As a Ph.D. supervisor of Shanghai Maritime University, Professor Shen once acted as the president of Shanghai Maritime College (now Shanghai Maritime University) and is now the independent director of China Shipping Container Lines Co., Ltd. (CSCL). With an education background at East China Technical University of Water Resources (now Hohai University) from Sept. 1957 to April 1968 for bachelor degree in Watercourses and Ports and then master degree in Engineering Mechanics under Academician Xu Zhilun, he served successively as teacher, lecturer and associate professor of Chongqing Jiaotong College (now Chongqing Jiaotong University) and Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering (now Chongqing Jianzhu University) from Sept. 1966 to Dec. 1979. He went to the U.S. as a visiting scholar to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and University of Florida from Aug. 1981 to Aug. 1983, and then became the vice president of Chongqing Jiaotong College. During the following three years since Feb. 1985, he was appointed successively as dean, secretary of CPC General Branch and professor of Shanghai Maritime College. Immediately after that, he served as the vice president and professor of Shanghai Maritime College until Nov. 1991 when he was promoted to be the president. During this period, he was invited to New Jersey Institute of Technology as a visiting scholar from Aug. 1997 to Jan. 1998. He acted as the director of the Institute of Network and Computing, Shanghai Maritime College from May 1995 to July 2002, and chief engineer of CABR Technology Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch from 2004 to Dec. 2008.

He has studied and developed China’s problem-oriented language SAL, designed and developed the engineering application software development environment CADSYDE, which includes engineering date management and engineering specification management. He is recently focusing on the object-oriented knowledge base. His teachings and studies have made certain contributions to China’s computer applications in engineering. He was awarded the titles of "An Excellent Teacher of Shanghai” and “A Labor Model of Shanghai” at the end of 1987.