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At UBC Science, outstanding scientists and students strive to unravel the principles that underlie our universe - from the subatomic to the macroscopic, from pure mathematics to biotechnology, from ecosystems to galactic systems. Through the breadth and depth of our academic endeavours and the calibre of the people who make up our community, we take pride in discovering new scientific knowledge and preparing Canada’s and the world’s next generation of scientists.

A diverse range of highly ranked programs

With access to master’s and doctoral degrees through nine departments and 350 research groups, our graduate students work with world-class faculty to explore the basic sciences, and to pursue interdisciplinary and applied research across departments and units. UBC’s research excellence in environmental science, math, physics, plant and animal science, computer science, geology and biology is consistently rated best in Canada by international and national ranking agencies.

Committed to outstanding graduate training

UBC Science houses a wide range of prestigious NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience and related industry programs: from atmospheric aerosols to high-throughput biology, from biodiversity research and ecosystems services to plant cell wall biosynthesis, from quantum science and new materials to applied geochemistry. The options for enriched graduate training in industry related fields are almost endless.

World-class research infrastructure

Our affiliated institutes and centres include UBC's Michael Smith Laboratories, Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, Biodiversity Research Centre, Life Sciences Institute, Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, Mineral Deposit Research Unit, and TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics.

Top research talent

UBC Science boasts more than 50 Canada Research Chairs, 12 fellows of the Royal Society of London, and has been home to two Nobel Laureates. Our graduate students have won 15 prestigious Vanier Scholarships.

A diverse, supportive community of scholars

UBC Science is committed to excellence, collaboration and inclusion. Women account for 41 per cent of the Faculty's graduate enrollments, and the percentage of international students has increased to 50 per cent over the past decade.

Mission
To nurture an exceptional scientific learning and research environment for the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world.
 

Research Centres

Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology

Computational Sciences and Mathematics

Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences

Genomics and Biological Sciences

Human-Computer Interaction

Life Sciences

Chemistry and Materials Science

Physics

Sustainability

Research Facilities

Designed to inspire collaboration and creativity across disciplines, the new Earth Sciences Building (ESB) lies at the heart of the science precinct on UBC’s Vancouver Campus. The $75 million facility is home to Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Statistics, the Pacific Institute of the Mathematical Sciences, and the dean’s office of the Faculty of Science. ESB’s updated teaching facilities will help Canada meet the challenges of a transforming and growing resource sector. Just as importantly, the researchers and students working and learning in the new facility will offer a valuable flow of well-trained talent, new ideas, and fresh professional perspectives to industry.

Research Highlights

Receiving more than $120 million in annual research funding, UBC Science faculty members conduct top-tier research in the life, physical, earth and computational sciences. Their discoveries help build our understanding of natural laws—driving insights into sustainability, biodiversity, human health, nanoscience and new materials, probability, artificial intelligence, exoplanets and a wide range of other areas.

UBC Science boasts 50 Canada Research Chairs and 10 fellows of the Royal Society of London, and has been home to two Nobel Laureates. 

