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
Dierker, Steve Department of Physics & Astronomy Physical sciences; Collective dynamics of condensed matter systems; Dependence on reduced dimensionality, strong interactions, disorder, and mesoscale structure
Ding, Jiarui Department of Computer Science Bioinformatics; Basic medicine and life sciences; Computational Biology; Machine Learning; Probabilistic Deep Learning; single-cell genomics; visualization; Cancer biology; Computational Immunology; Food Allergy; neuroscience
Doebeli, Michael Walter Department of Mathematics, Department of Zoology Mathematical ecology and evolution, evolution of diversity, adaptive speciation, evolution of cooperation, game theory, experimental evolution in microorganisms
Domeier, Phillip Department of Microbiology & Immunology Host-pathogen; biodiversity; Rapid evolution infection; Immunity; Inflammation Viruses
Eberhardt, Erik Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Geotechnical engineering; Mining engineering; Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering; Deep Underground Excavations; Rock Slope Engineering; Block Cave Mining
Eltis, Lindsay Department of Microbiology & Immunology Biochemistry; Genomics; Immunology; Microbiology; Bacterial catabolism of steroids and lignin; biocatalyst development; Enzymes and Proteins; Metabolism (Living Organisms); Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Evans, William Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; Algorithms; theoretical computer science; Computer Sciences and Mathematical Tools; computational geometry; graph drawing; program compression
Fast, Naomi Department of Botany Genomics, single-celled organisms
Feeley, Michael Department of Computer Science Distributed systems, operating systems, workstation and pc clusters
Fernandez, Rachel Department of Microbiology & Immunology Bordetella pertusis, whooping cough, lipopolysaccharide
Finlay, B Brett Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Infectious agents, bacteria, microbial infections and how humans react to it
Fischer, Monika Department of Botany, Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences Mycology; mycology; fire-adapted fungi; fungal community ecology; fungal genetics & development; fungal metabolism
Folk, Joshua Department of Physics & Astronomy Physical sciences; 2D materials and Vanderwaals heterostructures; Quantum electronics; Thermodynamics of quantum systems; Strongly correlated phenomena; Topological phenomena; Quantum transport
Franz, Marcel Department of Physics & Astronomy Condensed matter theory
Fraser, Ailana Department of Mathematics Differential Geometry, Geometric Analysis
Friedlander, Michael Department of Computer Science, Department of Mathematics numerical optimization, numerical linear algebra, scientific computing, Scientific computing
Friedman, Joel Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; Algebraic Graph Theory; Combinatorics; Computer Science Theory
Gantois, Joséphine Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability Environment and natural resources economics; Ecological applications; Sociology; Human Dimensions of Biodiversity Conservation; environmental economics; Applied Ecology; Rural Sociology; Causal inference; Applied Deep Learning
Gao, Lucy Department of Statistics Statistics; Selective Inference; Inference x Unsupervised Learning; Statistics x Optimization
Garcia, Ronald Department of Computer Science Programming languages; programming languages
Gates, Derek Department of Chemistry Inorganic chemistry, materials science, polymer chemistry, catalysis
Gay, Colin Department of Physics & Astronomy Experimental subatomic physics, Beyond Standard Model physics, Extra dimensions
Gaynor, Kaitlyn Department of Zoology, Department of Botany behavioral responses of animals to human presence; effects of anthropogenic disturbance on predator-prey and other species interactions; socio-ecological dynamics of conservation and coexistence
Genovese, Giuseppe Department of Mathematics
Germain, Rachel Department of Zoology Ecology; evolution

Pages

Graduate Student Stories

Manvi Bhalla

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

Co-Imagining Just Futures: Advancing Intersectional Environmental Justice in Canadian Environmental Health Policy-Making

Bulgan Batdorj

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

Enhancing Mining Transparency and Accountability through Natural Language Processing

Pardis Semnani

Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)

Causal Inference and Density Estimation

Michael Sekatchev

Master of Science in Physics (MSc)

Axion quark nuggets versus excess galactic emissions

Jackson Moore

Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD)

Domestication and ecology of the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Charlotte Milne

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

Finding best practices in Canadian flood mapping to decrease risk for all

Zana Mody

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

Counting blue carbon for coastal communities: understanding socio-ecological contexts of nature based climate solutions and mangrove restoration

Kabir Bhalla

Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)

Contribution of polyphosphate to Cryptococcal disease

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.

