Knowing Others - Taking the Road Less Traveled: Robert R. Greene Sands at TEDxTacoma

Dr. Robert R. Greene Sands, an anthropologist, is Director and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Culture and Language (ISCL) at Norwich University. Dr. Sands teaches in the Norwich University College of Graduate and Continuing Studies. Sands is also Editor of the ISCL's online occasional paper series: Culture, Language and International Security (CLIS). From 2008 to 2011, Dr. Sands was Culture Chair and Anthropology Professor at the Air Force Culture and Language Center and Air University at Maxwell AFB, AL. While at AFCLC, Sands also was the Director of the Minerva Initiative for Energy and Environmental Security.

Currently, Dr. Sands is also a consultant supporting the development of culture and cross-cultural competence programs across the Department of Defense. Organizations and agencies he has presented to include U.S. Africa Command, 17th Air Force, the US Air Force Expeditionary Center, the Joint Chaplains College, Special Operations Command, the JAG School, Advanced Air Mobility Operations School, Joint Military Attaché School, Joint Foreign Area Officer Phase One course, Defense and National Intelligence professionals, among others.

Prior to his work with the Department of Defense, Sands taught in colleges and universities in several states and was also an archaeologist and cultural resource manager. Author of seven books and numerous chapters and articles, Sands has written on topics such as cross-cultural competence, environmental security, building partnerships and sustainability, sport and culture, ethnographic theory, and the cognitive origins of religion. His seventh book (co-authored with Allison Greene-Sands) is Cross-Cultural Competence for a 21st Century Military Culture: the Flipside of COIN (2013, Lexington Books). Dr. Sands holds a BA from Illinois State University, an MA from Iowa State University and a PhD from University of Illinois, all in anthropology.

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