Schools / Departments

Department

Graduate Degree Programs

Research Supervisors in Faculty

or browse the list of faculty members in various academic units. You may click each unit to view faculty members appointed in that unit. View the full faculty member directory for more search and filter options.
Name Academic Unit(s) Research Interests
Leslie, Sabrina Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Physics & Astronomy
Leyton-Brown, Kevin Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; Artificial Intelligence; Algorithms; theoretical computer science; Resource Allocation; Computer Science and Statistics; Auction theory; game theory; Machine Learning
Li, Hongbin Department of Chemistry Biophysical chemistry, biomaterials, single molecule studies, biological, atomic force, polymer chemistry
Li, Xin Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Botany Molecules in plants, plants defence against pathogen infection, plant genes
Li, Yue-Xian Department of Mathematics Calcium signalling in neuroendocrine cells Fertilization calcium waves in oocytes
Lister, Alison Department of Physics & Astronomy Particle physics, experimental; Large Hadron Collier (LHC); ATLAS experiment; Search for physics beyond the standard model; top quarks; dark matter; Machine Learning; Long-lived particles
Lloyd, Samantha Medical physics; Automation in external beam and brachytherapy treatment planning and delivery; Application of optical surface guidance for radiation therapy setup and motion monitoring; Machine learning for cancer outcomes prediction; Systems design for safety and quality control; Clinical trials
Loewen, Philip Department of Mathematics Mathematical optimization; Calculus of Variations; Optimal Control; optimization; Machine Learning
Lukes, Laura Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Earth and related environmental sciences; Psychology and cognitive sciences; Education; Geoscience Education Research (Discipline-Based Education Research); Self-regulated Learning; field-based experiential learning; learning in informal settings (e.g., museums, parks, science centers); crowdsourced and citizen science; teacher beliefs; motivation, emotion, and beliefs in learning; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in STEM; learning engineering
MacDonald, Colin Department of Mathematics List of publications; The Closest Point Method: a new method for PDEs on surfaces; Time-stepping for PDEs: constructing Runge-Kutta methods, strong-stability-preserving methods (visit the SSP Site); WENO spatial discretizations; The Predicted Sequential Regularization Method; List of talks and presentations.
MacFarlane, Andrew Department of Chemistry Chemical physics, Electronic and magnetic properties of crystalline solids, especially strongly correlated materials such as the cuprate high temperature superconductors
MacLachlan, Mark Department of Chemistry Supramolecular inorganic chemistry; Inorganic materials; Supramolecular organic chemistry; Synthesis of materials; Functional materials in materials chemistry sciences; Supramolecular Chemistry; Nanomaterials; Biomaterials; Cellulose nanocrystals; Chitin; Materials Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry
MacLean, Karon Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; Information Systems; design of user interfaces; haptic interfaces; human-computer interaction; human-robot interaction
Maddison, Wayne Department of Zoology, Department of Botany Arachnology, Biodiversity, Spiders, Phylogenetic Theory and Programming
Madison, Kirk Department of Physics & Astronomy Condensed matter, atomic, molecular and optical physics
Madzwamuse, Anotida Department of Mathematics
Maldonado, Maite Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Phytoplankton Trace Metal Physiology
Man, Allison Department of Physics & Astronomy Cosmology and extragalactic astronomy; galaxy formation and evolution
Mank, Judith Department of Zoology evolution; How selection acts on males and females within a species; How the genome responds to contradictory selection to encode sexually dimorphic traits; Sex chromosomes; Gene regulation; Sexual conflict
Marcus, Brian Harry Department of Mathematics Coding and information theory, symbolic dynamics, ergodic theory and dynamical systems
Marshall, Katie Department of Zoology Animal physiology, environmental stress; Environmental Change; Marine biodiversity; Population Ecology; invertebrates and temperature adaptation
Martin, Gregory Department of Mathematics Number theory, Diophantine Approximation and Classical Analysis
Martone, Patrick Department of Botany Plant biology; Protist; Plants; Physiology; Taxonomy and Systematics; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; Evolution and Phylogenesis; Biomaterials; Solid Mechanics; Fluid mechanics; biomechanics; Ecology; evolution; Intertidal Zone; Macroalgae; Phycology
Marziali, Andre Department of Physics & Astronomy Teaching methods, pedagogy, Robotics in education, Nanotechnology, Engineering Physics, Genomics, Biophysics, Genomics Technologies
Matsuuchi, Linda Department of Zoology Natural sciences; Cell Biology; Immunology

Pages

Graduate Student Stories

Aditi Pradeep

Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)

Direct dark matter search using the first SuperCDMS SNOLAB detector towers

Gabriel Currier

Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)

Extremal combinatorics

Shaoxuan Ren

Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)

Conversion of carbon dioxide into chemicals and fuels in a flow reactor

Rapichan Phurisamban

Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)

Relationalities and River Flows: Toward a Socially-Equitable and Bioculturally-Conscious Environmental Flow Management

Verónica Relaño-Ecija

Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)

Socio-ecological management in San Antonio Marine Protected Area (MPA), Argentina

Prerna Gupta

Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)

Nuclear risk perception in India: risk in the context of political debates and economic insecurities

Icíar Fernández Boyano

Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD)

Redefining preeclampsia in the placenta

Neha Sharma-Mascarenhas

Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)

Analyzing data and policy outcomes for repair, reuse, and recycling for end-of-life electronics
All Student Stories

Recent Publications

This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Science.

 

Kelp and sea urchin settlement mediated by biotic interactions with benthic coralline algal species
Publication: Journal of Phycology
UBC Author(s): Patrick Martone (Botany / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00223646
Volume: 60
Page Range: 363-379
Publication Date: April 2024

View Publication
A techno-economic analysis of diesel exhaust injection into mine tailings for carbon sequestration
Publication: Heliyon
UBC Author(s): Gregory Dipple (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 24058440
Volume: 10
Publication Date: 30 March 2024

View Publication
Gravitational Raman Scattering in Effective Field Theory: A Scalar Tidal Matching at O (G3)
Publication: Physical Review Letters
UBC Author(s): Julio Parra Martinez (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00319007
Volume: 132
Publication Date: 29 March 2024

View Publication
The underappreciated diversity of bile acid modifications
Publication: Cell
UBC Author(s): Tao Huan (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00928674
Volume: 187
Page Range: 1801-1818.e20
Publication Date: 28 March 2024

View Publication
Using machine learning with atomistic surface and local water features to predict heterogeneous ice nucleation
Publication: Journal of Chemical Physics
UBC Author(s): Grenfell Patey (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00219606
Volume: 160
Publication Date: 28 March 2024

View Publication
Equity and modeling in sustainability science: Examples and opportunities throughout the process
Publication: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
UBC Author(s): Amanda Giang (Institute for Resources,Environment & Sustainability / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 121
Publication Date: 26 March 2024

View Publication
Bioretention Design Modifications Increase the Simulated Capture of Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Trace Organic Compounds
Publication: Environmental Science and Technology
UBC Author(s): Amanda Giang (Institute for Resources,Environment & Sustainability / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 0013936X
Volume: 58
Page Range: 5500-5511
Publication Date: 26 March 2024

View Publication
Quantum Barkhausen noise induced by domain wall cotunneling
Publication: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
UBC Author(s): Philip C Stamp (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 121
Publication Date: 26 March 2024

View Publication
Incomplete immunity in a natural animal-microbiota interaction selects for higher pathogen virulence
Publication: Current Biology
UBC Author(s): Kayla King (Microbiology & Immunology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 09609822
Volume: 34
Page Range: 1357-1363.e3
Publication Date: 25 March 2024

View Publication
Pay to (Not) Play: Monetizing Impatience in Mobile Games
Publication: Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
UBC Author(s): Kevin Leyton-Brown (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21595399
Volume: 38
Page Range: 9856-9864
Publication Date: 25 March 2024

View Publication
How to Evaluate Behavioral Models
Publication: Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
UBC Author(s): Kevin Leyton-Brown (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21595399
Volume: 38
Page Range: 9636-9644
Publication Date: 25 March 2024

View Publication
Feature Transportation Improves Graph Neural Networks
Publication: Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
UBC Author(s): Eldad Haber (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21595399
Volume: 38
Page Range: 11874-11882
Publication Date: 25 March 2024

View Publication
DP-AdamBC: Your DP-Adam Is Actually DP-SGD (Unless You Apply Bias Correction)
Publication: Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
UBC Author(s): Mathias Lecuyer (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21595399
Volume: 38
Page Range: 15276-15283
Publication Date: 25 March 2024

View Publication
Cyclization Scaffolding for Improved Vaccine Immunogen Stability: Application to Tau Protein in Alzheimer’s Disease
Publication: Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling
UBC Author(s): Steven Plotkin (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 15499596
Volume: 64
Page Range: 2035-2044
Publication Date: 25 March 2024

View Publication
Diphenylphosphinylhydroxylamine (DPPH) Affords Late-Stage S-imination to access free-NH Sulfilimines and Sulfoximines
Publication: Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
UBC Author(s): David Perrin (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 14337851
Volume: 63
Publication Date: 22 March 2024

View Publication
Recent results from precision measurements at the NA62 experiment
Publication: Proceedings of Science
UBC Author(s): Douglas Bryman (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 449
Publication Date: 21 March 2024

View Publication
Searches for lepton flavor/lepton number violation and hidden sectors in kaon decays at the NA62 experiment
Publication: Proceedings of Science
UBC Author(s): Douglas Bryman (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 449
Publication Date: 21 March 2024

View Publication
Trace element systematics of magnetite from the Starra iron oxide‑copper gold deposits reveals early fluid conditions characteristic for Cu mineralization
Publication: Chemical Geology
UBC Author(s): Shaun Barker (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00092541
Volume: 648
Publication Date: 20 March 2024

View Publication
Dopants Induce Persistent Room Temperature Phosphorescence in Triarylamine Boronate Esters
Publication: Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
UBC Author(s): Zachary Hudson (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 14337851
Volume: 63
Publication Date: 18 March 2024

View Publication
Does Difficulty even Matter? Investigating Difficulty Adjustment and Practice Behavior in an Open-Ended Learning Task
Publication: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series
UBC Author(s): Cristina Conati (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
Page Range: 253-262
Publication Date: 18 March 2024

View Publication
An accurate and scalable direction-splitting solver for flows laden with non-spherical rigid bodies—Part 2: Moving rigid bodies
Publication: Computers and Fluids
UBC Author(s): Anthony Wachs (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00457930
Volume: 271
Publication Date: 15 March 2024

