Professor Steven Tait is the recipient of the 2022 James P. Holland and Morley Award for Exemplary Teaching and Service. This highly competitive award recognizes dedication to improving the curriculum and excellent performance in the classroom instruction. The Awards Committee cited Prof. Tait’s striking history of commitment to the undergraduate educational experience.
Professor Tait was named Fellow of the AVS Science and Technology Society. This distinction recognizes AVS Science and Technology Society members who have made sustained and outstanding scientific and technical contributions in areas of interest to AVS. Prof. Tait in particular is being honored for the “development of metal-ligand strategies for on-surface assembly and for single-atom catalyst design and for service in the Surface Science Division and Prairie Region.” He will be formally presented with the award at the AVS 68th International Symposium in the fall of 2022.
Prof. Tait obtained a BS degree in Honors Physics and University Honors from Brigham Young University in 2000. He went on to graduate studies at the University of Washington, where his doctoral studies were co-supervised by Charlie Campbell in Chemistry and Sam Fain in Physics. A significant portion of his doctoral work was done in the laboratories of Bruce Kay at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in eastern Washington State through a graduate fellowship program in Nanoscience co-sponsored by UW and PNNL. He completed his PhD in 2005 and moved to Stuttgart, Germany for postdoctoral work in the department of Prof. Klaus Kern at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, sponsored by fellowship awards from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Max Planck Society. Prof. Tait joined the Department of Chemistry in 2008. He is the Herman T. Biscoe Professor of Chemistry and currently serves as Department Chair.