2021 Continuing Contribution Award

Professor Emeritus Ron Steer has also been celebrated recently in Bridges (July 8, 2020). Matthew Paige, current Department Head of Chemistry, is quoted as praising Ron for “his ongoing research and collaboration with scholars around the world,” his teaching ability, and past service as Department Head and faculty representative on University Council,” and thus for having set … “the gold standard …. for what a faculty member should be.”

In research “he still has the energy of a twenty-year-old.” Ron is a USask alumnus (Bachelor’s with High Honours 1964, Ph.D. 1968 in Physical Chemistry). Professor (and later Dean) Ken McCallum guided him to chemistry and to post-doctoral study of the effects of light on things, then hired him in 1969 after his post-doctoral year at the University of California – Riverside. In 1973, Ron, with a post-doctoral fellow, examining what seemed a failed experiment, by chance discovered “anti-Kasha fluorescence,” which has proved applicable to developing photovoltaic solar power cells. It became the subsequent research focus of his career.

Ron has a distinguished record of awards and titles in research, teaching, and administration: Fellow, Chemical Institute of Canada 1978; USask Thorvaldson Professor of Chemistry, 1993-98; Earned D.Sc. 1995; Master Teacher Award, 1996; Distinguished Professor, 2011; Canadian Society for Chemistry, John C. Polanyi Award for research in solar energy, 2013; Director, Saskatchewan Structural Sciences Centre, 2001-4; Member, Laser Chemistry Group. He has been a tireless adjudicator for and editor of scientific journals, an adjudicator of grant applications and member of committees on grants for NSERC, and organizer of scholarly conferences, both before and after his retirement in 2013. For 12 years he was North American Editor of the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology. Recently, Ron’s ongoing collaborative research was awarded a Special Issue of the Canadian Journal of Chemistry by NRC Research Press, June 2019.

In their leisure time, Ron and his wife Sheilagh, who met in Greystone Singers, have helped to make Saskatoon a vibrant arts community by continuing their participation in community choirs, including Saskatoon Chamber Singers and Saskatoon Summer Players. Ron has performed with Summer Players in key roles in musicals, delighting audiences with his rich singing voice.