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

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 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

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
Joe, Harry Sue Wah Department of Statistics Statistics and Probabilities; dependence modelling; copula construction; non-normal time series; extreme value inference; parsimonous high-dimensional dependence
Johnson, Mark Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Hydrological Cycle and Reservoirs; Land and Soil; Climate Changes and Impacts; Agriculture; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; Running Water Hydrosystem; Fresh Water; Ground Water and Water Tables; Ecohydrology; Carbon cycle; land use; Water and Sustainability; Biogeochemistry; data science
Johnson, Catherine Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Lunar geophysics, Evolution of Mars' Magnetic Field and Atmosphere
Johnson, Pauline Department of Microbiology & Immunology Diseases of the Immune System; Immunology; Inflammation; Immune-cancer interactions; Innate immunity; Macrophages and myeloid cells
Jones, David Department of Physics & Astronomy Atomic, optical and molecular physics,Ultrafast Optics, Spectroscopy
Karczmarek, Joanna Department of Physics & Astronomy String theory; Matrix models; Emergent spacetime and gravity; Noncommutative geometry
Karu, Kalle Department of Mathematics Algebraic geometry, toric varieties, log geometry, combinatorics of fans and posets
Kastrup, Christian Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology drug delivery, coagulation, biomaterials, atherosclerosis, in-vivo imaging, microfluidics
Keeling, Patrick John Department of Botany Molecular evolution and cell biology of eukaryotes
Kennedy, Lori Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Geological science, structural geology, development of large-scale fault systems and shear zones, displacements, fluid-rock interactions, strain localization, confining pressure
Kennepohl, Pierre Department of Chemistry spectroscopy, electronic structure, paramagnetic resonance, X-ray absorption, X-ray emission, sulfur radicals in biology, enzymatic catalysis, transition metal catalysis, Relationship between electronic structure and reactivity in catalytic systems
Kiczales, Gregor Department of Computer Science MOOCs, Blended Learning, Flexible Learning, University Strategy for Flexible and Blended Learning, Computer Science Education, Programming Languages, Programming languages, aspect-oriented programming, foundations, reflections and meta programming, software design
Kiefl, Robert Department of Physics & Astronomy Quantum Phenomena; condensed matter physics; polarons; multiferroics; superconductivity; magnetism
Kim, Young-Heon Department of Mathematics Partial Differential Equations and Geometry
Kopylova, Maya Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences diamond ore deposits, Diamond exploration, petrology and volcanology
Korthauer, Keegan Department of Statistics Statistical genomics; Epigenomics; Single-cell analysis
Kremen, Claire Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, Department of Zoology Reconciliation of agricultural land use with biodiversity conservation; agroecological farming systems; sustainable landscapes
Krems, Roman Department of Chemistry Theoretical chemistry, Molecular Spectroscopy, Dynamics of few- and many-body molecular systems in electromagnetic fields
Kronstad, James Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Microbiology & Immunology Microbiology; Molecular Genetics; Genomics and Proteomics; Pathogenesis of infectious diseases; Medical Mycology; Plant-Microbe Interactions; Fungal diseases of plants
Kruecken, Reiner Department of Physics & Astronomy Elementary Particles; Universe Structure; Nuclear Physics; Nuclear Astrophysics; Neutrino Physics
Kunst, Ljerka Department of Botany Seed storage oil production, biosynthesis
Laba, Izabella Department of Mathematics Harmonic analysis, geometric measure theory and additive combinatorics
Lakshmanan, Laks Department of Computer Science data management and data cleaning; data warehousing and OLAP; data and text mining; analytics on big graphs and news; social networks and media; recommender systems
Leander, Brian Department of Botany, Department of Zoology Evolutionary morphology; Marine invertebrate zoology; Evolutionary protistology; Species discovery; Phylogenetic biology; Comparative organismal biology; Marine biodiversity
Lee, Jae-Hyeok Department of Botany Molecular Genetics; Evolutionary Genetics; molecular genetics of microalgae for robust biomass production; evolution of developmental mechanisms; cell and molecular biology of cellular differentiation

Pages

Graduate Student Stories

Amelia Hesketh

Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)

Potential impacts of ocean acidification on the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas

Xunyu Liang

Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)

Dark matter in form of the axion quark nuggets

Taylor Wright

Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)

Dynamic Cross-linked Polymeric Materials

Samuel Griffin

Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)

Development of transition metal catalysts for C-C and C-N bond formation

Thomas Malig

Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)

The Development and Application of an Automated Reaction Monitoring Prototype to Elucidate Catalytic Reaction Mechanisms

Mihai Cirstea

Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)

The Microbiome and Parkinson's Disease

Brian Chan

Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)

Combinatorics of Tableaux

Egor Larionov

Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD)

Contact Mechanics in Physically-based Simulation
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.

