Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction Award: 2017 Recipient
Rocco Leonard Martino (UTIAS PhD 5T6)
Dr. Rocco Leonardo Martino is the inventor of the CyberFone — the first smartphone that put the world in the palm of the user’s hand — and the driving force behind the software systems permitting secure real-time video, voice and data linkages. He graduated with a “first” in honours mathematics and finance from the University of Toronto and went on to earn a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS). His work included extensive use of the University’s Ferranti Computer in the early 1950s. He discovered the heating factors during the re-entry of space vehicles, which led to the heat shield developments that made space travel possible. He is the founder and chairman of the board of U.S. Robots, Inc. and was the founder, chairman and CEO of XRT, Inc., a global leader in providing complete treasury, cash and banking relationship management solutions for many of the world’s largest corporations and government entities. Martino is also the author of 28 books as well as scores of papers, and numerous corporate monographs on computers, communications, networks and planning. He served as professor of engineering and chair of the Systems Engineering Department of the University of Waterloo and as professor of mathematics at New York University. He has lectured around the world. Martino served on the Boards of St, Joseph’s University, the World Affairs Council, the Foreign Policy Research Institute — of which he is currently a Senior Fellow — the Gregorian University Foundation, The Order of Malta and numerous other boards. He has been honoured by the Monte Jade Society, the National Italian American Foundation of Washington, the CYO Hall of Fame of Philadelphia, received honorary doctorates from Gonzaga University, Neumann University and Chestnut Hill College, and was knighted by Pope St. John Paul II as a Knight of St. Gregory. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of UTIAS. A visionary leader and philanthropist, Martino continues to create, dream and imagine possibilities through his writing and philanthropy. He not only predicts the future, he creates it.