Canadian Immigration Updates

Review details about the recently announced changes to study and work permits that apply to master’s and doctoral degree students. Read more

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
Mattison, Thomas Department of Physics & Astronomy Subatomic physics, Particle & Nuclear Physics, Applied Physics
Mayer, Ulrich Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Geology; groundwater contamination; groundwater remediation; hydrogeology; low-temperature geochemistry; mine waste management
McAllister, Murdoch Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Statistical methods for fisheries risk assessment, estimation, decision analysis and management strategy evaluation
McDonald, Daniel Department of Statistics High dimensional data analysis; Computational methods in statistics; Statistical theory and modeling; Machine learning; Epidemiology (except nutritional and veterinary epidemiology); Methods and models for epidemiological forecasting; Estimation and quantification of prediction risk; Evaluating the predictive abilities of complex dependent data; Application of statistical learning techniques to time series prediction problems; Investigations of cross-validation and the bootstrap for risk estimation
McDougall, Scott Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Other earth and related environmental sciences, n.e.c.; Geotechnical engineering; Debris flows / floods; Geohazards; Landslide-generated waves; Landslides; Natural and man-made geological hazards; Rock avalanches; Shoreline erosion; Tailings dam breaches
McGrenere, Joanna Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; computer science; computer supported cooperative work (CSCW); human-computer interaction; interactive technologies for older users and people with cognitive disorders; personalized user interfaces; universal usability
McIver, Jess Department of Physics & Astronomy General relativity and gravitational waves in astronomical and space sciences; Gravitational wave astrophysics; Multi-messenger astronomy; Characterization of large-scale physics instrumentation; data science
McKenna, Janis Department of Physics & Astronomy Physical sciences
Mehrkhodavandi, Parisa Department of Chemistry Chemical sciences; Inorganic and Organometallic Compounds; Polymers; Chemical Synthesis and Catalysis; Bio-based polymers; Bioproducts; catalysis; Green Chemistry; Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry; Polymer Chemistry and Characterization
Mehta, Aastha Department of Computer Science Software domains (including operating systems and software infrastructure); Information privacy; security & privacy; Systems security; networking; Operating systems; Data privacy; distributed systems
Michal, Carl Department of Physics & Astronomy Soft condensed matter; Development and applications of spectroscopic and structural techniques; Solid-state NMR; NMR and MRI of brain tissue; NMR methods and instrumentation; Biological and functional materials
Michaletz, Sean Department of Botany Plant physiological ecology; Plant biology; Surface processes; Natural hazards; Ecophysiology; Ecosystem ecology; climate change; macroecology; Geophysics; Scaling; Fire
Miller, Freda Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Medical Genetics
Milner, Valery Department of Physics & Astronomy Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics; Ultrafast Quantum Coherent Control; Ultrafast Spectroscopy
Mitchell, Ian Department of Computer Science safety critical systems, assistive technology (mobility), robotics, scientific computing, cyber-physical systems, Mathematical software, computational science and engineering, hybrid and cyber-physical systems, verification and validation, reproducible research, level set methods, robotic path, planning
Mizumoto, Kota Department of Zoology Cell and Developmental Biology
Mohn, William Department of Microbiology & Immunology pollutant biodegradation, pollutant bioremediation, biological treatment of forest industry effluents and wastes, microbial ecology, environmental biotechnology, forest soil microbial ecology, tuberculosis, microbial genomics, Microbial ecology
Momose, Takamasa Department of Chemistry Spectroscopy, Chemical physics
Munzner, Tamara Department of Computer Science Human-centered computing; visualization; information visualization; visual analytics; data science
Murphy, Michael Department of Microbiology & Immunology Bacteriology; Enzymes (including kinetics and mechanisms, and biocatalyst); Alternatives to antibiotics; Bacterial pathogenesis; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Functional and Structural Proteomics; Microbial metal metabolism
Murphy, Gail Department of Computer Science Programming languages and software engineering; Software Development; knowledge worker productivity; software design; software engineering; software evolution
Murugan, Mathav Department of Mathematics Probability theory; Metric and fractal geometry; Differential equations and integral equations in pure mathematics; Metric geometry; potential theory; probability theory and analysis; quasiconformal mappings; Relationship between Markov processes and the geometry of the underlying state space; Quasisymmetric Uniformization; Analysis and diffusions on fractals
Ng, Raymond Tak-Yan Department of Computer Science Data mining and analysis, health informatics, text summarization, text mining
Nichols, Eva Department of Chemistry Inorganic catalysis and reaction mechanisms; carbon dioxide reduction; electrocatalysis; bioinspired catalyst designs; molecularly-modified materials; molecular mechanisms; self-assembled monolayers; operando spectroscopy
Nolde, Natalia Department of Statistics Statistics; Statistics and Probabilities; Applications in finance, insurance, geosciences; Multivariate extreme value theory; Risk assessment

Pages

Graduate Student Stories

Herringer Paul's image

Paul Herringer

Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)

Classifying computational phases of quantum matter in 2D and 3D
Borch Annie's image

Annie Borch

Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD)

The history and impact of volcanism and glacial systems on landscape evolution in the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt, BC

Ryoga Hojo

Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)

Deep blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence: Unlocking their potential as energy transfer visible light photocatalysts

Elise Legarth

Doctor of Philosophy in Atmospheric Science (PhD)

Development of an improved methodology for estimating probable maximum precipitation and flood: Tested and validated in British Columbia watersheds.