 

Search for direct production of electroweakinos in final states with missing transverse momentum and a Higgs boson decaying into photons in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
Publication: Journal of High Energy Physics
UBC Author(s): Alison Lister (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 2020
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Gas Composition of Developing Pneumatocysts in Bull Kelp Nereocystis luetkeana (Phaeophyceae)<sup>1</sup>
Publication: Journal of Phycology
UBC Author(s): Patrick Martone (Botany / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00223646
Volume: 56
Page Range: 1367-1372
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Effects of forced taxonomic transitions on metabolic composition and function in microbial microcosms
Publication: Environmental Microbiology Reports
UBC Author(s): Carl Bohlmann (Michael Smith Labs / Faculty of Science), Michael Walter Doebeli (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 12
Page Range: 514-524
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Scale dependence of effective geochemical rates in weathering mine waste rock
Publication: Journal of Contaminant Hydrology
UBC Author(s): Roger Beckie (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science), Ulrich Mayer (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 01697722
Volume: 234
Publication Date: October 2020

View Publication
Thorium chelators for targeted alpha therapy: Rapid chelation of thorium-226
Publication: Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals
UBC Author(s): Christopher E Orvig (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 03624803
Volume: 63
Page Range: 502-516
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Eco-evolutionary dynamics of range expansion
Publication: Ecology
UBC Author(s): Amy Angert (Botany / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00129658
Volume: 101
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Combination therapy with androgen receptor N-terminal domain antagonist EPI-7170 and enzalutamide yields synergistic activity in AR-V7-positive prostate cancer
Publication: Molecular Oncology
UBC Author(s): Raymond Andersen (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 15747891
Volume: 14
Page Range: 2455-2470
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Some results on higher eigenvalue optimization
Publication: Calculus of Variations and Partial Differential Equations
UBC Author(s): Ailana Fraser (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 09442669
Volume: 59
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Corrigendum for “Evolutionary links between intra- and extracellular acid–base regulation in fish and other aquatic animals” (Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology, (2020), 333, 6, (449-465), 10.1002/jez.2367)
Publication: Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology
UBC Author(s): Colin Brauner (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 24715638
Volume: 333
Page Range: 607
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Significance and distribution of apatite in the triassic doig phosphate Zone, Western Canada sedimentary basin
Publication: Minerals
UBC Author(s): Robert Marc Bustin (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 10
Page Range: 1-26
Publication Date: October 2020

View Publication
Author Correction: Detection of renal cell carcinoma using plasma and urine cell-free DNA methylomes (Nature Medicine, (2020), 26, 7, (1041-1043), 10.1038/s41591-020-0933-1)
Publication: Nature Medicine
UBC Author(s): Keegan Korthauer (Statistics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 10788956
Volume: 26
Page Range: 1663
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
On the Perils of Ignoring Evolution in Networks
Publication: Trends in Ecology and Evolution
UBC Author(s): Diane Srivastava (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 01695347
Volume: 35
Page Range: 865-866
Publication Date: October 2020

View Publication
Low-cost low-field NMR and MRI: Instrumentation and applications
Publication: Journal of Magnetic Resonance
UBC Author(s): Carl Michal (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 10907807
Volume: 319
Publication Date: October 2020

View Publication
Modelling spatiotemporal trends in range shifts of marine commercial fish species driven by climate change surrounding the Antarctic Peninsula
Publication: Science of the Total Environment
UBC Author(s): Wai Lung Cheung (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00489697
Volume: 737
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Convergent evolution of niche structure in Northeast Pacific kelp forests
Publication: Functional Ecology
UBC Author(s): Patrick Martone (Botany / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 02698463
Volume: 34
Page Range: 2131-2146
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
A critical analysis of helminth immunotherapy in multiple sclerosis
Publication: Multiple Sclerosis Journal
UBC Author(s): Lisa Osborne (Microbiology & Immunology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 13524585
Volume: 26
Page Range: 1448-1458
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Passive immunotherapies targeting Aβ and tau in Alzheimer's disease
Publication: Neurobiology of Disease
UBC Author(s): Steven Plotkin (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 09699961
Volume: 144
Publication Date: October 2020

View Publication
Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) have characteristic skin microbiota that may be shaped by cutaneous skin peptides and the environment
Publication: FEMS microbiology ecology
UBC Author(s): Laura Parfrey (Botany / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 96
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Flexible copula models with dynamic dependence and application to financial data
Publication: Econometrics and Statistics
UBC Author(s): Harry Sue Wah Joe (Statistics / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 16
Page Range: 148-167
Publication Date: October 2020

