Deglaciation will cause water shortages for Alberta’s Bighorn Dam and other sites
Alberta’s largest water reservoir, the Bighorn Dam, is among four locations in the province most at risk of summer water shortages due to...
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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 40 per cent of the Faculty's graduate enrollments, and the percentage of international students has increased to 48 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
- Biomedical Research Centre
- 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
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 by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Science.
Recent Thesis Submissions
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Visualizing heterogeneous data in genomic epidemiology (Computer Science - PHD)
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Computational studies on functional materials (Chemistry - MSC)
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Early-life gut microbiota dysbiosis in children with atopic dermatitis (Microbiology and Immunology - MSC)
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The role of the Lyn tyrosine kinase in innate immunity and intestinal inflammation (Microbiology and Immunology - PHD)
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Financial knowledge graph construction (Computer Science - MSC)
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Evaluating microbial community responses to blended biofuel contamination (Microbiology and Immunology - MSC)
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Thermal conductivity in ISOL target materials : development of a numerical approach and an experimental apparatus (Engineering Physics - MASC)
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Negative curves in blowups of weighted projective planes (Mathematics - PHD)
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Donaldson-Thomas theory of quantum Fermat quintic threefolds (Mathematics - PHD)
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Personal data curation in the cloud age : individual differences and design opportunities (Computer Science - PHD)
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Combinatorial properties of maps on finite posets (Mathematics - PHD)
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Metal chelating agents for medicinal radionuclides (Chemistry - PHD)
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Elucidating the mechanism of type 2 innate lymphoid cell-mediated tumour elimination (Microbiology and Immunology - MSC)
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A mitochondrial terminomics technique to study human cell death during bacterial infection (Microbiology and Immunology - PHD)
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Oleaginous bacteria have considerable potential for the sustainable production of lipid-based chemicals. Dr. Round's research characterized and exploited lipid biosynthesis enzymes to create a biocatalyst. The work provides insight into bacterial lipid biosynthesis and facilitates the development of processes to sustainably produce oleochemicals. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Nitta studied the regulation of signal transduction that occurs during plant immunity. Her work contributes to help uncover mechanisms which plants use to control the magnitude of defense responses. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Bernier investigated the nuclear structure of neutron-rich cadmium isotopes relevant to nuclear astrophysics using gamma-ray spectroscopy. Her work contributed to explain how the nuclear force holds atomic nuclei together and how heavy elements are created in stars. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Edwards developed new methods for using air and water sensitive catalysts for the synthesis of amines with minimal generation of waste. He has also used these methods to create new molecules that could have potential uses in the development of new pharmaceuticals. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Brown studied the interaction between tumours and the immune system in thousands of cancer patients. He used computational genomics methods to make predictions about how immune cells may recognize and attack these tumours, relating this to patient outcomes. This work identified patients most likely to benefit from immunotherapies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD) |
| 2019 | New understanding of space and time arises in the fundamental realization of the Universe. Dr. Yeh studied space as a pixel picture encoded in a set of matrices. He found how matrices reconstruct smooth spaces. His research contributes to revealing the origin of the Universe. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Starko explored how environmental conditions have shaped the evolutionary dynamics and ecological strategies of an important group of marine primary producers. His work spanned multiple spatial and temporal scales from large-scale patterns of evolution through deep time to the development of individual species. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Belliveau developed algorithms that produce three-dimensional images of the interior of the earth from remotely collected electrical and magnetic measurements. These images help scientists understand the Earth's interior. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geophysics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Khazraie studied the electronic structure of bismuth oxides. He showed that holes form on oxygen ions in contradiction to the ideas of charge fluctuations in Bismuths. His work can create a new class of materials that can host coexisting electron and hole gasses and lead to the realization of excitonic insulators. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Sadek demonstrated novel uses of organofluoroborates as sources of fluorine for chemical reactions, and synthesized boron and fluorine containing fluorescent molecules with novel structures and properties. These works serve to expand the chemical reactivity of organofluoroborates as well as the development of potential tools for medical imaging. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |