The Grainger College of Engineering

Ignacio Martin

Ignacio Martin
Ignacio Martin
To Ignacio Martin for outstanding contributions to the structural design of tall buildings and long-span bridges and a lifelong sevice to furthering teh understanding and use of reiforced concrete structures

Consulting Engineer, Retired Managing Partner, CMA Architects & Engineers, San Juan, Puerto Rico

  • BS, Civil Engineering, 1951, University of Havana, Cuba
  • MS, Civil Engineering, 1952, University of Illinois

Ignacio Martin is a civil engineer who has made significant and extraordinary contributions to his profession and to society. Recognized internationally, he is considered a leader among structural engineers. Since graduating, his career has included practice in structural engineering, research and publications on problems of reinforced concrete structures, and service to professional societies.

Upon graduation, Martin designed bridges for the National Development Commission in Cuba and was a partner in an engineering firm. He also taught part time and conducted research at the School of Engineering, University of Havana. Early in his career, he was involved in the design of both the longest post-tensioned concrete bridge and the tallest reinforced concrete residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

After he left Cuba in 1960, he taught part time at the School of Engineering, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez until 1965, and then he and the University of Illinois Jose L. Capacete established an architectural and engineering firm in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Today the architectural firm, now called CMA Architects & Engineers, is the largest in the Caribbean and is listed in the Engineering News-Record list of top 500 firms. His publication record is extensive and includes papers in engineering societies and journals in North and South America and Europe. He lectures on Structural engineering all over the Americas.

Martin is active in many professional organizations and has actively served in them, including president (1984-85), vice president (1983-84) and Board of Directors (1973-76, 1985-88) of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and chairman (1990-93) of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. In 1992, he was named an honorary member of ACI, and a symposium was held in his honor at the ACI convention in San Juan. He received the Lucchetti Award for Most Meritorious Paper from the ASCE Puerto Rico chapter in 1978, Luis Morales Award from the Cuban Society of Civil Engineers, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from UIUC’s Department of Civil Engineering in 1994. In 1982, he was elected the Most Distinguished Civil Engineer by the Institute of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico. Martin in a member of Tau Beta Pi.

Current as of 1996.