Dr. Martinez has been serving as Interim Director of the Center for Advancement of Sciences and Mathematics since July 1, 2007. Dr. Martinez graduated from University of California, San Diego in 1993. After obtaining his Ph. D. in theoretical chemistry, he was awarded a U.C. President's Postdoctoral Fellowship to perform research at the Institute of Theoretical Dynamics at University of California Davis. He joined the chemistry department at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) in 1996 as an assistant professor and has been a full professor since 2004.

He was awarded the 2007 "California State University, Dominguez Hills Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Award" and the 2008 "California State University Dominguez Hills Outstanding Professor Award" in recognition of his work.

Dr. Martinez's research interests are in the area of transport phenomena. In particular, he has devoted a considerable amount of work to the study of Diffusion Controlled processes in inhomogeneous media. His current interest still include this area but most recently, his work has also focused on the study and characterization of Carbon Nanotubes as well as transport phenomena of large proteins in the cell membrane.

He has authored and coauthored several peer-reviewed publications and continue to have active collaborations with other groups in other institutions including The Ohio State University and Universidad de Puerto Rico.

Dr. Martinez has received numerous awards and grants, including the first Department of Defense award ever granted to CSUDH. He has also obtained funds from NIH through several initiatives as well as a number of internal grants, also through different programs. He has always involved undergraduate students in his funded projects and his research students have all moved on to pursue Ph.D. degrees in top universities around the country. Dr. Martinez has been a advocate of research and its incorporation into the undergraduate curriculum since he joined CSUDH.

Dr. Martinez has always been committed to the cause of fair representation. He has participated, and continues to participate, in several programs that address the issue of under-representation in Science and Math. Due to the diversity of the student population, he believes CSUDH is an excellent position to make a significant contribution toward solving this problem.