During the first world war, Evans spent a year in the army, where he was involved in testing explosives at Catholic University and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Mines.
[2][4] In 1947 he joined the chemistry department at Loyola University Chicago, retiring as chair in 1951.
[2] In 1954 Evans served as one of three panel members at the security clearance hearing of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
[4][5] Wolverton wrote that Ward Evans' minority report was concise and sharply worded.
Evans acknowledged that Oppenheimer had left-wing and even Communist friends, but "the evidence indicates that he has fewer of them than in 1947, when he was last cleared."