Tom Martin, professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been named the Bradley Faculty Fellow of Education by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The Bradley Faculty Fellowship of Education recognizes faculty teaching excellence. Martin will retain the fellowship for a period of three years.

A member of the Virginia Tech community since 2001, Martin is an internationally respected expert in engineering education and, in particular, has worked to integrate pervasive computing in the curriculum. He has a reputation in his department and across campus as an educator who brings tremendous enthusiasm to the classroom and provides students with unique and meaningful design experiences in class projects and through independent study and undergraduate research.

Martin is the co-director of the Virginia Tech E-textiles Lab and a Senior Fellow at the Virginia Tech Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology. His research and teaching interests include wearable computing, electronic textiles, and interdisciplinary design teams for pervasive computing. In 2006, he was selected for the National Science Foundation's Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for his research in e-textile-based wearable computing.

In 2014, Martin received the W.S. 'Pete' White Innovation in Engineering Education Award for his outstanding contributions to curriculum development. His contributions included the development of two new courses, Interdisciplinary Pervasive Computing Design Studio and Introduction to Physical Computing, as well as collaborating on the course Textile Space. These interdisciplinary courses are co-taught with faculty from marketing, industrial design, architecture, and engineering education and are open to students enrolled in these diverse programs.

Martin has also contributed to numerous publications that have been co-authored with other university faculty and students, including a paper published in the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering that received the Best Paper Award for 2012.

Martin also led the recent renovation of the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering's three-course digital design sequence, Introduction to Computer Engineering, Digital Design I, and Digital Design II.  He is the co-author of an undergraduate textbook, Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals, 5th edition.

Martin received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

Share this story