Faculty of Science

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.

Faculty Website

Fact Sheet

Mission

To nurture an exceptional scientific learning and research environment for the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world.

678

Master's Students

(2023)
1038

Doctoral Students

(2023)
435

Graduate Degrees Awarded

(2022)
428

Full-Time Faculty

(2023)
161.6

million in Research Awards

(2023/2024)

Research Centres

Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology

Computational Sciences and Mathematics

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

Chemistry and Materials Science

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 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
Jellinek, Mark	Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences	Volcanology, Geodynamics, Planetary Science, Geological Fluid Mechanics
Jetter, Reinhard	Department of Botany, Department of Chemistry	Chemical sciences; Plant biology; Analytical Chemistry; Biological Chemistry; Molecular Genetics; Plant Biochemistry; Plant Ecophysiology
Joe, Harry Sue Wah	Department of Statistics	Statistics; Statistics and Probabilities; copula construction; dependence modelling; extreme value inference; non-normal time series; parsimonous high-dimensional dependence
Johnson, Mark	Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences	Geology; Natural environment sciences; Agriculture; Biogeochemistry; Carbon cycle; Climate Changes and Impacts; data science; Ecohydrology; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; Fresh Water; Ground Water and Water Tables; Hydrological Cycle and Reservoirs; Land and Soil; land use; Running Water Hydrosystem; Water and Sustainability
Johnson, Catherine	Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences	Lunar geophysics, Evolution of Mars' Magnetic Field and Atmosphere
Jones, David	Department of Physics & Astronomy	Atomic, optical and molecular physics,Ultrafast Optics, Spectroscopy
Karczmarek, Joanna	Department of Physics & Astronomy	Particle physics theory (including aspects of field theory and string theory); Physical sciences; Emergent spacetime and gravity; Matrix models; Noncommutative geometry; String theory
Karu, Kalle	Department of Mathematics	Algebraic geometry, toric varieties, log geometry, combinatorics of fans and posets
Keeling, Patrick John	Department of Botany	Molecular evolution and cell biology of eukaryotes
Kenne, Steve Cyrille	Department of Mathematics	Calculus of variations, systems theory and control theory; Partial and ordinary differential equations; Mathematical biology; Optimal control theory; Partial Differential Equations; Multiscale modelling of infectious diseases
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
Kim, Young-Heon	Department of Mathematics	Partial Differential Equations and Geometry
King, Kayla	Department of Zoology, Department of Microbiology & Immunology	host-microbial parasite/pathogen systems
Kopylova, Maya	Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences	diamond ore deposits, Diamond exploration, petrology and volcanology
Korthauer, Keegan	Department of Statistics	Bioinformatics; Genomics; Statistics; Epigenomics; Single-cell analysis; Statistical genomics
Kremen, Claire	Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, Department of Zoology	Natural environment sciences; Zoology; agroecological farming systems; Reconciliation of agricultural land use with biodiversity conservation; 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	Bioinformatics; Immunology; Microbiology; Plant biology; Mycology; Fungal diseases of plants; Genomics and Proteomics; Medical Mycology; Molecular Genetics; Pathogenesis of infectious diseases; Plant-Microbe Interactions
Kunimoto, Michelle	Department of Physics & Astronomy	exoplanet detection, characterization, and demographics
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	Plant biology; Zoology; Comparative organismal biology; Evolutionary morphology; Evolutionary protistology; Marine biodiversity; Marine invertebrate zoology; Phylogenetic biology; Species discovery
Lecuyer, Mathias	Department of Computer Science	Machine learning systems; Guarantees of robustness, privacy, and security
Leeks, Asher	Department of Zoology	Biological evolution; Social evolution in viruses; Evolutionary Biology; Virology; Evolutionary theory; Mathematical modeling; Bioinformatics; Social evolution; Microbiology
Lemieux, Caroline	Department of Computer Science	Programming languages and software engineering; help developers improve the correctness, security, and performance of software systems; test-input generation; specification mining; program synthesis

Graduate Student Stories

Cara James

Doctor of Philosophy in Geophysics (PhD)

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

Aria Malhotra

Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Physics (PhD)

Predicting severe skin reactions in breast radiation therapy

Alexis Bahl

Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD)

Salp diel vertical migration and its impact on carbon export in the Southern Ocean