Christopher Lee

Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)

Investigating tryptophan and lipid metabolism in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

Alan Knee

Doctor of Philosophy in Astronomy (PhD)

Gravitational waves from eccentric binaries with LIGO and LISA

Amy Forsythe

Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)

Ecological and evolutionary consequences of individual heterogeneity

Davi de Ferreyro Monticelli

Doctor of Philosophy in Atmospheric Science (PhD)

Cannabis cultivation facilities: Linking emissions and air quality to inform regulation
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.

 

Intrusion Detection at the IoT Edge Using Federated Learning
Publication: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
UBC Author(s): Thomas Pasquier (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 03029743
Volume: 14800 LNCS
Page Range: 98-119
Publication Date: 2025

View Publication
Induced seismicity in the Kiskatinaw area of Northeastern British Columbia, Canada: Empirical investigation of hydraulic diffusivity and induced seismic response of the fractured reservoir
Publication: Geoenergy Science and Engineering
UBC Author(s): Erik Eberhardt (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 244
Publication Date: January 2025

View Publication
Rationalizing Photophysics of Co(III) Complexes with Pendant Pyrene Moieties
Publication: Inorganic Chemistry
UBC Author(s): Michael Wolf (Chemistry / Faculty of Science), Eva Nichols (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00201669
Publication Date: 2025

View Publication
A gut commensal protozoan determines respiratory disease outcomes by shaping pulmonary immunity
Publication: Cell
UBC Author(s): Lisa Osborne (Microbiology & Immunology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00928674
Publication Date: 2025

View Publication
Climate change induced first record of Porpita porpita (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Yellow Sea, China
Publication: Marine Pollution Bulletin
UBC Author(s): Yevhenii Pakhomov (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 0025326X
Volume: 210
Publication Date: January 2025

View Publication
The isotrivial case in the Mordell-Lang conjecture for semiabelian varieties defined over fields of positive characteristic
Publication: Canadian Mathematical Bulletin
UBC Author(s): Dragos Ghioca (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00084395
Publication Date: 2025

View Publication
HyperBrain: Anomaly Detection for Temporal Hypergraph Brain Networks
Publication: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
UBC Author(s): Margo Seltzer (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 03029743
Volume: 15266 LNCS
Page Range: 35-45
Publication Date: 2025

View Publication
Novel active Trp- and Arg-rich antimicrobial peptides with high solubility and low red blood cell toxicity designed using machine learning tools
Publication: International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
UBC Author(s): Suzana Straus (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 09248579
Volume: 65
Publication Date: January 2025

View Publication
Arbuscular mycorrhizal interactions and nutrient supply mediate floral trait variation and pollinator visitation
Publication: New Phytologist
UBC Author(s): Claire Kremen (Institute for Resources,Environment & Sustainability / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 0028646X
Volume: 245
Page Range: 406-419
Publication Date: January 2025

View Publication
Near-Infrared Photothermal Conversion by Isocorrole and Phlorin Derivatives
Publication: Inorganic Chemistry
UBC Author(s): Zachary Hudson (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00201669
Publication Date: 2025

View Publication
Deep eutectic system enhanced oat protein extraction
Publication: Journal of Food Science
UBC Author(s): David Chen (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00221147
Volume: 90
Publication Date: January 2025

View Publication
Natural language processing to evaluate texting conversations between patients and healthcare providers during COVID-19 Home-Based Care in Rwanda at scale
Publication: PLOS Digital Health
UBC Author(s): Giuseppe Carenini (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 4
Publication Date: January 2025

View Publication
DIMENSIONS OF FURSTENBERG SETS AND AN EXTENSION OF BOURGAIN’S PROJECTION THEOREM
Publication: Analysis and PDE
UBC Author(s): Pablo Shmerkin (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21575045
Volume: 18
Page Range: 265-278
Publication Date: 2025

View Publication
Tidal Modulation of the Fraser River Plume
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
UBC Author(s): Richard Pawlowicz (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21699275
Volume: 130
Publication Date: January 2025

View Publication
Advances and Applications of Capillary Electrophoresis Mass Spectrometry in Food Analysis: Strategies for Online and Offline Preconcentration
Publication: Electrophoresis
UBC Author(s): David Chen (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 01730835
Publication Date: 2025

View Publication
River co-learning arenas: principles and practices for transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation and multi-scalar (inter)action
Publication: Local Environment
UBC Author(s): Leila Harris (Institute for Resources,Environment & Sustainability / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 13549839
Volume: 30
Page Range: 58-80
Publication Date: 2025

