CIC Medal

Sponsored by the CIC

The CIC Medal is presented as a mark of distinction and recognition to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the science of chemistry or chemical engineering in Canada, this is the CIC’s top award.

View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners

The 2025 winner of the CIC Medal is:

Tsun-Kong (T.K.) Sham, MCIC
The University of Western Ontario
 

Dr. Sham received his PhD from the University of Western Ontario, then was on the staff of Brookhaven National Laboratory for a decade, building capabilities at the National Synchrotron Light Source. He returned to Western in 1988. He has held a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Materials and Synchrotron Radiation (2002-2023). He was the Director of the Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility at the Synchrotron Radiation Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1999-2008), leading R & D, training young scientists and transferring technology to the Canadian Light Source (CLS) of which he is a founding member and a beam team leader. He was appointed Officer of Order of Canada in 2016 for his seminal contributions to science and service to the scientific community.

Dr. Sham is at the forefront in the interplay of materials functionality and synchrotron technology, a world leader in X-ray excited optical luminescence in the energy and time domain. Recent works include nanostructure phase transition and heterostructures, bimetallic materials, in situ/operand studies of energy devices, drug delivery and cultural heritage materials. In 2018, his team reported a groundbreaking work in retrieving images from tarnish 19th century daguerreotypes and most recently, the observation of anisotropic crystallization under quantum confinement.

Dr. Sham contributed ~ 670 publications with over 36600 citations and a h-index of 93. Recognitions include the “CIC Montreal Medal” (2023), “Allen Pratt Award” of the Canadian Light Source (2017). “The Hellmuth Prize” (2017) and “Distinguished University Professor” (2015) from Western, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2012) and the CSC “J. C. Polanyi Award” (2010). He had served as a member of the Board for the CLS (2001-2006) and Chair of the International X-ray Absorption Society (2003-2006). He is currently a member of the Borad of the Canadian Institute for Synchrotron Radiation (CISR) and a co-Chair of its Long-Range-Plan committee, working with the community towards future synchrotron capabilities for Canada.

Website

Past Winners