UBC evolutionary biologist Dr. Dolph Schluter named AAAS Fellow
Internationally renowned evolutionary biologist Dr. Dolph Schluter has been elected to the newest class of American Association for the...
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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
- Biodiversity Research Centre
- Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research
- Centre for Microbial Diversity and Evolution
Computational Sciences and Mathematics
- Data Science Institute
- Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems
- Institute of Applied Mathematics
- Statistical Consulting and Research Laboratory
- Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences
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
- Centre for Blood Research
- Centre for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health
- International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries
- Life Sciences Institute
- Michael Smith Laboratories
- Neglected Global Diseased Initiative
Chemistry and Materials Science
- Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory
- Max Planck-UBC Centre for Quantum Materials
- Quantum Devices Group
- Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute
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 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
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
Graduate Degree Programs
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Dr. Kosztyla studied the planning of radiotherapy for gliomas, a type of brain tumour. He showed that positron emission tomography and diffusion tensor imaging can be used to identify these tumours, and he developed a radiotherapy technique utilizing these images. Clinical implementation of these methods may improve survival for patients with gliomas. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. McCann developed improvements to methods that allow computers to categorize and find objects contained in images. His research focussed on visual object categorization. Applications include automatic image search, surveillance, pedestrian detection in self-driving cars, and other applications requiring automatic understanding of image content. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. McCune studied the forests and savannahs of southeastern Vancouver Island. She used vegetation re-surveys and analyses of plant micro-fossils to measure changes in plant communities over decades and centuries. Her findings contribute to our understanding of how plant diversity is affected by human disturbance and climatic changes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. LeCraw studied insect communities in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Brazil. She examined how they are affected by the spatial structure of their habitat, from the size of their host plant to its geographic location. Her results show the effects of spatial structure on communities, and can help to integrate ecological studies across spatial scales. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Kanazawa studied flat 6-dimensional spaces, known as Calabi-Yau threefolds, from a topological point of view. The main result of his thesis is the complete classification of Calabi-Yau threefolds with infinitely many loops. They provide a good testing-ground for general theories and conjectures, both in mathematics and string theory. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Lewis studied the growth and properties of a new type of semiconductor alloy containing the element bismuth. Thin single-crystal layers with record bismuth concentrations were realized and the underlying physics of the growth process was revealed. These materials have a wide range of applications in devices which emit and detect infrared light. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Loh studied experimental particle physics. He focussed on the production of particles with a potentially long lifetime, using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This study has helped to increase our understanding of new physics, beyond the recently discovered Higgs particle responsible for giving masses to all other particles. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. DeGiuli studied the flow of granular materials like sand and soil, and derived fundamental equations governing stress transmission in those materials. These equations will improve the mathematical models used every day by civil, chemical, and mechanical engineers in a range of industries, from food processing to pharmaceuticals. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Brown examined the factors controlling carbon in the Arctic Ocean. Her research employed field-based measurements to infer the relative importance of several processes affecting carbon distributions in the water column and sea ice. This work advances our understanding of carbon cycling in the polar ocean and the impact of sea ice on this cycle | Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Gutierrez performed numerical studies in the field of mathematical physics. His work focuses on the Skyrme model, which describes the atomic nucleus as a wave in a fluid. He developed techniques to solve the complicated equations of this model using computers. His contributions are relevant to stellar astrophysics and parallel computing. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |