Dr. James R. "Jimmy" Martin II
Class of 1985
Hometown: Union, SC
- 13th Chancellor of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the nation's largest Historically Black College / University. In June 2024 the University of North Carolina Board of Governors unanimously elected Martin to the post. North Carolina A&T is America's largest producer of African American engineers, agricultural scientists, and STEM graduates, with a research portfolio exceeding $350 million and an annual economic impact of more than $2.4 billion.
- Martin is guiding the university toward Carnegie R1 classification, the highest designation for research activity in the United States. Howard University is currently the only HBCU to hold R1 status; the designation would make North Carolina A&T the nation's first public HBCU to attain it and only the second HBCU overall.
- A native of Union County, South Carolina, Martin earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from The Citadel and both a Master of Science and a Doctorate in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech. During more than twenty years on the Virginia Tech faculty he conducted research in earthquake science, soil dynamics, and infrastructure resilience, led field investigations following major earthquakes in the United States, Japan, and Turkey, and influenced national building codes and structural safety standards. His expertise has been sought by nearly one hundred private firms and government agencies on infrastructure projects throughout the world.
- At Virginia Tech he founded the Disaster Risk Management Institute and led programs that expanded educational opportunities for underrepresented students in engineering. He later served as Chair of the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering at Clemson University and founded Clemson's Risk Engineering and Systems Analytics Institute. At the University of Pittsburgh he served as U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering and later as Vice Chancellor for STEM Research and Innovation, guiding STEM research strategy across the university system and a research enterprise exceeding $1 billion annually.
- Martin received the American Society of Civil Engineers' Norman Medal, the highest honor awarded for published research in his field, and has been inducted into Virginia Tech's Academy of Distinguished Alumni and The Citadel School of Engineering's Academy of Engineers. In 2025 he was elected Chair of the National Science Foundation's Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering. The City of Union proclaimed August 2, 2026, as "Dr. James R. 'Jimmy' Martin II Day."