U of T professor is well-connected
Leader in wireless communications `I've had the best of both worlds'
by Paul Irish Toronto Star Staff Report
Elvino Sousa believes Canada is the greatest country in the world but still
gives a lot of credit to his native Portugal for starting him on the right
foot.
Born in the Azores, a group of islands in the north Atlantic near Portugal,
Sousa says his early years growing up in a rural community made him innovative
and self-sufficient.
PAUL IRISH/TORONTO STAR
Elvino Sousa sits in his office at the University of Toronto, where he's
an engineering professor. The New Pioneers award winner is actively
involved in the city's Portuguese community.
"We didn't have much, but that was okay for us," he said.
"If you wanted a toy to play with, you usually made it yourself. Children were
always creating."
Today, Sousa, 45, is an engineering professor at the University of Toronto,
where he has developed an active research group and is internationally
recognized as a leader in the field of wireless communications.
He is also an expert on the technologies that will form the basis of the
emerging third-generation cellular systems, which will provide wireless access
to the Internet.
Sousa is actively involved in the Portuguese community in Toronto, especially
the scholarship program of the Federation of Portuguese Canadian Business and
Professionals, which recognizes the accomplishments of students of Portuguese
descent in post-secondary education.
He sees his arrival in Canada when he was 13 as a case of perfect timing.
"I was able to grow in a wonderful community when I was a young boy, and then
I was able to attend some really great schools here when I was older," he
said. "I've had the best of both worlds."
Sousa, married with two children, still vividly recalls getting off the plane
and walking through snow at the airport in a pair of new shoes with his
mother, father, brother and sister.
"It's hard to explain how I felt," he said.
"Everything was just new and different."
Sousa had never experienced the cold, and the dark brick houses so common in
Toronto stood in stark contrast in his mind's eye to the gleaming white stone
and concrete buildings back home.
His family, like many other people around the world, chose Toronto as a
destination because of the new opportunities the city presented.
And Sousa says his father wasn't disappointed.
He quickly found a good factory job and, two years after arriving, the family
purchased a home with the help of relatives.
"That's the way it was done and still is in many cultures," Sousa said.
"One part of the family will help another part get over the rough times."
He says he realizes things are a lot different from when his family arrived in
1970, but he tells new immigrants not to give up on Canada if they find the
first years difficult.
"The people who come here with wonderful skills can get frustrated because
they can't find what they think is a proper job," he said.
"But I tell them it's basically a waiting game and to not set their sights too
high at first. Most importantly, never give up."
Although Sousa still visits Portugal and is attached to its rich culture,
Toronto is definitely his home.
"It's a great city filled with great people from all around the world," he
said.
