He served as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Born in Xushui County, Zhili (now Baoding, Hebei), he attended National Northwestern Engineering Institute (a predecessor of Northwestern Polytechnical University) until 1945.

He then studied for his master's degree in the United States, at the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, before receiving a doctoral degree in 1952 from the University of Notre Dame.

Shi was a recipient of the 2010 Highest Science and Technology Award.

[3] In 2015, he was honored as one of the "Top Ten People Touching China in 2014".