For three decades, award-winning Professor Tsun-Kong Sham has been a Canadian and international leader in the development and use of soft X-ray synchrotron techniques for the study of matter and has become internationally known for his unique studies of nanomaterials. He has developed three novel techniques: conductivity XAFS of liquids; x-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL); and time-resolved XEOL (TRXEOL). The latter two have been applied to obtain unique structural and electronic information for a variety of technologically important materials. As a Tier I Canada Research Chair, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and recipient of the prestigious John C. Polanyi Prize of the Canadian Society for Chemistry, Sham’s research productivity remains high, with more than 440 peer-reviewed papers and more than 8,000 citations. In addition to his distinguished record as a synchrotron researcher, Sham has been vital as part of the administration of the Canadian Light Source, as well as scientific director of the Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility at the Synchrotron Radiation Center (University of Wisconsin-Madison) since 1998.

Sham started his career in Hong Kong in the Chemistry department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He followed this with graduate work at Western University, and followed his PhD with a postdoc during which he developed his interest in the use of synchrotron radiation for X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

His long career as Professor at Western, and Principal Investigator of the Sham Group, which researches the experimental and theoretical investigation of the electronic structure of matter and its interplay with material properties and spectroscopy, was recognized in 2015 when Western honored him with the Distinguished University Professorship. 

Dr. Sham was awarded the Order of Canada in 2017 for his leadership in establishing the Canadian Light Source research facility, a state-of-the-art research facility in Saskatchewan, for fostering collaboration between researchers in Canada and China, and for his seminal scientific contributions using synchrotron radiation. In 2023, he was awarded the Montreal Medal, a mark of distinction and honour to a resident of Canada who has shown significant leadership in or has made an outstanding contribution to the profession of chemistry or chemical engineering in Canada. Most recently, Dr. Sham received the CIC Medal award from the Canadian Institute for Chemistry in 2025.