James R. Martin II

M.S., Civil Engineering, 1987

Ph.D., Civil Engineering, 1990

Induction year: 2026

James Martin grew up on a farm, which he says meant he was already an "engineer" before he knew the word. “Every day was about problem solving and fixing things with your hands and your mind, and that's exactly what engineering is,” he said. 

On summer road trips with his family, he was awed to see large dams, long bridges, highways being carved through mountains, and tall buildings going up before his very eyes. “Those trips stretched my imagination of what could be,” Martin said. “I wanted to understand how people made those things.”

He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at The Citadel, then came to Virginia Tech, where he met the people who showed him what it looked like to be an engineer at a world-class level and live a life of discovery through teaching, research, service, and professional engineering consulting. 

Now the 13th Chancellor of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Martin has spent his career deeply committed to advancing STEM education and research through visionary leadership in higher education. “Virginia Tech did not just give me an education — it gave me a world I had not yet imagined,” he said. “I arrived as an inquisitive farm kid from rural South Carolina and found a foundation that has carried me through a lifetime of leadership, service, and innovation.”

Professional roles:

Chancellor, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, 2024-Present
Vice Chancellor for STEM Research and Innovation, University of Pittsburgh, 2022-2024
U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 2018-2022
Bob Benmosche Professor, Glenn Department of Civil Engineering, Clemson University, 2016-2018
Chair, Glenn Department of Civil Engineering, Clemson University, 2013-2018
Founding Director, Risk Engineering and Systems Analytics Institute (RESA), Clemson University, 2015-2018
Professor, Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1990-2013

Boards and committees:

Chair, Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation, 2025-Present, Member, 2021-Present
Member, Advisory Committee on Structural Safety, Department of Veteran Affairs, 2023-Present
Board of Directors, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, 2023-2027
Member, Public Policy Committee, American Society of Engineering Education’s U.S. Engineering Deans Council, 2020-2022
Member, Engineering Directorate Advisory Committee, National Science Foundation, 2020-2025
Foundational Advisor, Neighborhood 91 at Pittsburgh International Airport, 2019
Member, Department of Homeland Security Resilience Center of Excellence, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2015-2018
Numerous other board and committee service roles

Awards and honors:

Academy of Engineers lifetime achievement award, The Citadel School of Engineering, 2025
James E. Bostic Award for Inclusive Excellence, Clemson University, 2017
Academy of Distinguished Alumni, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 2015
Dean's Award for Excellence in Professional Service, College of Engineering, Virginia Tech, 2006
Norman Medal, American Society of Civil Engineers’ highest honor for published research, 1996
Outstanding Faculty Award, State Council of Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV), 1996. Annual award presented to outstanding research and teaching faculty, chosen from a body of 15,000 eligible faculty members across Virginia.
Numerous other national, state, and university awards for research, teaching, and processional service

Why did you decide to come to Virginia Tech?

I came to Virginia Tech because of a chance encounter that changed my life. During my senior year at The Citadel, Professor Rich Barker made a courtesy visit to campus. I was a cadet with a deep interest in earthquake engineering, and he recognized something in me worth investing in. He forwarded my information to faculty at Virginia Tech — and within what felt like days, Professors Wayne Clough and Mike Duncan had extended an offer. I had not sought them out. They came to me. That kind of immediate recognition from two of the most respected names in geotechnical engineering in the country was not something I could walk away from. Virginia Tech was simply the best program in the nation for what I wanted to pursue and it turned out to be the place that made everything else possible.

Who influenced you during your career?

Dr. Wayne Clough shaped everything. He had just come from Stanford to be civil engineering department chair and then dean of engineering, and was already a towering figure in geotechnical and earthquake engineering. I was fortunate to learn alongside giants like Mike Duncan and Jim Mitchell — but Wayne, as my advisor, was the major influence. What I remember most is not the technical brilliance — it is something he said to me early on: "You will do a lot better in life if you are simply a good person — and pleasant to be around." What he was really saying was: your character is your career. Who you are matters more than what you know. I have carried that with me through every role I have held since — faculty member, department chair, dean, vice chancellor, and now chancellor of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, one of the finest universities in the nation. The technical excellence Virginia Tech gave me was necessary, but that alone was never sufficient.

What led you to your chosen profession?

I grew up on a farm, which meant I was already an "engineer" before I knew the word — every day was about problem solving and fixing things with your hands and your mind, and that's exactly what engineering is. And we traveled. A lot. Every summer we took long road trips to other states and big cities and I remember being in awe at what I saw along the way: highways being carved through mountains, large dams, long bridges, and tall buildings going up. Those trips stretched my imagination of what could be. I wanted to understand how people made those things. A high school teacher gave me the word for it — civil engineering — and I learned how to study it at The Citadel. And then Virginia Tech gave me the people who showed me what it looked like to do this at a world class level via a life of discovery through teaching, research, service, and professional engineering consulting. From my parents and these Virginia Tech professors alike, I learned the power of education to transform lives and communities. They also taught me about paying it forward through student development — something that resonated deeply, because my parents had modeled that their whole lives through more than 75 years of combined public service. When I joined the Virginia Tech faculty at 26, I wasn't just building a career, I was working to create for others what had been created for me.

What advice would you share with your younger self just starting off in your career?

Don't judge yourself by where you are. Judge yourself from where you started and measure the distance you have traveled. The further we travel, the more we become. I grew up on a farm in South Carolina. I was a first-generation graduate student. I did not always know I belonged in the rooms I was entering. What I know now is this: the people who are willing to keep moving, who adapt, who stay present, who treat every hard stretch as proof they are going somewhere worth going — those are the ones who end up somewhere extraordinary. The road changes every few miles. Most travelers don't. Be the one who does.

Please note: Inductee spotlight is as of the year of their induction.