View Publication
Identification of local water resource vulnerability to rapid deglaciation in Alberta
Publication: Nature Climate Change
UBC Author(s): Valentina Radic (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 1758678X
Volume: 10
Page Range: 933-938
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Strategies and support for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour in ecology and evolutionary biology
Publication: Nature Ecology and Evolution
UBC Author(s): Michelle Tseng (Botany / Faculty of Science), Diane Srivastava (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 4
Page Range: 1288-1290
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
A structural view of salicylic acid perception
Publication: Nature Plants
UBC Author(s): Yuelin Zhang (Botany / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 6
Page Range: 1197-1198
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Understanding the Self-Assembly of Cellulose Nanocrystals—Toward Chiral Photonic Materials
Publication: Advanced Materials
UBC Author(s): Mark MacLachlan (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 09359648
Volume: 32
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication
Water sharing and the right to water: Refusal, rebellion and everyday resistance
Publication: Political Geography
UBC Author(s): Leila Harris (Institute for Resources,Environment & Sustainability / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 09626298
Volume: 82
Publication Date: October 2020

View Publication
A bi-organellar phylogenomic study of Pandanales: inference of higher-order relationships and unusual rate-variation patterns
Publication: Cladistics
UBC Author(s): Sean Graham (Botany / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 07483007
Volume: 36
Page Range: 481-504
Publication Date: 1 October 2020

View Publication

Pages

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
2020 Dr. Lorzadeh developed a sensitive method to study how the composition of chromatin in normal blood cell precursors changes during blood cell production and how it is altered in certain types of leukemia. His research advances our understanding of the molecular processes that regulate the production of normal and malignant blood cells. Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2019 Using numerical simulations, Dr. Chen demonstrated the emergence of high-energy physics phenomena in topological quantum matter. She proposed the creation of Majorana particles, chiral anomalies, and black hole holograms in mesoscopic quantum systems. Her proposals allow us to probe these elusive physics concepts in cost-effective table-top experiments. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2019 Dr. Zimmerman designed and synthesized a new ligand scaffold for nickel and palladium complexes. The resulting metal complexes and and their reactivity patterns were studied and what emerged was that the ligand can participate in chemistry at the metal center. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2019 Dr. Liu studied a special type of quantum materials called Dirac materials. He proved that the response of Dirac materials to elastic deformation highly mimics that to electromagnetic fields. This unique feature makes Dirac materials stand out from other quantum materials and renders them useful for the future application in quantum technologies. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2019 Dr. Cox studied models of the loss of information in quantum systems. He developed a way of understanding how the information stored in a quantum system can be divided into its constituent parts and how this information can be transferred to the environment. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2019 Dr. Ben Bouchta developed a method of measuring how much radiation healthy tissues receive during radiotherapy. He subsequently applied this method to compare different radiotherapy techniques and found that it is possible to reduce the risk of radiation-induced thyroid cancer by up to 10% in patients who receive whole-lung irradiation. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2019 If automation is inevitable, one must either fear it or embrace it; Dr. Christy believes the latter. His research focuses on bringing automation to the pulp and paper industry. He developed a spectroscopic method to predict product quality based on in-process pulp, and deployed it in a pilot plant. His goal is a full-scale mill implementation. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2019 Dr. Chang studied vine copulas, a hierarchical graphic tool used in statistics and probability distributions. He found that vine copulas relax the restrictive assumptions in classical multivariate Gaussian elliptical dependence. This work can be applied to machine learning and used in real-world data sets such as stock indices and weather. Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD)
2019 A controlled CD4+ T cell response is essential for protective immunity against influenza. Dr. Fonseca showed that CD4+ T cells are modulated by the infection-induced cytokine IL-27 and dynamic histone modifications during infection. Her work provides insight into the mechanisms that balance effective immunity and immunopathology during disease. Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2019 Dr. Arman made several contributions to the area of compressed sensing. He proposed a new class of matrices, generalized a method of quantization, and showed the classical bounds on one of the main features of deterministic matrices in compressed sensing can be improved. Compressed sensing is used in signal processing, statistics and computer science. Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)

Pages

 

Three UBC Science researchers recognized with NSERC prizes

Three UBC Science researchers have been awarded some of the most prestigious science and engineering prizes in Canada.  The Natural...

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Ecologically friendly agriculture doesn&#039;t compromise crop yields

Increasing diversity in crop production benefits biodiversity without compromising crop yields, according to an international study...

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Scientists detect 39 new gravitational wave events

The LIGO-Virgo Collaboration, including researchers at the University of British Columbia, has confirmed 39 new gravitational wave event...

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Q&amp;A: How the human right to a healthy environment can help protect us all

From the COVID-19 pandemic to the raging wildfires in Australia and the U.S., scientific evidence shows an increase in planetary...

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New funding boosts UBC research into enhanced cannabis cultivars

More than $4.2 million in federal, provincial and industry support announced this week will bolster UBC research into enhanced cannabis...

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UBC researcher wins 2020 Volvo Environment Prize

UBC conservation biologist Claire Kremen is this year's winner of the Volvo Environment Prize, recognizing her world-class research on how...

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