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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Dr. Radisavljevic investigated the role of gut bacteria in Parkinson's disease using a mouse model. This work helps with an understanding of which gut bacterial members may play a role in modulating non-motor symptoms of this disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (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 | The Squamish Nation afforded Dr. Nelson a collaborative community project exploring how youth identify and access support for mental health and wellness. Concrete examples of what youth do to support themselves through engagement in Indigenous practices and the use of Western strategies help us learn how to provide more responsive support to youth. | Doctor of Philosophy in School and Applied Child Psychology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Johnson examined the political history of evolutionary biology in England, Europe, and Russia in the nineteenth century. While Social Darwinism has been analyzed as a political application of evolutionary thought, Dr. Johnson argues that this perspective arose in opposition to what he identifies as Socialist Darwinism. | Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Zarate-Barrera combines economics and computational methods with large-scale data to understand the effects of environmental stressors on non-health-related outcomes and the causes and consequences of female empowerment in violent contexts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Moon developed enzyme-mediated cell surface engineering techniques that modify both major blood antigen A and minor blood antigen RhD to generate universal donor red blood cells. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Nutini examined the association of self-compassion with emotional and biological markers of stress in youth. Evidence showed that greater self-compassion was associated with less negative emotions across a variety of stressors. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Park studied optical systems used in head-mounted augmented reality devices. The outcomes of his study include novel optics designs that can greatly reduce the size of augmented reality glasses and improve the image quality. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Dziurdzik investigated a protein family implicated in different neurological disorders that hold together cellular compartments and shuttle lipids between them. Her work uncovered how these proteins target various compartments, improved our understanding of the disease pathogenesis, and also identified novel proteins with related functions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Salles advanced the documentation of Pirahã, a vulnerable language spoken in the Amazon, and contributed to destigmatizing a non-standard dialect of Brazilian Portuguese. Her work also provided a fresh take on a long-standing puzzle in the field of linguistics, by proposing that nouns can be licensed by categories other than articles. | Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (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 | Aneurysms are localized bulges of arteries and they can rupture with fatal consequences. The rupture risk of an aneurysm is related to its mechanical deformations. Dr. Hejazi's work addresses this intriguing behavior by combining experiments, simulations, and clinical studies. The findings of this study can improve the clinical management of aneurysms. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2023 | There are many unsolvable debates in the world. How do we use the Internet to make sense of them? Dr. Novin researched how biases on the Internet influenced student inquiries, search strategies, and decisions. He documented the cognitive methods participants used to counter biases. This will help educators with teaching critical thinking skills. | Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Ji studies the in-process tensions surrounding boundaries that emerge from and respond to the interplay of difference and sameness, with a particular focus on the transformation of ethnic minority identities in post-socialist China. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Yan examined the interactions between the Chinese and Spaniards in the Philippines through the creation of a Spanish manuscript, the Boxer Codex (1590s). Her study illuminates the convergence of sixteenth-century book cultures from China and Europe, offering fresh perspectives on the Sino-Hispanic relations in the Spanish colony. | Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Ono explored how mothers facing violence navigate child protection and family law systems. Her research uncovered how practices are ideologically-driven by the legal principle best interests of the child, causing more harm to women and children. This contributes to social work by highlighting how texts can be tools of resistance not complicity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Matavelli examined the role of lack of communication in perpetuating misperceptions about social norms, especifically in the context of masculinity norms. She also investigated the role of norms change, proxied by an election outcome, on violence against women. She then showed that psychedelic intake led people to leave the formal labour market. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Badawy developed a smart fabric made by growing Zinc oxide nano-wires on yarns. This smart fabric can record in real-time applied deformation and identify its location and magnitude. It can be used in the health care system to improve the diagnosis process, create treatment plans, and monitor patients' health conditions during a hospital stay. | Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Pandey developed a system, using ultrasound imaging, to guide orthopaedic surgeons to repair bone fractures accurately without the use of X-rays or ionizing radiation. This system could be used in future surgical procedures to more effectively and safely treat fracture patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Wang studied the value of Chinese art song to Western vocal pedagogy. He introduced a collection of Chinese art song teaching repertoire and created a new Mandarin IPA system to solve the Mandarin pronunciation difficulty in singing. His study will enable Western educators to incorporate Chinese art songs more effectively into their curricula. | Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Instrument (DMA) |
| 2023 | Dr. Fuchs examined how secondary science teachers engaged in and with research as forms of professional development. Focusing on socio-scientific issues like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, his work offers frameworks for promoting social responsibility in science learning contexts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Leischner studied what happens to Indigenous voices when they are recorded and held in museums and archives. Guided by members of the Nuxalk Nation, she found that the collection and stewardship of these recordings overlaps with logics of resource extraction. Her findings emphasize the importance of Indigenous law and anti-extractive research. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Bhonde investigated the potential of Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools to enhance design processes in building construction projects. His study provides practical recommendations for improving communication, efficiency, and collaboration among project stakeholders in the construction industry. | Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Vega Acuna studied, using a field experiment, how leadership roles can improve the academic performance and social integration of low-income students at a top university in Peru. He also shows how low-income students, during the Covid-19 online classes period, faced more difficulties to score higher grades than other students. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |