineering program and designed instruments to aid in research performed by bioengineers and medical professionals. Students would recognize they could make worthwhile contributions to mankind and their own training as they applied engineering to medicine, he stated at the time.
Underscoring his commitment to young engineers, he and Barbara donated to the Department of Mechanical Engineering to support the Professor Ralph and Barbara Stephens Experimental Engineering Lab. This led to a new class offering, equipment, and annual funding.
Austin Krebill, a mechanical engineering lecturer, called the lab a critical resource for students and a "space for students to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, preparing students for professional engineering challenges,” and to expand their creativity and deepen their understanding.
“A professor’s major role should be more toward motivating a student rather than one toward giving detailed directions,” Stephens was quoted in a 1970 edition of Automotive Engineering. “More independent training should be incorporated into the undergraduate curricula at all levels.”
Stephens continued to learn and gain understanding through his many undergraduate and graduate students as well as travels, which included Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, West Germany, and the United Kingdom. In a visiting professor’s essay published in 1979 in a Korean newspaper, he stated, “My answer to ‘why Korea?’ is that I felt I could contribute to a developing Korean nation and its people and at the same time expand my own knowledge and experience as a person and as a University Professor.”
Stephens was active in the Society of Automotive Engineers and American Standard for Testing and Materials. He also had many hobbies, including auto racing, which he incorporated into the research and teaching of experimentation, mechanical systems design, independent investigation, and vehicle dynamics and simulation. Above all, he is remembered as a loving husband, father, and grandfather.