Martin-Vega honored with Orthogonal Medal

Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been honored with the Orthogonal Medal for Distinguished Service in Graphic Science by the university’s graphic communications faculty.

The Orthogonal Medal was created in 1985 to honor those who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of graphic science. Dr. Jose Picart, interim dean of the College of Education at NC State, presented the medal to Martin-Vega on April 27.

The name of the medal is derived from the right-angular relationship of three mutually perpendicular planes that intersect to create four quadrants used in developing the theory of orthographic projection for recording the shape and size of three-dimensional objects. Within each quadrant depicted on the medal is the likeness of a notable person whose accomplishments contributed significantly to the development of graphic science as a field of study.

Martin-Vega has been dean of engineering at NC State since 2006. Prior to coming to NC State, he spent nearly five years as professor and dean of engineering at the University of South Florida. Martin-Vega has also served as the acting head of the Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF); director of NSF’s Division of Design, Manufacture and Industrial Innovation; and the chair of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Lehigh University.

Martin-Vega was honored as the Outstanding Engineer in North Carolina for 2008 by the North Carolina Society of Engineers and was named one of Hispanic Business magazine’s 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the nation for 2007. He holds a B.S. in industrial engi­neering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, an M.S. in operations research from New York University, and M.E. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Florida.