Alexandre Martin, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Kentucky Space Grant Consortium and NASA EPSCoR Programs, has received a 2021 College of Engineering Excellence in Service Award.
Alexandre Martin has steadfastly dedicated himself to serving his department, the College of Engineering, UK, the community and his profession. In the Department of Mechanical Engineering, he has reinvigorated the William Maxwell Reed seminar series and instituted the Epitome Seminar Series to honor retiring mechanical engineering professors. This event provides a forum for their last lecture, during which they present an overview of their career. Recognizing the importance of teaching research to students, Martin and three colleagues created an Introduction to Research course available to students throughout the college. At the university level, Martin has chaired the IT Coordinating Committee, is part of the Commencement Committee and the Center for Computational Sciences Advisory Committee. He is also heavily involved in his professional society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He has chaired two large conferences—Thermophysics for AIAA-Aviation2020 and Aerosciences for AIAA-SciTech2016. Since 2011, he has organized the NASA/AFOSR/Sandia Ablation Workshop, an event aimed at exchanging technical ideas for modelers and experimentalists working in hypersonic thermal protection systems. He also serves as the material lead for the Department of Defense’s University Consortium on Applied Hypersonics, and advisor for the NASA Experimental Aerothermodynamics Capability Vision (EACV) team.