Joel D. Martin

A meteorologist and career Air Force officer with more than 30 years professional experience, Colonel Joel D. Martin now serves as Associate Vice President for Commerce Information and Venture Opportunities at the University of Oklahoma.  He had come to OU in April 2004 as Director of the Integrated Radar Data Services program. Before coming to OU, he served as vice president for business operations & marketing at IPS MeteoStar in Aurora, Colo., from April 2003 to March 2004.

Prior to joining IPS MeteoStar, Col. Martin served from 2000 to 2003 as chief of the Pacific Air & Space Weather Division at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. In that position, he was the senior uniformed Air Force weather officer responsible for the organization, training and equipage of more than 400 weather experts serving Air Force and Army operations in the Pacific.  As a member of the operations team, he also served as director in the Pacific Air Operations Support Center and as the Air Force Forces expeditionary group commander for a 4000-person deployment to Thailand.

From 1999 to 2000, Martin served as commander of the 26th Operational Weather Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. He also has served at the Pentagon as chief of weather resources for Air and Space Operations, where he served in a lead capacity in Air Force Weather re-engineering.

During his Air Force career, Col. Martin developed an extensive management background in statistical process control and process improvement and, as an air officer aircrew member, logged more than 700 flying hours in WC-130 “Hurricane Hunter” aircraft, including incursions into four hurricanes and nine typhoons.

Born in Hobart, Oklahoma, and a resident of Cordell and Shawnee, Oklahoma, he is a 1972 graduate of Shawnee High School. He earned his commission through the University of Oklahoma’s Air Force ROTC program in 1977, where he also earned his Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology.  He earned his Master of Science degree in tropical meteorology in 1988 from Colorado State University. Additionally, he is a graduate of Squadron Officer School, the Air Command and Staff College, and the Air War College, all at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and a 1999 graduate of the Air Combat Command Squadron Commander Course.

Col. Martin has received numerous honors during his career in the military, including the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with five oak leaf clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, and the Air Force Achievement Medal. Col. Martin also received the American Meteorological Society’s highest award for public service when he received the Francis W. Reichelderfer Award for distinguished public service contributions by personnel of the weather services in January 1991.