Timothy D. Sands (born March 26, 1958) is an American

materials engineer Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologica ...

, researcher and the 16th

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

. Sands previously served as the acting president and as the provost of

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

Education

Sands earned his B.S. with Highest Honors in Engineering Physics in 1980, his M.S. in Material Science and Engineering in 1981, and his Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering in 1984, all from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Current research

Sands has published more than 260 papers and has 16

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s in

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

and

microelectronics Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-sc ...

. Sands' current research focus is on the development of novel

nanocomposite Nanocomposite is a multiphase solid material where one of the phases has one, two or three dimensions of less than 100 nanometers (nm) or structures having nano-scale repeat distances between the different phases that make up the material. The id ...

materials for environmentally friendly and cost-effective solid-state lighting, direct conversion of heat to electrical power and

thermoelectric The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa via a thermocouple. A thermoelectric device creates a voltage when there is a different temperature on each side. Conversely, when ...

refrigeration. Sands is considered a leader in the field of

light-emitting diodes A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...

(LEDs).

Career

Sands began his career with an internship as a researcher at the

Solar Energy Research Institute The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and d ...

(SERI), now known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado where he focused his efforts on

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

research. Following his graduation from U.C. Berkeley's doctoral program in Materials Science and Engineering in 1984, Sands continued his career as a member of the technical staff of the New Jersey-based technology firm Bellcore, now known as Telcordia. In 1991, Sands became the director of the Thin Films and Interface Science Research Group, and in 1992 he became the director of the Nonvolatile Memory Research Group.

UC Berkeley

Sands left industry in 1993 to return to academia as a professor in the Materials Science and Engineering department at his alma mater, U.C. Berkeley. In 1997, Sands became the Chair of the Applied Science and Technology Graduate Group at U.C. Berkeley.

Purdue University

In 2002, Sands left U.C. Berkeley for Purdue University in

West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister city, ...

to join the engineering faculty as the Basil S. Turner Professor of Engineering. In 2006, Sands was tapped to lead the Birck Nanotechnology Center, the centerpiece of Purdue University's Discovery Park, as Director. In 2010, Sands was appointed by Purdue University's

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

as Purdue's Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. In June 2012, Sands was appointed acting president of the Purdue University system following the retirement of its 11th president,

France A. Córdova France Anne-Dominic Córdova (born August 5, 1947) is an American astrophysicist and administrator who was the fourteenth director of the National Science Foundation. Previously, she was the eleventh President of Purdue University from 2007 to ...

, until president-elect and then Indiana governor Mitch Daniels stepped down at the end of his gubernatorial term. As acting President, Sands presided over Purdue's West Lafayette and regional campuses. In January 2013, Sands returned to his role as Provost where he was responsible for all of Purdue's schools and colleges across campuses.

Virginia Tech

On December 6, 2013, Sands was announced as Virginia Tech's 16th president effective June 1, 2014.

Honors and awards

In 2009 and 2010, Sands was honored as a fellow of both the Materials Research Society (MRS) and the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE), respectively. In 2013, Sands was honored as a charter fellow in the 101-member inaugural class of the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010. ...

(NAI). Sands is also a member of the

Phi Beta Kappa Society The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ar ...

and

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

Family

Sands is married to Laura Sans, Ph.D., a faculty member in the Center for Gerontology and Professor of Human Development at Virginia Tech, as well as editor-in-chief of the open-access journal ''Innovation in Aging''. The Sans's have four children, all of whom are Purdue graduates. Timothy Sans grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and was

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

at his high school.

References

External links

Timothy Sands biography
– Virginia Tech {{DEFAULTSORT:Sands, Timothy Presidents of Virginia Tech Presidents of Purdue University American materials scientists Purdue University faculty Fellow Members of the IEEE UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty Living people 1958 births