The University of Saskatchewan will award an earned doctor of science degree Oct. 25 to Trent environmental studies professor Wayne Evans for his pioneering work in ozone research.

        Evans graduated with a B.Sc., M.Sc. and PhD in physics between 1961 and 1967 from the university in his home province. The prize-winning undergraduate did masteršs-level research in active red aurora and world-leading research at the doctoral level in infrared dayglow, which revealed the presence of an upper atmospheric ozone layer about 80 kilometres high.

        A National Research Council post-doctoral fellowship took him to Paris to continue his airglow investigations. In 1969, he returned to the University of Saskatchewan to examine the use of airglow to study atmospheric composition.

        In 1972, he joined the Atmospheric Environment Service in Toronto and embarked on research to study the possible depletion of atmospheric ozone. He made and reported the first measurements of Arctic ozone depletion.

        Evans has continued his ozone depletion research and its impact on global warming since joining Trent's faculty in 1990.

        He is a member of the science teams for Canadian instruments flown in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Swedish space programs. And he was principal investigator for the sun-photometer experiment flown on the space shuttle to measure atmospheric composition.

        He has used a wind-measuring interferometer to provide the first maps of noctilucent clouds -- those near 85 kilmometres above the Earth that may be the first real evidence of global warming. He has also discovered a new airglow layer that may relate to nitric oxide in the atmosphere.

        Evans has received several awards for his pioneering research: the federal government's Public Service Merit Award, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society's President's Prize and election to the Royal Society of Canada.