Trent University is pleased to announce that Dr. Douglas Evans, an Environmental & Resource Studies professor and dean of Graduate Studies at Trent, will be presented with the Distinguished Research Award, one of the University’s top honours, during the morning Convocation ceremony on Thursday, June 3, 2010.

“It is a great honour to be selected for this award,” Dr. Evans said. “Given the number of excellent researchers at Trent it is especially gratifying to be recognized by my colleagues in this way.”

Dr. Evans is an international leader in the field of Environmental Biogeochemistry, and is especially well-known for his research related to the analytical and environmental chemistry of inorganic contaminants.

During his career at Trent University, which has spanned 30 years, Dr. Evans has developed several leading-edge techniques for analytical and environmental chemistry, including pioneering the use of atomic mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in the study of mercury and the use of stable isotopes as tracers of the fate of toxic metals in the environment.

Since he began his career at Trent in 1980, after completing his doctoral work at McGill, Dr. Evans has achieved a remarkable record of research productivity. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles, most of which have appeared in prominent international journals.

Most noteworthy of his record of steady research activity is that Dr. Evans has ranged widely across several areas of analytical and environmental chemistry, generating results relevant to several disciplines, including chemistry, limnology, and toxicology. These areas of activity have been distinct yet complementary, and together have provided the foundation for sustained innovation in terms of both knowledge and research practice.

Dr. Evans has also made significant contributions in the training of the next generation of researchers, having supervised more than 40 graduate and postdoctoral students and he is one of the key researchers that make Trent University a leader in the field of Environmental Studies.

As the first Trent faculty to win an NSERC major equipment grant in the early 1990s, Dr. Evans played a central role in creating the Worsfold Water Quality Centre at the University – a leading centre of its kind in Canada and the world. Through his involvement with the Centre, he has played a central role in building the research capabilities of Trent University and has generated countless research opportunities for generations of future scientists.

Nominations for Dr. Evans were received from colleagues and scholars from across the country and from the United States. One nominator labelled Dr. Evans’s research “highly influential – indeed, it is considered seminal.” In the words of another nominator, “Dr. Evans has an outstanding record of developing scientific talent – a record that is, of course, inseparable from his research achievement.” Another nominator and colleagues said, “He exemplifies the kind of academic research that Trent identifies with – someone who does excellent detail work, but who, more importantly, has got a broad and interdisciplinary perspective to his research.”

In addition to his work as a researcher, Dr. Evans has also played a key role as a Trent University administrator. He has been director of the Environmental and Life Sciences graduate program for three terms. In 2004 he was appointed dean of Graduate Studies and in 2008, his position was expanded to included the headship of Catharine Parr Traill College, Trent’s Graduate Studies College.

Established in 1986, the Distinguished Research Award is given annually to a member of the Trent University faculty in recognition of outstanding achievements in research and scholarship.

Posted on Thursday, April 29, 2010.