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 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 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 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
Potter, Andrew Department of Physics & Astronomy Condensed matter theory, Atomic, molecular, and optical theory, Quantum information science and quantum computing, Topological phases of matter, Strongly correlated quantum materials, Quantum dynamics, thermalization, and localization, Quantum criticality
Pottinger, Rachel Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; Computer Science and Statistics; data integration; data management; databases; metadata management
Pramanik, Malabika Department of Mathematics Harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, several complex variables
Prytulak, Julie Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences magma generation and evolution on Earth and other planets; element transfer in subduction zones; subduction initiation; metal transport in the surface and near surface environment; combining experimental mineralogy with stable isotope techniques; development of emerging stable isotope techniques; metal stable isotope analytical development and applications
Radic, Valentina Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric sciences; Geophysics; Climate Changes and Impacts; Climate Science; Glaciology; Meteorology
Ramdorai, Sujatha Department of Mathematics Algebraic theory of quadratic forms, non-cummutative Iwasawa theory, motives
Ramer, Matthew Department of Zoology Pain, Plasticity, Regeneration, Sensory neurons, Sympathetic neurons
Rechnitzer, Andrew Department of Mathematics Enumerative combinatorics, Simulation of combinatorial objects, Lattice statistical mechanics
Reichstein, Zinovy Department of Mathematics Group theory and generalisations; Algebra; Algebraic groups; algebraic geometry
Reid, Jolene Department of Chemistry
Reid, Andrea Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Fisheries sciences; Indigenous Fisheries Science; Aquatic Conservation; Freshwater Ecology
Reinsberg, Stefan Department of Physics & Astronomy Medical physics, MRIs
Richards, Jeffrey Department of Zoology Adaptive significance of the mechanisms coordinating cellular responses to stress
Rieseberg, Loren Department of Botany Bioinformatics; Genomics; Plant biology; adaptation; crops; invasive plants; plant evolutionary biology; speciation; weeds
Robeva, Elina Department of Mathematics Statistical theory and modeling; Machine learning; Algebra; Algebraic statistics; Graphical Models; Tensor decomposition; Causality; Applied algebraic geometry; Shape-constrained density estimation; Tensor networks
Rosado Rey, Abel Department of Botany Plasma membrane repair mechanisms in plants
Rosen, David Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Animal physiology; Physiology, behaviour, and ecology of marine mammals;; Bioenergetics; Nutrition; Conservation physiology
Rottler, Joerg Department of Physics & Astronomy Physical sciences; Condensed Matter and Materials Physics; Nanomaterials; Polymers; Soft Matter; Solids
Rozali, Moshe Department of Physics & Astronomy String theory, high energy physics, quantum field theory, cosmology and classical gravitational physics
Russell, Kelly Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Physical sciences; volcanology; petrology; magma rheology; geochemical thermodynamics
Ryan, Katherine Department of Chemistry drug molecules in use today are organic compounds isolated from organisms such as bacteria, plants, and fungi; understand how natural products are made.
Saffirio, Chiara Department of Mathematics kinetic theory, scaling limits in interacting particle systems, semiclassical analysis and theoretical aspects of partial differential equations
Sagan, Selena Department of Microbiology & Immunology role of RNA at the host-virus interface
Salibian-Barrera, Matias Department of Statistics S-regression estimationg, robust statistics, functional principal component analysis, bootstrap estimators, rgam, clustering algorithm
Sammis, Glenn Department of Chemistry Methods development, natural product synthesis, organic free radicals, radical fluorination

Pages

Graduate Student Stories

Imranul Laskar

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

Air Quality, Health, and Climate Impacts of Global Shipping

Alberto Campos

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

Rewilding the Brazilian Caatinga.

Evelyn Arriagada

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

Islander women mapping water-related problems and solutions

Gunwant Matharu

Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)

Synthesis of bis-cyclometalated pt(II) complexes for targeting supramolecular materials

Mauricio Carvallo Aceves

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

Coastal adaptation strategies under uncertain climate change and sea level rise

Nikola Surjanovic

Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD)

Scalable Bayesian Methods for Sampling From Complex Probability Distributions

Cissy Suen

Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)

Exploration of the Electronic Structure of the Mott Insulator Ca2RuO4

Sasha McDowell

Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)

Taste processing in Drosophila melanogaster
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.

