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
Hauert, Christoph Department of Mathematics Mathematics and statistics; Modelization and Simulation; Evolution and Phylogenesis; Biological Behavior; dynamical systems; evolution; game theory; social dilemmas; stochastic processes
Haynes, Charles Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering Protein purification, recombinant proteins, molecular thermodynamics, biocompatible polymers
Heagy, Lindsey Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Geoelectrics and geoelectromagnetics; Magnetism and paleomagnetism; Gravimetry; Environmental monitoring; Numerical computation; Machine learning; Geophysics; Inverse theory; data science; Machine Learning; Electromagnetics; Carbon sequestration; Groundwater; Environmental geophysics; Resource exploration
Hearty, Christopher Department of Physics & Astronomy Particle physics, experimental; Experimental Particle Physics; e+e- collider; Physics beyond the Standard Model; Dark sector; dark matter
Hein, Jason Department of Chemistry discovery, design and study of new organometallic and organocatalytic reactions; investigating complex systems where multiple pathways compete, partitioning the active catalyst among many possible pathways
Hermon, Jonathan Department of Mathematics probability theory; Markov chains and the cutoff phenomenon; particle systems; percolation
Heyl, Jeremy Department of Physics & Astronomy Astronomical and space sciences; Physical sciences; Astrophysics; Black Holes; Neutron Stars; quantum phenomena; Quantum-Field Theory; Stellar; Stellar Physics
Hickey, Kenneth Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences understand the processes involved in the genesis of mineral deposits from a multidisciplinary perspective; Post-mineralization weathering, denudation and subsequent burial of Carlin-type Au-mineralization at the Cortez Hills deposit: Implications for finding Au-deposits in bedrock under cover.
Hickson, Paul Department of Physics & Astronomy cosmology, galaxies, telescopes, adaptive optics., Astronomy, astrophysics, Galaxies, clusters, instrumentation, adaptive optics
Hieter, Philip Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Medical Genetics Molecular biology of eukaryotic chromosome transmission
Hinshaw, Gary Department of Physics & Astronomy cosmology, cosmic background radiation, Cosmology, Measuring diffuse background radiations
Hirst, Martin Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Michael Smith Laboratories Bioinformatics; Clinical oncology; Genomics; Immunology; Microbiology; Carcinogenesis; Cellular Differentiation; Epigenomics; Leukemia; Molecular Genetics
Hoang, Nguyen Phong Department of Computer Science networking; security & privacy; network security; online privacy; Internet measurement
Holmes, Reid Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; computer science; open source software; software comprehension; software development tools; software engineering; software quality; software testing; static analysis
Holmes-Cerfon, Miranda Department of Mathematics Mathematical modelling and simulation; Computational methods in statistics; Numerical analysis; Thermodynamics and statistical physics
Horwitz, Marc Department of Microbiology & Immunology Mechanisms of viral-induced immune disease in a variety of complex chronic disorders
Hu, Alan Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; formal methods; formal verification; model checking; nonce to detect automated mining of profiles; post-silicon validation; security; software analysis
Huan, Tao Department of Chemistry Bioinformatics, n.e.c.; Analytical spectrometry; Metabolomics; Separation science; Cancer progression and metastasis; Human nutrition and metabolism; Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Machine Learning; Bioinformatics
Hudson, Zachary Department of Chemistry Synthesis of materials; Functional materials in materials chemistry sciences; Organic chemical synthesis; Optical properties of materials; Luminescent materials; Organic electronics; Polymer chemistry; Organic chemistry; Organic light-emitting diodes
Hunt, Brian Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Marine ecology (including marine ichthyology); Biological oceanography; Biodiversity; Ecosystem function; Ecological impacts of climate change; Community ecology (except invasive species ecology); marine food webs; ecosystem oceanography; plankton dynamics; open ocean; Coastal Ecosystems; climate change impacts on the ocean; salmon ecology; food web nutrition; microplastics; stable isotopes; forage fish; zooplankton; Urban oceans; Thiamine defficiency; Stormwater
Hutchinson, Norman Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; Computer Systems; distributed systems; File Systems; Virtualization
Irwin, Darren Department of Zoology Zoology; evolutionary genetics; genomic differentiation; hybridization; ornithology; seasonal migration; speciation
Jankowski, Jill Department of Zoology Ecology
Jean, Francois Department of Microbiology & Immunology Medical virology; Protein trafficking in cell biology; Proteomics; Enzymes (including kinetics and mechanisms, and biocatalyst); Organelle function; Virology; Systems biology; Cellular virology; Emerging human viruses; COVID-19; Host-virus interactions; Broad-based antiviral agents; Antiviral agents; Natural products as antiviral agents; Lipid-modulating drugs; Cellular protease inhibitors; Viral protease inhibitors; Human coronaviruses; SARS-CoV-2; Human flaviviruses; Dengue virus; Zika virus; West Nile virus; Influenza A virus; Human microRNAs; Therapeutic microRNA; Viral and cellular biomarkers; Molecular diagnostics for detecting viral infection; Circulating exosomes; Exosomal microRNAs; Proteomics-based technologies; Multiplexed and Mass Spectrometric quantitation assays
Jefferies, Wilfred Arthur Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Medical Genetics Iron transport molecules

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Graduate Student Stories

Kabir Bhalla

Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)

Contribution of polyphosphate to Cryptococcal disease

Katrin Steinthorsdottir

Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD)

Feasibility of in-situ carbon mineralization in serpentinite via shallow injection, B.C., Canada

Aaron Klymasz-Swartz

Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)

Physiological development of the amphibian gill; do the gills take on a dominant role for ion regulation before gas exchange as observed in developing teleost fish?

Becca Beutel

Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD)

Water mass variability on the northeast Pacific shelf and what this means for biogeochemical conditions under a changing climate

Michael Yin

Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD)

Supporting and extending virtual entertainment experiences

Madison Chapel

Master of Science in Bioinformatics (MSc)

Evolution of gene regulatory networks

W. Austin Guild

Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)

Investigating the protective role of endogenous retroviruses against herpes simplex virus-2 infection

Cara James

Doctor of Philosophy in Geophysics (PhD)

Understanding deep-sea mining particulate clouds: predicting environmental impacts, informing regulation and monitoring pollutants
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.

 

HaloTouch: Using IR Multi-Path Interference to Support Touch Interactions with General Surfaces
Publication: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
UBC Author(s): Bo Robert Xiao (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
Publication Date: 26 April 2025

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Touching Experiences: How Older Adults Envision Ambient and Tangible Social Technology Through the Lens of Time
Publication: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
UBC Author(s): Joanna McGrenere (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
Publication Date: 26 April 2025

View Publication
Mirror to Companion: Exploring Roles, Values, and Risks of AI Self-Clones through Story Completion
Publication: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
UBC Author(s): Dongwook Yoon (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
Publication Date: 26 April 2025

View Publication
Spatial distribution of fishmeal and fish oil factories around the globe
Publication: Science Advances
UBC Author(s): Daniel Pauly (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 11
Publication Date: 25 April 2025

View Publication
Data-Driven Workflow for the Development and Discovery of N-Oxyl Hydrogen Atom Transfer Catalysts
Publication: ACS Central Science
UBC Author(s): Corey Stephenson (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 23747943
Volume: 11
Page Range: 592-600
Publication Date: 23 April 2025

View Publication
Regioselective Hydroaminoalkylation with Silylated Alkenes for β-Amino Acid Synthesis
Publication: Journal of the American Chemical Society
UBC Author(s): Laurel Schafer (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00027863
Volume: 147
Page Range: 13415-13423
Publication Date: 23 April 2025

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Controlling Stereoselectivity with Noncovalent Interactions in Chiral Phosphoric Acid Organocatalysis
Publication: Chemical Reviews
UBC Author(s): Jolene Reid (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00092665
Volume: 125
Page Range: 4184-4286
Publication Date: 23 April 2025

View Publication
Data-Driven Workflow for the Development and Discovery of N-Oxyl Hydrogen Atom Transfer Catalysts
Publication: ACS Central Science
UBC Author(s): Corey Stephenson (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 23747943
Volume: 11
Page Range: 592-600
Publication Date: 23 April 2025

View Publication
Controlling Stereoselectivity with Noncovalent Interactions in Chiral Phosphoric Acid Organocatalysis
Publication: Chemical Reviews
UBC Author(s): Jolene Reid (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00092665
Volume: 125
Page Range: 4184-4286
Publication Date: 23 April 2025

View Publication
Comparative Structured Observation
Publication: ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
UBC Author(s): Joanna McGrenere (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 10730516
Volume: 32
Publication Date: 21 April 2025

View Publication
Search for Continuous Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars in the First Part of the Fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Observing Run
Publication: Astrophysical Journal
UBC Author(s): Ingrid Stairs (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 0004637X
Volume: 983
Publication Date: 20 April 2025

View Publication
LIGO Detector Characterization in the first half of the fourth Observing run
Publication: Classical and Quantum Gravity
UBC Author(s): Jessica McIver (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 02649381
Volume: 42
Publication Date: 18 April 2025

View Publication
Evaluating Predictive Accuracy in Asymmetric Catalysis: A Machine Learning Perspective on Local Reaction Space
Publication: ACS Catalysis
UBC Author(s): Jolene Reid (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 15
Page Range: 6067-6077
Publication Date: 18 April 2025

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A chromosome-level genome assembly of the varied leaved jewelflower, Streptanthus diversifolius, reveals a recent whole genome duplication
Publication: G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
UBC Author(s): Loren Rieseberg (Botany / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 15
Publication Date: 17 April 2025

View Publication
Crustal Magnetization Source Depths North of the Caloris Basin, Mercury
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
UBC Author(s): Catherine Johnson (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00948276
Volume: 52
Publication Date: 16 April 2025

