Professor Tsun-Kong Sham (Spectroscopy and the Interplay of Electronic Structure)
Professor Tsun-Kong Sham (University of Western Ontario, Ontario)
Professor Tsun-Kong Sham is cited for his significant contributions to the field of spectroscopy and the interplay of electronic structure, materials properties, using synchrotron radiation techniques.
Educational Background
Professor Sham graduated with B.Sc. (Honours, lst class) in chemistry from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1971. He then obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Western Ontario in chemistry in 1975. He spent 10 years at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the U.S., before returning in 1988 to Western, where he is now Full Professor of Chemistry.
Career Development
Since 1975, Professor Sham has been engaged in research concerning interplay among electronic structures, spectroscopy and properties of materials (inorganic, organometallic, metallic and semiconductor systems) through the development and application of a variety of chemical and physical techniques, especially the use of synchrotron radiation. In the last 10 years, his research centred on the electronic structure and their implications of bimetallic and semiconductor materials in low dimensions (surface, interface, thin films and nanostructures), optical properties of nanostructures and organic molecules/polymers, and the development of new synchrotron radiation spectroscopy. More recently, his research team explored hard and soft template strategies for the fabrication of nano-materials and their assembly as well as developing x-ray microscopy in the analysis of human liver tissues in connection with hemochromatosis and related studies using synchrotron radiation. For his contributions he was named in 2002, a Tier I Canada Research Chair at University of Western Ontario.
Major Contributions
Professor Sham is now a world leader in the development and application of advanced light source technology to the chemistry of nanostructure. He is a founding member and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Canadian Institute for Synchrotron Radiation. He plays a leading role in establishing the Canadian Synchrotron. The Canadian Light Source, the first national facility of this kind in Canada located on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan, has officially opened for business in October 2004. The machine will produce synchrotron light with continuous spectrum from infrared to x-rays, and unprecedented properties most desirable for a wide variety of applications – from determining the structure of proteins to producing micro-components for electronic devices.
Other Honorary
Professor Sham has worked with over a dozen graduate students and many visiting fellows, scientists and scholars. He has published over 260 articles in Refereed Journals and Conference Proceedings, and has given over 130 presentations at meetings and workshops as well as at research institutions. He is a regular visiting researcher at Cornell, Brookhaven, Tsukuba, Okazaki, Hiroshima, Taiwan and other research institutes. He was also the Chair of the International XAFS Society. Presently, he is the Scientific Director of the Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility and a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Light Source.