Biography - G. Michael Bancroft

After teaching in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge for three years, Dr. Michael Bancroft returned to Canada in 1970 and became an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Western Ontario, and then a Professor in 1974. Over a period of 29 years, he has also held a number of positions including Director of the Centre for Chemical Physics, Director of Surface Science Western, and Chair of the Department of Chemistry.

In the field of synchrotron radiation, Dr. Bancroft was Scientific Director of the Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Madison, Wisconsin, from 1980 to 1999, and President of the Canadian Institute of Synchrotron Radiation from 1991 to 1999. He was the first Director of the Canadian Light Source (CLS) in Saskatoon from 1999 to 2001, and is currently the Acting Director of Research at the CLS.

Dr. Bancroft’s research activities have spanned the fields of chemistry, physics, geology, and tribology, and have involved numerous large companies such as Dofasco, AECL, Imperial Oil, Chevron, and INCO. He has also won many national and international awards for his basic and applied research work. In his academic career, he has supervised 34 doctoral theses, two masters theses, and 31 postdoctoral fellows. He has published over 350 papers, one book, and several long review articles.

Dr. Bancroft was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He graduated from the University of Manitoba with an Honours B.Sc. in 1963, and an M.Sc. in chemistry in 1964. He completed his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Cambridge in 1967, and later also received an M.A. and Sc.D. He is married to his wife Joan and they have two grown children, David and Catherine.