Louis A. Martin-Vega
Dean of Engineering
Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega is the Dean of Engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. With more than 8,500 students, 700 faculty and staff, and $129 million in annual research expenditures, NC State’s College of Engineering is internationally recognized for the excellence of its research, education and outreach programs. In 2008, the College received an $18.5 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish FREEDM, an Engineering Research Center focused on developing the next generation of distribution and management systems for renewable energy sources.
Martin-Vega came to NC State in 2006 after spending five years as dean of engineering at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. He has also held several prestigious positions at NSF including acting head of its Engineering Directorate and director of NSF’s Division of Design, Manufacture and Industrial Innovation. He has also served as chairman of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Lehigh University, Lockheed Professor in the College of Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology and held tenured faculty positions at the University of Florida and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 journal articles, book chapters and other publications and has made numerous keynote and related presentations at national and international forums.
His research and teaching interests are in production and manufacturing systems, logistics and distribution, operations management and engineering education. His work has been supported by NSF, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the US Air Force, Harris Semiconductor, and Hewlett-Packard, among other sources. A registered professional engineer in Florida and Puerto Rico, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and a member of INFORMS, ASEE, Tau Beta Pi, Alpha Pi Mu and Sigma Xi.
Martin-Vega received the Albert Holzman Distinguished Educator Award from IIE in May 1999 and served as president of IIE in 2007-08. He was also inducted into the Pan American Academy of Engineering in 2002. His efforts in college education and promotion of diversity were nationally recognized in 2000 through his receipt of the Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Award – Higher Education Category from HENACC. In 2007 he received the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) National Hispanic Scientist Award and was named that same year by Hispanic Business magazine as one of its 100 Most Influential Hispanics. He was recognized in 2008 as the Outstanding Engineer in North Carolina by the North Carolina Society of Engineers.
He received the Industrial and Systems Engineering Alumni Leadership Award from the University of Florida in 2009, the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ UPS Award for Minority Advancement in Industrial Engineering in 2010, and is currently on the executive board of the National GEM Consortium.
Martin-Vega received his BS in industrial engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, an MS in operations research from New York University and ME and PhD degrees in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Florida.