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...
Learn MoreApplicants to Master’s and Doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
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.
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
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.
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.
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Science.
Year | Citation | Program |
---|---|---|
2013 | Dr. Lauzon's research focused on the development and understanding of catalysts based on non-toxic, inexpensive transition metals, such as tantalum and zirconium. These catalysts are able to facilitate difficult chemical reactions that were previously inaccessible and have implications in both the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
2013 | Dr. Kamal extended a widely-used system for high performance computing. She executed, for the first time ever, computer programs with over 100 Million processes. She designed and implemented Fine-Grain MPI, a flexible, scalable system that improves program performance, and has been recognized as a significant step towards exascale computing. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
2013 | Dr. Haga studied how ice forms on particles in the atmosphere. She found that human-caused pollutant coatings on dust particles affect their ice forming properties, and also that ice formation on biological particles might change how they travel in air. These results have implications for climate processes and on the spread of biological diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
2013 | Dr. Razique studied the geology of economic mineral deposits and built a genetic model of copper-gold systems. He found most precious metal deposits are linked to a fertile magmatic system that has been active for as long as 1 million years. His space-time evolution model is used in the exploration and discovery of giant copper-gold deposits worldwide. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD) |
2013 | Dr. Pena studied sepsis, which is the major infection-related cause of death worldwide. She demonstrated that most sepsis patients have a strong immuno-suppression profile known as endo-toxin tolerance. She also discovered valuable biomarkers that identify this profile, predict severity, and may enhance treatments to improve sepsis survival rates. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
2013 | Dr. Griffiths analyzed cell wall biosynthesis in plants. He examined cellulose and the role it plays in seed coat epidermal cells. This work establishes how cellulose is synthesized in specialized cell types to give the cell unique properties. It provides scientists with a better understanding of how cell walls are synthesized and structured. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
2013 | Dr. Tommasi examined zooplankton populations in Rivers Inlet, a fjord in central BC. The research showed which zooplankton species are dominant under specific environmental conditions. Knowledge of how environmental forces shape zooplankton is essential to fisheries managers assessing how fish stocks such as salmon will vary in the future. | Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD) |
2013 | Dr. Blackburn studied jumping spiders in order to explore the evolution of new species. He found that natural selection promotes the evolution of distinct mating displays among closely related populations, even when gene exchange between populations is high. This work shows that, in sexual species, mating displays may help initiate speciation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
2013 | Dr. Buckner studied S. enterica, proteins that contribute to disease such as Typhoid fever and gastroenteritis. She found one host hormone affects bacterial colonization. This has furthered our understanding of how Salmonella causes disease, and may lead to better treatments for the 90 million people infected annually worldwide. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
2013 | Dr. Lang studied hydrocarbon aerosols and showed that, at low temperatures, they can form long-lived liquid droplets before freezing. This is important for understanding clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. Her work provides data for astronomical remote sensing applications and can help to improve Titan's atmospheric models. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |