A native of Earlington, Ky., Lee T. Todd earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from UK in 1968 and his master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970 and 1973. While at MIT, he received six US patents for high-resolution display technology. It was during that time that he began proposing the application of telecommunications and high-resolution displays for data conferencing.

Dr. Todd's research and business activities have impacted flight training and aviation safety by improving flight simulation. His research involved large-screen, high resolution displays. He developed the cathode-ray picture tube used by Redifussion Simulation for their WIDE-view flight simulators. This unique visual display system allowed pilots and co-pilots to have cross-cockpit views previously not possible using more traditional TV monitor display technology. Dr. Todd's company, Projectron, manufactured the tubes and worked closely with Redifussion to continue to advance the development of flight simulation visual systems.

Improvements in resolution quality, image brightness and durability were achieved to the point that these tubes made it possible to allow Phase 3 certification (Category 3 landing systems) of pilots. At the time Projectron was sold to Hughes Aircraft Corporation in 1990, approximately 90% of the commercial airlines using simulators for training were using the Projectron picture tubes. In addition to commercial applications, Dr. Todd and his company also developed the picture tubes for the AWACS simulators and for the T-45 Navy trainer.

Another of Dr. Todd's research applications, teleconferencing and data conferencing, allows users to transmit very high quality images to multiple remote locations so users can view and interact with these images during meetings. Dr. Todd's company, DataBeam Corporation, shipped its first teleconferencing systems in 1988 to be used in the Air Force Teleconferencing Rooms that were involved with the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") Program.

DataBeam developed the transmission protocol that became the standard the government used for data conferencing applications. DataBeam was also involved with NASA and Rockwell to help get the United States back into the space program after the Challenger disaster.