Shuler graduated with a PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1973 and a BS from the University of Notre Dame in 1969. Both degrees were in Chemical Engineering. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Notre Dame in 2008.
He joined Cornell in 1974 in the School of Chemical Engineering. He is currently the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Chemical Engineering and the James and Marsha McCormick Chair of Biomedical Engineering. He was the Director for the School of Chemical Engineering from 1998 to 2002 and the founding chair for Biomedical Engineering (2004 - present). Additionally, he is the Director of the Center on the Microenvironment and Metastasis (CMM). The CMM is funded by the National Cancer Institute as a Physical Sciences - Oncology Center. Shuler has received numerous teaching, advising, and research related awards. Among his honors is election to the National Academy of Engineering (1989) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996).