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June 27, 2006

Dr. Louis Martin-Vega Named Dean of NC State’s College of Engineering

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega

Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega, dean and professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Engineering, has been named dean of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University, effective Aug. 7. Provost Larry A. Nielsen announced the appointment today.

Martin-Vega succeeds Dr. Nino A. Masnari, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who has served as dean for 10 years.

“We’re proud to have Louis Martin-Vega join NC State as dean of the College of Engineering,” Nielsen said. “His dynamic skills will lead the college to even greater heights as a training ground for the next generation of engineers and as a place where cutting-edge research provides real-world solutions to problems.”

With more than 5,000 undergraduates and 1,600 graduate students, the College of Engineering is NC State’s largest college. It is third among all U.S. engineering colleges in total degrees awarded.

In nearly five years as dean at the University of South Florida, Martin-Vega recruited 40 new faculty members to the College of Engineering and helped attract significant increases in federal funding and external research. He oversaw infrastructure and building growth and developed undergraduate research and K-12 outreach programs.

Prior to joining the University of South Florida, Martin-Vega served as acting head of the Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF), stewarding a $440 million budget that supports research and education programs. He also served as director of NSF’s Division of Design, Manufacture and Industrial Innovation from 1998 to 2000.

Martin-Vega also spent seven years as a professor at Lehigh University, including four as chair of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering. He served as Lockheed Professor in the College of Engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology for three years, and directed the University of Florida’s Center for Electronics Manufacturing in addition to serving as a professor in the university’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He also held a tenured faculty position at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. His research and teaching interests are manufacturing, logistics and distribution, operations management, and production and service systems.

Martin-Vega is a member or elected fellow of several engineering societies and organizations, including the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the National Engineering Deans Council and the Pan American Academy of Engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in Florida and Puerto Rico.

Among his numerous awards and honors, Martin-Vega received the Albert Holtzman Distinguished Educator Award from the Institute of Industrial Engineers in 1999 and the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award in the college education category in 2000. He also received multiple outstanding faculty awards – including the College of Engineering Teacher of the Year Award – from the University of Florida.

Martin-Vega serves on a number of boards, committees and review panels in his academic field, including more than two dozen – over the span of his career – for NSF. He also serves on editorial boards for several industrial engineering journals and publications.  

A productive scholar and noted speaker, Martin-Vega has authored or co-authored several manuscripts, book chapters and book reviews, as well as dozens of scientific and technical publications. He is also frequently invited to give scholarly presentations at educational and scientific gatherings.

Martin-Vega, 58, was born in New York and received his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in 1968. He earned a master’s degree in operations research from New York University in 1971 and a master’s in systems engineering from the University of Florida in 1973. He received his Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Florida in 1975.