View Publication
Quantitative brain volume differences between COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 volunteers: A systematic review
Publication: NeuroImage
UBC Author(s): Vesna Sossi (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 10538119
Volume: 310
Publication Date: 15 April 2025

View Publication
Diffusion tensor imaging after COVID-19 infection: A systematic review
Publication: NeuroImage
UBC Author(s): Vesna Sossi (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 10538119
Volume: 310
Publication Date: 15 April 2025

View Publication
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Quantifying atmospheric emission above Cerro Toco
Publication: Physical Review D
UBC Author(s): Mark Halpern (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 24700010
Volume: 111
Publication Date: 15 April 2025

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Daily modulations and broadband strategy in axion searches: An application with the CAST-CAPP detector
Publication: Physical Review D
UBC Author(s): Ariel Zhitnitsky (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 24700010
Volume: 111
Publication Date: 15 April 2025

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A Generalizable Screening Platform for Developing Functional Aptasensors
Publication: Analytical Chemistry
UBC Author(s): Sabrina Leslie (Michael Smith Labs / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00032700
Volume: 97
Page Range: 7643-7650
Publication Date: 15 April 2025

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Indigenous Knowledge as a sole data source in habitat selection functions
Publication: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
UBC Author(s): Marie Auger-Methe (Statistics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00278424
Volume: 122
Publication Date: 15 April 2025

View Publication
The Terry Fox Research Institute Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network: A pan-Canadian precision oncology initiative
Publication: Cancer Cell
UBC Author(s): Martin Hirst (Microbiology & Immunology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 15356108
Volume: 43
Page Range: 587-592
Publication Date: 14 April 2025

View Publication
Beyond-classical computation in quantum simulation
Publication: Science (New York, N.Y.)
UBC Author(s): Marcel Franz (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 388
Page Range: 199-204
Publication Date: 11 April 2025

View Publication
Learning Regularization for Graph Inverse Problems
Publication: Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
UBC Author(s): Eldad Haber (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21595399
Volume: 39
Page Range: 16471-16479
Publication Date: 11 April 2025

View Publication
Hyperparametric Robust and Dynamic Influence Maximization
Publication: Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
UBC Author(s): Laks Lakshmanan (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21595399
Volume: 39
Page Range: 12497-12505
Publication Date: 11 April 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 John Ticknor delivered groundbreaking insights into the mobility and transport of dilute-limit lithium ions in van der Waals layered materials. This process is essential in the operation of a lithium-ion battery, and the 'first of their kind' experimental results directly validated computational simulations that underpin modern battery research. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2025 Dr. Suan studied special geometric structures related to string theory on 6- and 7-dimensional spaces. His research showed that a particular process called a conifold transition is continuous and also gave a long-time existence criterion for extending the Anomaly flow. Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)
2025 Dr. Damoo examined the role of effectors on the virulence of the corn smut fungus. Her work identified a novel mechanism by which fungal pathogen manipulate their host to favour their proliferation. Additionally, she worked on repurposing commercialized herbicides, evaluating their efficacy in managing fungal pathogens and improving crop protection Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2025 Dr. Grzedowski has developed a new method of making DNA biosensors. Overall, improving the sensitivity of detection of nucleic acids and important disase markers will make diagnosing conditions easier, simpler, and more accesible. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2025 The ocean is crucial for food security. Recent studies suggest that beyond long-term climate change, extreme events, such as marine heatwaves, could profoundly alter the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. Dr. Guibourd de Luzinais studied the consequences of marine heatwaves on marine communities using numerical models on a global scale Doctor of Philosophy in Oceans and Fisheries (PhD)
2025 Climate change affects biodiversity through complex ecological processes. Dr. Stark used computer models and experiments with aquatic microbes to study how warming affects biodiversity through species’ growth, competition, and movement. Her work offers tools for predicting how many species we might gain or lose with temperature change. Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2025 Dr. Kirmizibayrak developed and applied novel timing methodologies for astronomy to probe astrophysical objects through their timing variability and time lags. She examined black holes, neutron stars and supernova remnants through novel approaches in timing, spectral and polarimetry analyses. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2025 Dr. Shi transformed our understanding of cross-coupling reactions through real-time monitoring techniques. By capturing the temporal signatures of all dynamic processes of a reaction, she revealed hidden reaction pathways and developed more efficient synthetic methods that dramatically reduce the manufacturing costs. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2025 Dr. Zhang studied the existence, long-time behavior, and singularity formation of solutions to partial differential equations in Euclidean space and on conical singular manifolds. She proved a class of logarithmic nonlinearity is important for solutions to blow up in finite time. Her research advanced our understanding of the behavior of solutions. Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)
2025 Dr. Kinach studied particle-like objects called 'solitons' which arise in many areas of Nature. Using supercomputer simulations, he showed that electromagnetic fields can significantly alter the behaviour of these objects in some mathematical models. This research advances our understanding of solitons in fundamental theories of physics. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)

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