|
|
2008 ORION Leadership Award Winner
Dr. Todd Sands
Dr. Todd Sands, executive director and CIO of the Centre for Smart Community Innovation (CSCI) at the University of Windsor, is a recognized pioneer in the development of community-based broadband networks across Ontario, which have played a critical role in bringing the benefits of advanced technologies and “connectivity” to rural and regional communities.
Dr. Todd Sands, Executive Director and CIO of the Centre for Smart Community Innovation at the University of Windsor.
Dr. Sands’ tireless work and strategic vision of using innovation and connectivity to improve his community’s quality of life has been instrumental in the ongoing evolution of the Windsor and Essex County region into a “smart community.”
An early champion of both community-based and advanced research and education networks in Canada, Dr. Sands played a key role in the consortium of regional networks, which led to the creation of the ORION network.
As founding executive director of the Windsor-Essex Development Network (WEDnet), he worked diligently to ensure connectivity between the region’s institutions, advanced research networks like ORION, and other organizations with leadership roles in the knowledge economy. His dedication to the role ensured that the benefits of advanced networks and smart community developments were included on political and tactical agendas in the region and was a key to attracting investment in research and innovation locally.
As a result of the investments spurred by Dr. Sands’ efforts, the WEDnet organization under his leadership evolved into the CSCI, with a broader mandate to include the infrastructure efforts of WEDnet, the smart community efforts of Connecting Windsor-Essex and innovation incubation activities of the Innovation Annex.
Dr. Sands also takes an active role on many provincial and national initiatives, including involvement in the early stages of ORION. As the past chair of the Regional Networks of Ontario he shared guidance and insight for other regions in their broadband and smart community development.
He has served on the Conference Board of Canada Awards Review Committee, the Ontario Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation Grant Programs Review Committee and was a representative of C3.ca in support of high-performance computing in Canada. He has further served on the Connect Ontario grant review committee for the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology.
A keen interest in privacy and security has caused Dr. Sands to become the principal author of the policies that govern Connecting Windsor-Essex Community Portal, where he acted as a stalwart champion of ensuring that strong Identity Management System tools were implemented to protect its users.
He is active in supporting a variety of efforts to use emerging technologies to benefit students, educators, researchers and clinicians. In addition to his work in promoting connectivity, he sits on a local hospital research ethics board and is Vice President of Asthma Research Group Inc.
Dr. Sands holds PhD, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Education degrees and certification with the Ontario College of Teachers. He is an instructor in the Departments of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences at the University of Windsor.
Learn more about at the Centre for Smart Community Innovation at the University of Windsor and the Windsor-Essex Development Network (WEDnet).
Back to the 2008 Awards Winners page
|
 |
|
|