View Publication
Testing quantum gravity using pulsed optomechanical systems
Publication: Physical Review D
UBC Author(s): Philip C Stamp (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 24700010
Volume: 109
Publication Date: 15 March 2024

View Publication
Neutron stars as dark matter detectors
Publication: Physical Review D
UBC Author(s): Ariel Zhitnitsky (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 24700010
Volume: 109
Publication Date: 15 March 2024

View Publication
Search for continuous gravitational waves directed at subthreshold radiometer candidates in O3 LIGO data
Publication: Physical Review D
UBC Author(s): Jessica McIver (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 24700010
Volume: 109
Publication Date: 15 March 2024

View Publication
A theoretical case study of the generalization of machine-learned potentials
Publication: Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering
UBC Author(s): Christoph Ortner (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00457825
Volume: 422
Publication Date: 15 March 2024

View Publication

Pages

Recent Thesis Submissions

Doctoral Citations

A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
Year Citation Program
2024 Dr. Suhail has made significant strides in computer vision by pioneering diverse methodologies that elevate semantic comprehension and geometric reasoning abilities within computer vision systems. His works have received nominations for Best Paper Awards, highlighting the substantial impact of his work in the field. Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD)
2024 The terrestrial plants possess a cuticle which comprises a mixture of ubiquitous waxes that have important physiological roles. Dr. Gozdzik investigated the cuticles of several plant species to infer biosynthetic mechanisms for non-ubiquitous specialty wax compounds which furthers the understanding of the roles and origins of those wax compounds. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2024 Dr. Banados Schwerter studied the formal requirements for detecting type inconsistencies in programming languages that combine static and dynamic type checking, and a novel reporting technique for these errors. His research will assist the design of new programming languages and help their future programmers to find and fix programming mistakes. Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD)
2024 Dr. Feng proposed an inexpensive method to reduce the amount of human labeling in the task of extracting relations from documents. He proposed a novel self-training method to improve the performance of text generation and relation extraction when few labeled data is used to train a machine learning model. Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD)
2024 Dr. He developed a self-supervised machine learning tool that minimizes the need for extensive human annotation, thereby alleviating the reliance on costly human labor during the machine learning development process. Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD)
2023 Dr. Huggins studied how microorganisms use nitrogen in low-oxygen marine waters. She found that, in some cases, nitrogen can be recycled faster than it is lost from the environment. Her work adds to our knowledge about the impacts of oxygen loss and climate change in the oceans. Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2023 Dr. Irwin studied how to use computers to solve noisy optimization problems, which are optimization problems where one cannot measure the quantity one wants to optimize exactly. He developed three new computer algorithms for solving noisy optimization problems, including an industrial problem encountered by makers of computer chips. Doctor of Philosophy in Geophysics (PhD)
2023 Dr. Yin developed new methods to improve mass spectrometry based proteomic research. His work enabled more comprehensive and accurate measurement of proteins, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of the state of biological systems studied. The methods he developed has potential future applications in advancing disease diagnosis and therapeutics discovery. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2023 Dr. Jones developed and implemented phylogenetic methods to estimate integration dates of HIV proviruses. His findings have provided a better understanding of within-host HIV dynamics and is beneficial for HIV cure research. Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD)
2023 Quite surprisingly, some quantum systems can encode gravitational physics in a higher dimensional space. Dr. Waddell used this fact to study a key quantum system arising in string theory, to show that information about a black hole's contents is not destroyed when it evaporates, and to propose a quantum description of universes similar to our own. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)

Pages

 

AI can tell if a patient battling cancer needs mental health support

Psychiatrists and computer scientists at UBC and BC Cancer have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that can accurately...

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UBC evolutionary biologist Dr. Dolph Schluter named AAAS Fellow

Internationally renowned evolutionary biologist Dr. Dolph Schluter has been elected to the newest class of American Association for the...

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How art can help us talk about the green transition

Elders, researchers and musicians are using art to get people talking about the challenges and opportunities of a transition to renewable...

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UBC adding 778 student spaces across technology and life sciences programs thanks to provincial investment

B.C.’s Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation, the Honourable Brenda Bailey, was on site at UBC’s Vancouver campus Friday to...

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Tropical coral-infecting parasites discovered in cold marine ecosystems

Parasites thought only to infect tropical coral reefs have been discovered in a large variety of creatures in cold marine ecosystems along...

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New gravitational wave signal helps fill the ‘mass gap’ between neutron stars and black holes

A collaboration of researchers including UBC scientists have observed gravitational waves from the collision of what is most likely a...

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