Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea took office as the Third President of the Mapua Institute of Technology in January 2000. Prior to this appointment he was the Administrator of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) of Manila (1997-2000) and the Dean of the College of Engineering of the University of the Philippines (1993-1997).

Dr. Vea’s academic qualifications include a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley (1991), an M.S. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1981), and a B.S in Mechanical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of the Philippines (1978).

Dr. Vea has worked most of his life in academe, starting from his graduation in 1978. He has also engaged in the industrial practice of profession. He was a naval architect at the Hudson Shipbuilders, Inc. in Pascagoula, Mississippi (1981-82) and at the Herbert Engineering Corp., a ship design firm, in San Francisco, California (1982-83). His stint at the MWSS (1997-2000) was on appointment by the President of the Republic of the Philippines.

Dr. Vea was the Chairman of the Technical Panel for Engineering, Architecture and Maritime Education (TPEAME) of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) of the Republic of the Philippines from November 1994 to August 1997. He led in the setting of curricular standards at that time. He is currently the Chairman of the Technical Panel on Science, Technology and Engineering Education of the Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), Republic of the Philippines. This Commission is tasked with formulating measures to accelerate Philippine development through science and technology. Dr. Vea is also currently the Leader of the UNESCO-funded project on “Philippine Membership in the Washington Accord.”

Dr. Vea was the President of the Association for Engineering Education in Southeast Asia and the Pacific (AEESEAP) from 1997 to 2000. He is a founding member, and has remained a member of the International Scientific Committee, of the East Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS), which was founded in 1995. He is a Founding Fellow and Founding Executive Council Member, ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology (AAET) which was established in August 2005

In July 2001 Dr. Vea was elected an Academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Philippines. In March 2003 he was given the Diamond Jubilee Award for Outstanding Achievement by the International Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. In October 2003 he was given the ASEAN Engineering Award by the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organizations (AFEO) on nomination by the Philippine Technological Council.

In April 2008, Dr. Vea was named the 2008 Most Outstanding Fulbrighter in Science and Technology by the Philippine Fulbright Scholars Association (PFSA). In June of the same year he was named one of the 50 Men and Women of Science, designated by the Republic of the Philippines on the occasion of the Golden Anniversary of its Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Upon graduation from MIT, Dr. Vea he invited to join the MIT Chapter of the Sigma Xi Research Society of North America as well as the Beta Chapter at MIT of the Tau Beta Pi, the U.S. national honorary engineering society representing all engineering disciplines.

Dr. Vea is a registered Mechanical Engineer of the Republic of the Philippines, an ASEAN Engineer and an APEC Engineer.