Headquartered at McGill University, STARaCom is structured as a multi-university Regroupement stratégique with 12 institutional partners
(Concordia, Ecole de Technologie Supérieure, INRS-EMT, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Laval, Sherbrooke, UQAM, UQAR, UQAT, UQO and UQTR).
The Centre is managed by a governance structure that includes the Centre Director and Co-Director, the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, the Scientific Committee, the Operations Committee and the Multidisciplinary Technical Advisory Committee.
The Board of Directors (BoD): Membership includes individuals from the VP Research Office of each participating university. The BoD approves annual budgets, ensures adherence to university and government requirements, reviews progress, and advises on strategy and priorities. The BoD is accountable to the partner universities for management of funds and achievement of research objectives. The Board approves membership of the committees listed below. In 2019 the BoD Chair, Dr. Crago, Vice Principal - Research and Innovation (McGill) delegated Chair duties to Prof. Benoit Boulet Associate Vice- Principal - Research and Innovation.
The Multidisciplinary Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC): includes members of STARaCom user organizations. It advises the BoD (directly), and the Executive Committee and Scientific Committee (via the Director and Co-Director) on the STARaCom research program direction.
The Executive Committee (EC): is chaired by the Board Chair, and includes the Director, Co-Director, Director of Operations, and several STARaCom technical leaders. The EC is responsible for decision making between BoD annual meetings. Aligned to recommendations of the BoD, MTAC and the requirements of FRQNT, the EC assists the Director and Co-Director on STARaCom daily management.
The Scientific Committee (SC): Includes Axis Leaders, the Director, and the Co-Director. The SC recommends new researchers to the EC, and the SC reviews and approves applications to the grants program. The SC is responsible for organizing seminars, summer schools and workshops; it coordinates with the leadership teams of major conferences located in Quebec to promote STARaCom.
Additional portfolios, led by STARaCom members, are the Infrastructure Coordinator, and the Inventor in Residence.
The Board/Committees meets annually. Also, SC performs its duties (e.g., approving new membership) via email as required. Annually STARaCom holds a Members General Assembly during the Annual Meeting.
Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Centre Director (David Plant) oversees management of STARaCom, including the administrative head office, located at McGill University. He is responsible for representing STARaCom externally and internally and articulating its outcomes and interests to stakeholders and partners, and is accountable to the Board of Directors, McGill University and FRQNT.
The Office of the Centre Director manages all daily logistics associated with running STARaCom, including reporting, communications and administration. The Office of the Centre Director manages all daily logistics associated with running STARaCom, including reporting, communications, and administration. The role of the Centre Co-director (Jean-Jacques Laurin) is to assist and support the Centre Director in his functions. The Director and Co-director are assisted by the Director of the Operations (Fabrice Labeau) and the Scientific Director (Ferhat Khendek).
Chaired by the Associate VP, Innovation and Partnerships at McGill, the Board of Directors includes representatives from STARaCom research offices, the Director, Co-Director, Director of Operations, Chair of the Scientific Committee and industry representatives.
It approves annual operating budgets recommended by the Executive Committee, oversees adherence to university and government procedures, reviews the annual progress report and advises on strategy, objectives and priorities.
It is accountable to FRQNT and the participating institutions for management of funds and achievement of research objectives. It approves membership on the Multidisciplinary Technical Advisory Committee, the Executive Committee and the Scientific Committee.
Benoit Boulet
President
McGill University
Dominique Michaud
Concordia University
Nathalie Gendron
INRS
Pierre Boucher
Ericsson
Yves Demers
MDA
Ghyslain Gagnon
ETS
Fabrice Labeau
McGill University
Jean-Jacques Laurin
Polytechnique Montréal
David Plant
McGill University
Olivier Grenier
Polytechnique Montreal
Nathalie Faucheux
Sherbrooke University
Serge Desnoyers
Laval University
Céline Poncelin de Raucourt
Québec University
The Executive Committee is chaired by the Director and includes the Co-Director, the Director of Operations, and influential and technical leaders from STARaCom.
The Executive Committee is responsible for decision making between the annual meetings of the Board of Directors (e.g., approve new STARaCom members, initiating new external partnerships).
Aligned to recommendations of the Board of Directors, the Multidisciplinary Technical Advisory Committee and the requirements of FRQNT, the Executive Committee assists the Director and Co-Director on managing daily STARaCom activities.
Paul Fortier
Laval University
Ferhat Khendek
Concordia University
Ammar Kouki
ÉTS
Fabrice Labeau
McGill University
Jean-Jacques Laurin
Polytechnique Montreal
Ke Wu
Polytechnique Montreal
Composed of the Scientific Committee Chair, the leaders of the 8 Research Axes, the Director and Co-Director, the Scientific Committee's responsibility is to plan and monitor the STARaCom research enterprise. It reviews research progress and provides recommendations to the Executive Committee on future scientific and training activities, and the addition of new researchers.
It also reviews and approves applications to STARaCom grants programs. Responsible for organizing seminars, summer schools and workshops, the Scientific Committee coordinates major conferences in Quebec to promote STARaCom, and liaisons with provincial ministries driving Quebec ICT initiatives.
Ferhat Khendek
President
Concordia University
David Plant
Director
McGill University
Jean-Jacques Laurin
Co-Director
Polytechnique Montreal
Tiago Falk
INRS
Frederic Domingue
UQTR
Ke Wu
Polytechnique Montreal
Tho Le-Ngoc
McGill University
Ammar Kouki
ÉTS
Mark Coates
McGill University
Christine Tremblay
ÉTS
Comprised of members from STARaCom user organizations, it is a rolling Chair. It advises the Board of Directors directly and the Executive Committee and Scientific Committee, via the Director and Co-Director, on the technical direction of the research program.
It makes recommendations for strengthening and expanding relationships between STARaCom researchers and end-users. Due to their advantaged perspective on emerging research needs, the Multidisciplinary Technical Advisory Committee will also make recommendations on infrastructure planning and investments that will be valuable to researchers. It will informally provide consultation and advice to STARaCom researchers.
The Operations Committee, under the leadership of the Director of Operations, is comprised of coordinators responsible for the management of specific portfolios: the Internships Coordinator; the Student Coordinator; the Outreach and Dissemination Coordinator; and the Infrastructure Coordinators.
These portfolios are key enablers of the STARaCom research enterprise that are actively managed by the designated coordinators.
Fabrice Labeau
President
McGill University
Sébastien Roy
Sherbrooke University
Jean-Francois Frigon
Polytechnique Montreal
Jules Gauthier
Polytechnique Montreal
Ammar Kouki
ÉTS
David Plant
McGill University
Milica Popovich
McGill University
Brent Snow
McGill University
Serioja Ovidiu Tatu
INRS
Christine Tremblay
ÉTS
Dominique Deslandes
ÉTS
Leslie Rusch
Laval University
Paul Fortier
Laval University