Laura Sandhu
B.Sc, EP
Laura is a Project Manager at WaterSMART, working predominantly in the Watershed Management, Agri-Food Industries, and Public Sector lines of Business. For each project she works on, Laura focuses on her role as environmental scientist and project manager, and also brings her skills in communication, technical writing, and meeting coordination and facilitation. Project highlights at WaterSMART include:- Managing WaterSMART’s support services for the Cooperative Stormwater Management Initiative (CSMI). This role includes coordinating and executing meetings with the project partners, focusing on interpreting technical design to facilitate discussions and decisions to implement the first stage of the project.
- Planning and executing Western Economic Diversification Canada’s Prairie Water Summit. Laura coordinated more than 10 subject matter experts from the Prairies and a team of five facilitators who delivered technical presentations on water in the Prairies. Laura was also responsible for gathering feedback from attendees through participant engagement activities.
Laura studied environmental science at the University of Calgary, where she gained an appreciation for the interconnectedness of the environment. Throughout her education, Laura held several field-based positions in northern British Columbia and Alberta where she gained experience in tailings waste management and vegetation assessment for the resource extraction industry. First-hand exposure to the reality of natural resource development has given Laura an appreciation for the complex ways humans interact with the environment, and has inspired her to pursue work that finds effective, collaborative solutions to today’s multifaceted environmental issues. Laura is passionate about water issues because they are complex and because sustainable solutions demand collaboration and creativity that involve different people, places, and industries. As a long-time resident of Calgary, Laura is thrilled to be working at WaterSMART where she is contributing to the health and safety of her local environment and fellow residents. She also believes that she has gained another level of understanding of water through her work at WaterSMART, as well as an appreciation for something so connected to all of our lives.