As Vice Chancellor for STEM Research and Innovation, James Martin helps integrate Pitt’s STEM programs and leverage their collaborative potential and build pipelines to further diversify the student body and faculty in science, technology, engineering and math.

Martin served most recently as the U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. Under his leadership, the Swanson School advanced several strategic areas, including research funding, PhD enrollments, faculty and student diversity, and government and industry partnerships. Research expenditures within the school increased by more than 33 percent, and undergraduate diversity consistently increased for underrepresented minorities, with first-year female cohorts nearing 40 percent and first-generation students increasing from 5 to 15 percent.

Previously, Martin served as the Bob Benmosche Professor and Chair of the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering at Clemson University, where he led the development of new curricula, establishment of new degree programs and forged new transdisciplinary research collaborations both nationally and in China. Prior to Clemson, Martin served more than 20 years on the civil engineering faculty at Virginia Tech and five years as director of the Disaster Risk Management Institute.

Martin earned a B.S. in civil engineering from The Citadel, and M.S. and PhD degrees in civil engineering from Virginia Tech, and has received numerous national, state and university awards for research, teaching and professional service, including the American Society of Civil Engineer’s Norman Medal, the highest honor for published work in his field.

He is currently a member of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE), as well as the NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) Advisory Committee.