Martin-Vega honored with IIE Award for Minority Advancement

Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been honored with the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ UPS Award for Minority Advancement in Industrial Engineering.

The award honors organizations or individuals that have, through innovative means, developed programs or projects aimed at the advancement of women, minorities or the disabled in the field of industrial engineering. IIE is the world’s largest professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving quality and productivity.

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; 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.