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
Tortell, Philippe Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Botany Biological / Chemical Oceanography, Climate-active Trace Gases, Primary Productvity, Polar Marine Ecosystems
Trites, Andrew Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries marine mammals, seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins, fisheries competition, population biology, ecology, Marine mamals research centre, biology of marine mammals, population dynamics, bioenergetics, fisheries
Tropini, Carolina Department of Microbiology & Immunology, School of Biomedical Engineering Microbiology; Medical and biomedical engineering; Physical sciences; Bacteria; Bacteriophages; Bioengineering; Bioinformatics; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Biophysics; Gut microbiota; Inflammatory bowel disease
Tsai, Tai-Peng Department of Mathematics Differential equations and integral equations in pure mathematics; Partial Differential Equations; Mathematical physics
Tseng, Michelle Department of Botany, Department of Zoology Population ecology; Community ecology (except invasive species ecology); Evolutionary impacts of climate change; Biological adaptation; Ecological impacts of climate change; Insect & plankton ecology; Community and evolutionary ecology; Community responses to warming; Urban biodiversity
Unruh, William Department of Physics & Astronomy black holes; cosmology; quantum computers; theory of gravity
Van de Panne, Michiel Department of Computer Science Computer Science and Statistics; Computer Sciences and Mathematical Tools; Robotics and Automation; simulation of human movement; computer animation; Robotics; deep reinforcement learning; motor control; computer graphics
Van Raamsdonk, Mark Department of Physics & Astronomy elementary particle theory, high energy theory.  , String theory, quantum field theory, quantum gravity
Van Waerbeke, Ludovic Department of Physics & Astronomy astrophysics, cosmology, dark energy, universe, gravitational lensing, galaxy, galaxies, Cosmology, dark matter, galaxy formation, structure formation
van Willigenburg, Stephanie Department of Mathematics Combinatorics and discrete mathematics; algebraic combinatorics; Coxeter group; quasisymmetric function; Schur functions and generalizations; chromatic symmetric function
Vatsal, Vinayak Department of Mathematics Canonical periods, congruence formula, elliptic curve, Iwasawa invariants, Heegner points, L-functions
Vincent, Amanda Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Ecological applications, n.e.c.; Marine ecology (including marine ichthyology); Biodiversity; Natural environment sustainability studies; Natural resource management; Wildlife and habitat management
Wachs, Anthony Department of Mathematics, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering Fluidization and fluid mechanics; Process control and simulation in chemical engineering; Numerical computation; Fluid mechanics; Particle-laden flows; Non Newtonian flows; Heat and mass transfer; Numerical simulation; High performance computing; Multi-scale modelling
Waltham, Christopher Department of Physics & Astronomy Physical sciences; Musical Acoustics
Wang, Daochen Department of Computer Science Quantum Computation; structures beneath quantum speed-ups; quantum cryptography
Wang, Yan Department of Chemistry Quantum chemistry, Chemical physics
Ward, Michael Jeffrey Department of Mathematics Applied analysis, singular perturbations, reaction-diffusion theory, mathematical modeling and scientific compution, nonlinear dynamics and applied partial differential equations
Wasteneys, Geoff Department of Botany Plant biology; Cell signaling; Hormones and Growth Factors; Molecular Genetics; Cellulose Biosynthesis; Microtubule Dynamics and Organization; Plant Cell Walls in Cell Shape and Tissue Function; Plant Growth and Development; Plant Responses to Abiotic Stress; Trafficking of Membrane Receptors and Transporters
Waterman, Stephanie Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric sciences; Oceanography; Arctic oceanography; geophysical fluid dynamics; Jets, eddies & scale interactions; Ocean dynamics; Oceanic processes; Scale interactions; Southern ocean dynamics; Western boundary current jets
Watson, Liam Department of Mathematics Topology; Low-dimensional topology; Khovanov homology; Heegaard Floer homology
Wei, Yuanhao Department of Computer Science Algorithms; software engineering
Wei, Kevin Department of Zoology Cell and Developmental Biology; evolution
Weis, Dominique Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Isotope geochemistry; Environmental geochemistry; Earth Structure and Composition; Geodynamics; Chemical Pollutants; Earth Sciences; Geochemistry; High-precision/sensitivity geochemical analyses; Indigenous studies; Oceanic islands and mantle plumes
Welch, William Department of Statistics Computational methods in statistics; Computer experiments; Design and analysis of experiments; Statistical machine learning; Environmental modellign
Wetton, Brian Department of Mathematics Scientific computing, fluid mechanics

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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
2024 Dr. Chu studied co-expression analysis, a computational method for analyzing gene regulatory circuitry and complex human diseases. He showed that the classical interpretation of co-expression is deeply flawed. This work emphasizes the importance of scrutinizing widely-held assumptions and offers recommendations for future studies of gene regulation. Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD)
2024 Images move across the retina and through different regions of the visual field as we move through the world. Dr. Thériault discovered substantial differences in how motion in the frontal and lateral visual fields are used by hummingbirds to control hovering, advancing understanding of the transformation of sensory input to motor output. Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2024 Dr. Araújo designed novel algorithms empowering amateur users to easily customize 3D digital content for use in virtual platforms or the physical world via 3D fabrication. His work lays a strong foundation for solving complex shape-editing problems and plays a pivotal role in the broader adoption of virtual platforms and 3D fabrication technologies. Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD)
2024 Dr. Saber investigated how different host factors influence the maturation of transplanted stem cell-derived pancreatic beta cells. She found that cell function was enhanced in female recipients, and when the cells were encased in devices for subcutaneous transplant. Her findings further inform the clinical use of stem cell therapy for diabetes. Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD)
2024 Dr. Daniel-Ivad's work characterized discreet steps in the biosynthesis of the antibiotic natural products reductasporine and capuramycin produced by soil bacteria. These add context to the evolution of challenging chemical reactions in nature and expand the tools available to engineered chemistry in commercial pharmaceutical production. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2024 Dr. MacPhail-Bartley used laser fields to control the speed and direction of molecular rotation of molecules embedded in superfluid helium. By controlling this rotational energy, we are able to investigate how this energy is dissipated by the liquid helium. This moves us forward towards developing a microscopic understanding of the nature of superfluidity. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Cho investigated the evolutionary history of a group of eukaryotes called stramenopiles, by describing new species, morphologies, genomic relationships, symbionts, and distribution. These studies resolved previously contentious or unknown relationships among stramenopiles advancing our understanding of their complex evolutionary history. Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD)
2024 Nearly 85% of the universe's matter is dark matter of unknown composition. Dr. Pradeep led the characterization of ultra-sensitive dark matter detectors and developed tools based on machine learning to enhance their resolution. Her work will empower the search for a rare phenomenon - the scattering of dark matter particles from atomic targets. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Garen investigated the effects of temperature on plant carbon metabolism and water use. His work identified a key role for thermal acclimation in controlling plant growth, and he developed improved methods of measuring leaf physiological rates. His work helped to advance fundamental ecological theory and inform global modelling efforts. Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD)
2024 Dr. Zhang studied waxes sealing plant surfaces. She found whitish appearance of leaves to wax nanocrystals formed by characteristic wax compounds, and her analysis revealed the mechanisms underlying the formation of these compounds. This research will inform the breeding of drought-resilient crops and engineering waterproof compounds. Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD)

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