 

Oxidation-State-Dependent Photochemistry of Sulfur-Bridged Aza-Anthracenes
Publication: Journal of Organic Chemistry
UBC Author(s): Michael Wolf (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00223263
Volume: 90
Page Range: 5788-5794
Publication Date: 2 May 2025

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Selective Block Copolymerization of Lactide and Methyl Methacrylate with Cationic Indium Catalysts: Exploring the Influence of Noncovalent Ligand Interactions
Publication: ACS Catalysis
UBC Author(s): Parisa Mehrkhodavandi (Chemistry / Faculty of Science), Jolene Reid (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 15
Page Range: 7588-7600
Publication Date: 2 May 2025

View Publication
Envisioning AI Support during Semi-Structured Interviews Across the Expertise Spectrum
Publication: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
UBC Author(s): Cristina Conati (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 9
Publication Date: 2 May 2025

View Publication
Fabric transition of olivine as the cause for an anisotropic seismic discontinuity in the mantle of the northern Slave craton, Canada
Publication: Tectonophysics
UBC Author(s): Maya Kopylova (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00401951
Volume: 903
Publication Date: 2 May 2025

View Publication
Measurement of the branching fraction, polarization, and time-dependent CP asymmetry in B0 →ρ+ρ- decays and constraint on the CKM angle φ2
Publication: Physical Review D
UBC Author(s): Janis McKenna (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 24700010
Volume: 111
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
Equality of skew Schur functions in noncommuting variables
Publication: Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society
UBC Author(s): Stephanie van Willigenburg (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00246093
Volume: 57
Page Range: 1415-1428
Publication Date: May 2025

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A review of benthic cnidarians as underappreciated predators in the gelatinous ocean
Publication: Marine Biology
UBC Author(s): Yevhenii Pakhomov (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00253162
Volume: 172
Publication Date: May 2025

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Tracing Sedimentary Origins in Multivariate Geochronology via Constrained Tensor Factorization
Publication: Mathematical Geosciences
UBC Author(s): Joel Edward Saylor (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science), Michael Friedlander (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 18748961
Volume: 57
Page Range: 601-628
Publication Date: May 2025

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A merging pair of massive quiescent galaxies at z = 3.44 in the Cosmic Vine
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Wing Shan Man (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

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Euclid: Early Release Observations – Dwarf galaxies in the Perseus galaxy cluster
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

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Euclid: Early Release Observations – Globular clusters in the Fornax galaxy cluster, from dwarf galaxies to the intracluster field
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
An annotated bibliography for comparative prime number theory
Publication: Expositiones Mathematicae
UBC Author(s): Gregory Martin (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 07230869
Volume: 43
Publication Date: May 2025

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Euclid: Early Release Observations – NISP-only sources and the search for luminous z = 6–8 galaxies
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
Euclid: The Early Release Observations Lens Search Experiment
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
Euclid: Early Release Observations – Overview of the Perseus cluster and analysis of its luminosity and stellar mass functions
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
Dysregulation of immune system markers, gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acid production following prenatal alcohol exposure: A developmental perspective
Publication: Neurochemistry International
UBC Author(s): Laura Parfrey (Botany / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 01970186
Volume: 185
Publication Date: May 2025

View Publication
Euclid: Early Release Observations – Programme overview and pipeline for compact- and diffuse-emission photometry
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
Euclid: Early Release Observations – Deep anatomy of nearby galaxies
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
Why aquatic deoxygenation belongs in the planetary boundary framework
Publication: PLOS Climate
UBC Author(s): Sean Crowe (Microbiology & Immunology / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 4
Publication Date: May 2025

View Publication
Wing extension-flexion coupled aeroelastic effects improve avian gliding performance
Publication: Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
UBC Author(s): Douglas Altshuler (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 22
Page Range: 20240753
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
On the expected ℓ<inf>∞</inf>-norm of high-dimensional martingales
Publication: Stochastic Processes and their Applications
UBC Author(s): Nicholas Harvey (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 03044149
Volume: 183
Publication Date: May 2025

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Adverse fetal and perinatal outcomes associated with Zika virus infection during pregnancy: an individual participant data meta-analysis
Publication: eClinicalMedicine
UBC Author(s): Paul Gustafson (Statistics / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 83
Publication Date: May 2025

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Euclid: Early Release Observations – A preview of the Euclid era through a galaxy cluster magnifying lens
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
Euclid: Early Release Observations – Unveiling the morphology of two Milky Way globular clusters out to their periphery
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: 1 May 2025

View Publication
Euclid: Early Release Observations – The intracluster light and intracluster globular clusters of the Perseus cluster
Publication: Astronomy and Astrophysics
UBC Author(s): Douglas Scott (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00046361
Volume: 697
Publication Date: May 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
2025 Dr. Lee investigated the respiratory adaptations of water-breathing insects that evolved from air-breathing ancestors. Using larval dragonflies, he found that their respiratory system is conducive for obtaining oxygen but inhibitory for living in deep depths, highlighting a key evolutionary constraint within the insect lineage Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2025 Dr. Lee used a genetic approach to study the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, identifying a novel pathway for antifungal drug development. He also highlighted a new class of synthetic proteins with therapeutic potential against Cryptococcus. This research enhances our knowledge of cryptococcal disease and supports a new treatment strategy. Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2025 Dr. Derriche studied how electric polarization affects a wide class of solids. He discovered that relaxing common approximations in the treatment of polarization leads to the emergence of interesting behaviors explaining experimental results related to lattice distortions, topological insulators and high-temperature superconductors. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2025 Dr. Storlund investigated how marine mammals adjust heart rate and blood flow. Using innovative techniques, she found that an expanded section of their main artery maintains circulation between heartbeats, prolonging dive times. Her work enhances understanding of marine mammal physiology and their resilience to ocean changes. Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2025 Dr. Thomson investigated the utility of sulfur fluorides as reagents in synthetic organic chemistry. His work exemplified the utility of these reagents through expediting the syntheses of pharmaceutically-relevant motifs. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2025 Dr. Rueda-Espinosa studied some of the mechanisms by which platinum, palladium and nickel activate carbon-hydrogen, carbon-sulfur and carbon-fluorine bonds. His research provides insights that will aid in developing more efficient and sustainable methods for bond cleavage in chemical transformations. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2025 Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton provide 50% of the O2 we breathe and are important drivers of marine carbon cycles. Dr. Sezginer addressed several challenges to high-resolution phytoplankton productivity data collection. Her work seeks to expand data coverage and understanding of the tiny green engines that fuel our oceans. Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD)
2025 Dr. McDowell studied the roles of three taste receptors in the fruit fly. She identified a taste receptor necessary for high salt avoidance and found that two other receptors were important in regulating feeding. Her research helps us understand salt detection in animals and how consumption is controlled to ensure an animal's fitness. Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2025 Dr. Indran developed a yeast-based platform using genetic interaction to measure functional effects of human gene variants and mutations. Applying this to TP53, a key cancer gene, revealed how specific mutations alter its activity. This work supports improved classification of uncertain variants in cancer diagnostics. Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD)
2025 Dr. Na studied the diversity and evolutionary relationships of apicomplexans, an important group of animal parasites that cause serious diseases like malaria. She discovered new species, expanded molecular data availability, and uncovered novel insights changing our understanding of their evolutionary history and biological diversity. Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD)

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