AI can tell if a patient battling cancer needs mental health support
Psychiatrists and computer scientists at UBC and BC Cancer have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that can accurately...
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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dr. Yu developed a new statistical criterion for making good decisions based on a different way to evaluate the cost of bad decisions. His method provides improved performance over other methods for data analysis in some parameter estimation and model selection contexts | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Huang investigated inverse problems arising from 2D image and 3D surface reconstruction. She has not only derived several highly efficient algorithms for deblurring and denoising images and for smoothing and regularizing surface meshes, but also justified and demonstrated the effectiveness of these algorithms on a variety of examples. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Asadi developed the synthesis of a number of DNA-inspired heterocycles, and characterized a series of novel supramolecular assemblies derived from self-organization of these molecules. Among the structures obtained, a unique tetrameric cyclic array was described. This work bears important implications and has high potential for applications in the preparation of organic nanotubes, and in the sequence specific recognition in RNA and DNA. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Mestrovic developed methods for increasing the accuracy of radiation therapy treatments by continuously imaging the patient during treatment. As a result, undesired patient motion can be detected and treatment can be appropriately adjusted in real-time. This research improves the overall effectiveness and success of radiation therapy treatments. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Tsui studied high-energy cosmic rays penetrating deep underground at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. This work yielded powerful independent evidence that neutrinos have mass, thus shedding light on the fundamental interactions of these elementary particles. | Doctor of Philosophy in Astronomy (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Valdez has studied the role of a host-resistant gene in the response to Salmonella infection. She showed that this gene plays a key role in boosting the speed and efficacy of immune response to Salmonella, and this determines whether the host will survive or succumb to the infection. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Lai's research focused on the function of a protein, CD45, which is found exclusively on blood cells, including stem cells. Her work unveiled a new role for this protein in the early development of white blood cells. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Cheng developed an image reconstruction protocol which improves the quantification accuracy and accelerates the image formation task for dynamic brain imaging in high resolution positron emission tomography (PET). PET is a functional imaging modality used clinically and in research to investigate various diseases and treatment efficacy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Jones took a unique approach to the conservation biology of critically endangered leatherback turtles by rearing leatherbacks from 45g hatchlings to 45kg juveniles at UBC. The data attained on age-at-maturity and resource requirements aid in our understanding of the impacts of human activities in the decline of leatherback populations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Harrington extended the scope of problems in Statistics where the clustering algorithm Linear Grouping Analysis can be applied. In the first instance, the linearity condition was relaxed by transforming data into an appropriate infinitely dimensional domain. He subsequently adapted an existing paradigm of data compression to be applicable to clustering and other robust methods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |