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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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
- Biodiversity Research Centre
- Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research
- Centre for Microbial Diversity and Evolution
Computational Sciences and Mathematics
- Data Science Institute
- Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems
- Institute of Applied Mathematics
- Statistical Consulting and Research Laboratory
- Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences
Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
- Geophysical Inversion Facility
- Lithoprobe: Canada's National Geoscience Project
- Mineral Deposit Research Unit
- Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research
- Seismic Laboratory for Imaging and Modeling
Genomics and Biological Sciences
- Centre for High-Throughput Biology
- Geomatics for Informed Decisions Network
- Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics
- Michael Smith Laboratories
Human-Computer Interaction
- Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems
- Vancouver Institute for Visual Analytics
Life Sciences
- Centre for Blood Research
- Centre for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health
- International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries
- Life Sciences Institute
- Michael Smith Laboratories
- Neglected Global Diseased Initiative
Chemistry and Materials Science
- Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory
- Max Planck-UBC Centre for Quantum Materials
- Quantum Devices Group
- Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute
Physics
- Antihydrogen Trapping and Spectroscopy at CERN
- Pacific Institute for Theoretical Physics
- TRIUMF: Canada’s National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics
- UBC ATLAS Project at Large Hadron Collider
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
Graduate Degree Programs
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Dr. Quilichini studied how plants form the durable wall encasing pollen, which is fortified by the poorly understood material, sporopollenin. She discovered a transport protein required for sporopollenin movement to developing pollen and used imaging to study its chemical nature. Her work enables new studies of this natural polymer and its manipulation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Payne developed catalysts based on inexpensive non-toxic metals for the efficient synthesis of nitrogen containing compounds. These studies establish the broad applicability of these approaches and reactivity trends, to guide future developments. The greener methodologies are attractive to the agrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Lundeberg investigated the electronic properties of graphene, in particular how quantum phase coherence and magnetic fields affect the motion of electrons of graphene at very low temperatures. This research will help to design and understand future quantum electronic devices based on graphene. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Yonson's work generated new metal catalysts for facilitating chemical reactions. These chemical reactions resulted in the formation of carbon-nitrogen or carbon-carbon bonds, which are fundamental to organic chemistry. This research will help inform further development of metal catalysts for use in chemical synthesis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Forestieri studied the chemistry of therapeutic compounds found in nature. His achievements included the first synthesis of a new steroid to treat tuberculosis and discovery of a new natural product with potential anti-diabetic properties. These outcomes may enable more effective strategies to combat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and type 2 diabetes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Wlodarska examined the important role our intestinal microbes play in intestinal disease. She discovered that microbes regulate the intestinal mucus layer, a key component of human health, and identified a novel immune pathway controlling this mucus production. This knowledge is critical in developing new therapeutics for intestinal disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Rojo studied the field of Algebraic Topology. He focussed on the spaces of group homomorphisms, particularly the space of commuting orthogonal matrices. He computed the number of connected components of these spaces, drawing on combinatorics, linear algebra and topology. He shed some light on the structure of these very complicated spaces. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Joty developed automatic methods for analyzing written conversations in asynchronous media, for example blogs and emails. These methods assist us in understanding conversations, as well as improving automatic language processing applications such as text summarization, text generation, sentiment analysis, question answering and machine translation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Bordet studied volcanic rocks formed 50 million years ago in central British Columbia. She showed that volcanism was triggered by dynamic interactions between tectonic plates and ancient subducted slabs beneath the Canadian Cordillera. Outcomes of this study apply to both mineral and oil and gas resources exploration in British Columbia. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Golding's research on the sedimentology and fossil record of Triassic rocks from northeastern British Columbia has allowed him to determine the age, provenance and tectonic setting of these important, hydrocarbon-bearing sediments. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD) |