2001 Alumni Service Award
2007 Faculty & Staff Impact (Faculty Service) Award
After serving in the U.S. Air Force in the Vietnam War, he returned to Pennsylvania and enrolled in the Civil Engineering program at Carnegie Mellon, earning his BSCE in 1976.
Cartwright joined the Department in 1977 as the manager of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Laboratories. Within five years, Cartwright was appointed as an Instructor and his penchant for teaching quickly became clear.
While managing the labs and helping with courses, Cartwright earned a masters degree in Civil Engineering in 1987. After promotions to Senior Lecturer and Principal Lecturer, Cartwright was designated a Teaching Professor in 2004, the highest rank for teaching faculty at CMU.