 

Caps and wickets
Publication: Discrete Mathematics
UBC Author(s): Jozsef Solymosi (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 0012365X
Volume: 348
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Origin and scarcity of breathing pyrochlore lattices in spinel oxides
Publication: Physical Review Materials
UBC Author(s): Joerg Rottler (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 9
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
PYLMT: a transient detection pipeline for the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope
Publication: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
UBC Author(s): Paul Hickson (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00358711
Volume: 538
Page Range: 133-152
Publication Date: 1 March 2025

View Publication
The ALPHA-2 apparatus - facilitating experimentation with trapped antihydrogen
Publication: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
UBC Author(s): Takamasa Momose (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 01689002
Volume: 1072
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Deep-sea mining and its risks for social-ecological systems: Insights from simulation-based analyses
Publication: PLoS ONE
UBC Author(s): Ussif Rashid Sumaila (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 20
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny of Endosymbiotic Ciliates (Peritrichia, Mobilida) of Marine Invertebrates with Descriptions of Two Novel Species Urceolaria clepsydra n. sp. and Urceolaria bratalia n. sp
Publication: The Journal of eukaryotic microbiology
UBC Author(s): Brian Leander (Botany / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 72
Page Range: e70003
Publication Date: 1 March 2025

View Publication
MacArthur's Consumer-Resource Model: A Rosetta Stone for Competitive Interactions
Publication: The American naturalist
UBC Author(s): Rachel Germain (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 205
Page Range: 306-326
Publication Date: 1 March 2025

View Publication
Demystifying Fundamental Theories in Ecology
Publication: The American naturalist
UBC Author(s): Rachel Germain (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 205
Page Range: 280-284
Publication Date: 1 March 2025

View Publication
Early-life gut inflammation drives sex-dependent shifts in the microbiome-endocrine-brain axis
Publication: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
UBC Author(s): Carolina Tropini (Microbiology & Immunology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 08891591
Volume: 125
Page Range: 117-139
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Structure and mechanism of haem-dependent nitrogen–nitrogen bond formation in piperazate synthase
Publication: Nature Catalysis
UBC Author(s): Katherine Ryan (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 8
Page Range: 207-217
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
The Ocean System Pathways (OSPs): A New Scenario and Simulation Framework to Investigate the Future of the World Fisheries
Publication: Earth's Future
UBC Author(s): Ussif Rashid Sumaila (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 13
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Triangulating habitat suitability for the locally extirpated California grizzly bear
Publication: Biological Conservation
UBC Author(s): Kaitlyn Gaynor (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00063207
Volume: 303
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
The Geography of Negative Curves
Publication: Michigan Mathematical Journal
UBC Author(s): Kalle Karu (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00262285
Volume: 75
Page Range: 89-118
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Dissecting transmission to understand parasite evolution
Publication: PLoS Pathogens
UBC Author(s): Kayla King (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 15537366
Volume: 21
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Interplay of Seasonal Hydrology and Landscape Topography Drives Black Carbon Export in the Fraser River
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
UBC Author(s): Brian Hunt (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21698953
Volume: 130
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Exploring Spatiotemporal Trends in Piezometer Network Data Using Self-Organizing Maps
Publication: Mine Water and the Environment
UBC Author(s): Roger Beckie (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 10259112
Volume: 44
Page Range: 55-64
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Searching for Functional Simplicity of Stormflow Generation
Publication: Water Resources Research
UBC Author(s): Ali Ameli (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00431397
Volume: 61
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
A modular system to label endogenous presynaptic proteins using split fluorophores in Caenorhabditis elegans
Publication: Genetics
UBC Author(s): Kota Mizumoto (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00166731
Volume: 229
Publication Date: 1 March 2025

