James R. Martin has many connections with the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He graduated from the department with an M.S. in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1990. Dr. Martin received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from The Citadel in 1985. He joined Virginia Tech as a faculty member from 1990 through 2013 when he became Professor and Chair of Civil Engineering in the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering at Clemson University.

At Clemson University, he is leading the recently endowed CE department of 28 faculty, 475 undergraduate and 125 graduate students. His major accomplishments include leading new strategic initiative to develop top-ranked national CEE program and establishing a dual Ph.D. civil engineering degree program with Tongji University. This is the first dual Ph.D. program in civil engineering between Tongji and a United States university and the first dual Ph.D. program of any kind for Clemson University. He also conceptualized and led new university-level corporate partnership with 40th ranked Fortune 500 corporation to develop a new research institute that will provide estimate revenues of $125 to $150 million over 10 years, support for 200 researchers and an additional $35 million in endowments and naming rights, representing the largest single partnership and gift in the history of the University. Dr. Martin led a new Strategic Plan for the College of Engineering and Science at Clemson University and is leading a new strategic initiative to develop top-ranked national CEE program. This involves forming a School of the Built Environment consisting of approximately 60 T/TT faculty from the CE, EE, Urban Planning, and Construction Science and Management Departments. Dr. Martin’s research focus is on natural hazard mitigation, risk-based decision making, multi-organizational alliances and partnerships and adaptive risk management of large-scale infrastructure systems.

He led efforts at Virginia Tech to develop the DRM institute, a university research center and graduate education program that reaches across disciplinary boundaries to address emerging global disaster risk and resilience challenges. Faculty members from four different colleges and five departments were involved in the institute. As Professor in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in geotechnical and earthquake engineering, soil mechanics, foundation engineering, soil and site improvement, natural disaster mitigation, and disaster risk management.

He has provided professional services for more than 75 private firms and agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC).

He has received significant recognition for his work, including Civil Engineering Faculty of the Year Award (1992 and 1998), College of Engineering Certificate of Teaching Excellence (1992 and 1996), NSF Young Investigator (1993), James M. Robbins Excellence in Teaching Award (1994), State Council of Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV) Outstanding Faculty Award (1996), American Society of Civil Engineers Noman Medal (1996), Edward S. Diggs Scholar (2000). At Virginia Tech, we was also awarded the Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence by the Virginia Tech Civil Engineering Alumni Board in 2001 and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service by the College of Engineering in 2006.