View Publication
Democratizing Science in the Cloud
Publication: Eos (United States)
UBC Author(s): James Colliander (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00963941
Volume: 106
Page Range: 13-15
Publication Date: JANUARY 2025

View Publication
Testing for a difference in means of a single feature after clustering
Publication: Biostatistics (Oxford, England)
UBC Author(s): Lucy Gao (Statistics / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 26
Publication Date: 31 December 2024

View Publication
Simultaneous Unbinned Differential Cross-Section Measurement of Twenty-Four (Formula presented) Kinematic Observables with the ATLAS Detector
Publication: Physical Review Letters
UBC Author(s): Colin Gay (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00319007
Volume: 133
Publication Date: 31 December 2024

View Publication
Bayesian Decision Curve Analysis With Bayesdca
Publication: Statistics in Medicine
UBC Author(s): Keegan Korthauer (Statistics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 02776715
Volume: 43
Page Range: 6042-6058
Publication Date: 30 December 2024

View Publication
Competing excitation quenching and charge exchange in ultracold Li-Ba<sup>+</sup> collisions
Publication: Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
UBC Author(s): Kirk Madison (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 09534075
Volume: 57
Publication Date: 27 December 2024

View Publication
Interaction between the Polyelectrolytes Unfractionated Heparin and Universal Heparin Reversal Agents
Publication: Journal of Physical Chemistry B
UBC Author(s): Suzana Straus (Chemistry / Faculty of Science), Charles Haynes (Michael Smith Labs / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 15206106
Volume: 128
Page Range: 12808-12817
Publication Date: 26 December 2024

View Publication
A Gaze into Argumentative Chatbots: Exploring the Influence of Challenger Arguments on Reflection and Attention
Publication: Proceedings of the 24th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, IVA 2024
UBC Author(s): Cristina Conati (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
Publication Date: 26 December 2024

View Publication
An Intelligent Pedagogical Agent for In-The-Wild Interaction in an Open-Ended Learning Environment for Computational Thinking
Publication: Proceedings of the 24th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, IVA 2024
UBC Author(s): Cristina Conati (Computer Science / Faculty of Science)
Publication Date: 26 December 2024

View Publication
Disentangling Sources of Momentum Fluctuations in (Formula presented) and (Formula presented) Collisions with the ATLAS Detector
Publication: Physical Review Letters
UBC Author(s): Colin Gay (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00319007
Volume: 133
Publication Date: 20 December 2024

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
2023 Dr. Dostert studied communities of the highly antibiotic resistant bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. She identified genes mediating community growth in diverse environments. Her research demonstrated the strong influence of the growth environment on the entire gene network and provided interesting gene candidates for the design of novel drugs. Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2023 Dr. Xiao made notable contributions in the field of text summarization through her innovative application of machine learning techniques. She enhanced AI summarizers with discourse information. Her impactful research is a valuable asset in our data-driven and time-constrained society, offering an effective solution for managing information overload. Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD)
2023 Dr. Emry examined how the distribution of marine species across environmental gradients mediates response to climate change. She found that species often respond to abiotic stress in ways that correlate with their environmental conditions, and that the indirect effects of this stress can have significant impacts on the structure of communities. Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2023 Dr. Haenel studied the signatures of the Higgs mode in exotic superconducting materials. The Higgs mode emerges as a quasiparticle in the framework of superconductors. It is the condensed-matter-analogue of the Higgs Boson in the the Standard Model. Research on these collective excitations in superconductors can lead to a better understanding of the mechanism of high temperature superconductors. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2023 Dr. Luo developed engineering approaches to apply a protective polymer coating onto the blood vessels of organs that interact with the immune system to improve organ quality and transplantation success. The protective immunomodulatory coating can be adapted for other immune functions, opening up possibilities for the development of novel therapies. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2023 Dr. Marroquin Madera studied the initial density dependence of plasma formation and properties of a Nitric Oxide molecular Rydberg gas, along with the effects of applying radiofrequencies and electric fields. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2023 Dr. Clayworth studied how glial cells in the nervous system wrap and protect neurons. She found a novel role for the dystroglycan protein, which is disrupted in muscular dystrophy, in glial wrapping of neurons. Her work improves our understanding of the mechanisms of glial protection of neurons and their potential involvement in muscular dystrophy. Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2023 Dr. Morales Duran found that acidic environmental pH decreased the activity of antibiotics against the CF pathogen B. cenocepacia, and induced changes in the bacterium that are associated with host colonization and pathogenicity. Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2023 Dr. Darwish developed, characterized, and applied brightly light-emitting, nanometer-sized particles toward simple and cost-effective detection and analysis of targeted cell types and molecules. Her research contributes new scientific knowledge, methods, and technologies to make healthcare more accessible, efficient, and inclusive. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2023 Dr. Branch examined the impact that severe drought has on the plant species, scarlet monkeyflower. Her research found that different populations evolve in different ways but maintain growth and improve water efficiency. Her work highlights that stress can be inherited across generations. Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD)

Pages