View Publication
Jointly modeling means and variances for nonlinear mixed effects models with measurement errors and outliers
Publication: Biometrics
UBC Author(s): Lang Wu (Statistics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 0006341X
Volume: 81
Publication Date: 1 March 2025

View Publication
Global and Regional Marine Ecosystem Models Reveal Key Uncertainties in Climate Change Projections
Publication: Earth's Future
UBC Author(s): Villy Christensen (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 13
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Buoyancy Regulation in Insects
Publication: Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
UBC Author(s): Philip Matthews (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 40
Page Range: 0
Publication Date: 1 March 2025

View Publication
Decrypting the Invasion of Non-native Cattails (Typha spp.) in the Fraser River Estuary, British Columbia, Using Morphological and Microsatellite Analyses
Publication: Estuaries and Coasts
UBC Author(s): Quentin Charles Cronk (Botany / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 15592723
Volume: 48
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
Toward a More Dynamic Metabolic Theory of Ecology to Predict Climate Change Effects on Biological Systems
Publication: The American naturalist
UBC Author(s): Mary O'Connor (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 205
Page Range: 285-305
Publication Date: 1 March 2025

View Publication
Temperature governs the relative contributions of cuticle and stomata to leaf minimum conductance
Publication: New Phytologist
UBC Author(s): Sean Michaletz (Botany / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 0028646X
Volume: 245
Page Range: 1911-1923
Publication Date: March 2025

View Publication
IXPE observation of the low-synchrotron peaked blazar S4 0954+65 during an optical-X-ray flare
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Jeremy Heyl (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 695
Publication Date: 1 March 2025

View Publication

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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. Scott's research resulted in a first-of-its-kind efficient method to chemically transform inexpensive commodity plastics into high value functional amine-containing materials. These materials have potential implications for improved plastic recycling, in addition to being suitable for medical and carbon capture applications. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2024 Dr. Pepin’s research explored a group of gut bacteria vanishing in industrialized human societies. She uncovered why these bacteria are lost during malabsorption and highlighted their role in promoting gut health, offering insights for new microbiota-based therapies. Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2024 Dr. Couture examined how prey resource, climate variability, and competition between marine mammals could affect the southern resident killer whale population. She used ecosystem modelling to assist in understanding the main ecological drivers limiting this endangered population along the northeast Pacific coast. Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2024 Dr. Miller investigated dual-isotope applications for radiopharmaceutical therapies that treat various types of cancer. Her research demonstrated that dual-isotope SPECT imaging can improve the calculation of radiation doses during therapy which can enable personalized treatment and hopefully improve patient outcomes. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2024 Dr.Fan developed advanced methods for high-dimensional dependence modeling using latent variables and copulas. Dr. Fan's research offers efficient and flexible tools for modeling and understanding multivariate dependencies in high-dimensional datasets. Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Pelz has explored the emergence of spatio-temporal patterns arising when nonlinear processes are restricted to spatially segregated compartments coupled through a diffusion field. For such models, relevant to cell signalling, I have investigated pattern forming properties and how time-varying signals undergo synchronization due to non-local coupling. Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Kong studied pattern formation phenomena of several reaction-diffusion systems involving advection arising from biology, ecology and finance. These theoretical analyses assist us in understanding the effects of biased movement on structures and qualitative properties of localized patterns. Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Armstrong critiques scientific practice with humanities and arts frameworks to develop methodologies that refuse the exclusion and extraction of the neoliberal academy. Anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, and anti-racist science makes space for the participation of more and different practitioners, who are then able to create new forms of knowledge. Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2024 Dr. Lozada developed fluorescent PET tracers used for cancer imaging and fluorescent guided surgery. His work improved the design of new diagnostic tracers with trifluoroborates for use in clinical studies. He also discovered new ways to fluorinate boronic acids for applications in PET imaging. His work impacted the design of 18F-based diagnostics. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2024 Dr. Belley developed first-principles quantum many-body methods to further our theoretical understanding of neutrinoless double beta decay: a hypothetical process that sheds light on many properties of the neutrino. He also developed machine learning algorithms to greatly accelerate calculations for its first reliable uncertainty quantification. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)

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