Martin Tanaka

As a faculty member at WCU, Martin Tanaka spends his time teaching mechanical engineering courses, conducting research, and serving the university and the community. He usually has a few graduate students and some students doing undergraduate research. Dr. Tanaka's research interests include developing innovative biomedical devices, computational modeling, neuromuscular control, and industry-academic partnerships. Most of his research projects have design, build, test, and optimization components stemming from my experience designing products in industry. He is a licensed professional engineer and enjoys working with students and local companies on their projects. Put simply, he applies mechanical engineering principles to solve biomedical problems. Being a veteran, he also has a special interest in his projects to assist the U.S. Armed Forces.

Professionally, he serves the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in a variety of leadership roles. After 26 years of membership, he was honored as an ASME fellow. Dr. Tanaka's degrees are in mechanical engineering (NCSU), engineering mechanics (VT) and I earned a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Virginia Tech and Wake Forest University.