Paul David Arthur

Beloved former UC Irvine mechanical engineering professor Paul D. Arthur passed away March 18, 2017, at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. He was 92.

Arthur earned his doctorate in aeronautics and mathematics from the California Institute of Technology. Early in his career, he was a pioneer in the subject of re-entry dynamics from space and taught graduate-level engineering classes in orbital mechanics at USC, mostly night classes for engineers and scientists in the aerospace industry. At the University of Florida in 1965, he became an early leader in distance learning. Arthur was recruited to the UCI School of Engineering in 1968 by founding Dean Robert M. Saunders to lead the school’s development of televised courses for Orange County’s engineering industry.

Arthur joined UCI as a faculty in systems engineering and, in 1973, joined Professor Scott Samuelsen, Professor Robert Lee, and Adjunct Professor Larry Muzio to establish a nascent mechanical engineering program. While Arthur taught a variety of courses, fluid dynamics, dynamics, and systems design were his major focus. He was pivotal in the mechanical engineering program garnering accreditation in 1975, just two years after inception.

Arthur was unusually popular with students due to his infectious and outgoing personality, and sense of humor. He led many of the early capstone senior design courses, and is remembered for being chased by the UCI Police as he “flew” a hovercraft, built by students in mechanical engineering, in Aldrich Park. Alumni immediately smile at the mention of Arthur’s name and invariably recall an impact...always positive and usually profound….that he had on their life.

Arthur spoke five languages. Being fluent in Spanish, he periodically taught an extra session of fluid dynamics in Spanish. He was instrumental in developing and running the Minority Introduction to Engineering program, a summer residential program to encourage and inform minority high school students who had finished their sophomore year and shown an interest in science and mathematics. Most notably, he reached out over his tenure to embolden young Hispanics in Orange County to consider engineering, resulting in an impressive increase in undergraduate enrollment of underrepresented students in UCI engineering. One of those to whom he reached out, Patty Duenas, was the UCI valedictorian for the Class of 1982.

Another notable story was Rosa Navarro, a Santa Ana High School student and native of Mexico. While attending the summer program for minority students, she was noticed by Arthur, who was so impressed with her mathematical abilities that he drove across the border to plead with her parents to let her attend an American college. She ended up at USC majoring in electrical engineering and biomedical engineering. Years later, she went on to earn a medical degree and became an anesthesiologist. Navarro named her first son Arthur after the professor who inspired her to become an engineer.

The UCI campus honored Arthur in 1981 as a recipient of the Lauds and Laurels award for University Service and as Engineering Instructor of the Year in 1986-87. He retired from UCI in 1987.

Arthur is survived by his second wife of 46 years, Annelle; two sons; two stepsons and nine grandchildren.

Scott Samuelsen, Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Environmental Engineering
John LaRue, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Lori Brandt, Communications Manager, Samueli School of Engineering