Josef Garen
Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD)
Impacts of temperature on plant carbon metabolism and water use
Applicants 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.
Name | Academic Unit(s) | Research Interests |
---|---|---|
Ghioca, Dragos | Department of Mathematics | Drinfeld modules, isotrivial semiabelian varieties, Lehmer inequality |
Giang, Amanda | Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, Department of Mechanical Engineering | Atmospheric sciences; Mechanical engineering; Natural environment sciences; Atmospheric Pollutants; Chemical Pollutants; Climate Changes and Impacts; Public Policies; Social and Cultural Factors of Environmental Protection |
Gladman, Brett | Department of Physics & Astronomy | Astronomy, Planetary Science, meteorites, astrobiology, Solar system formation and evolution |
Gold, Michael | Department of Microbiology & Immunology | understanding cell signaling, morphology, trafficking, and effector function of immune cells and tumour cells |
Gordon, Michael | Department of Zoology | Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Zoology; Chemosensation; Drosophila; Feeding; Gustation; Neural circuits; Neuronal Systems; neuroscience; Sensory systems; Taste |
Gordon, Julia Yulia | Department of Mathematics | Representation theory of p-adic groups and motivic integration; Trace Formula and its applications |
Graham, Sean | Department of Botany | Plant phylogenetics; Plant systematics; Plant evolution; Organelles; Phylogenomics; Land plants; Mycoheterotrophs |
Grant, Edward | Department of Chemistry | Spectroscopy, molecular electronic structure, Chemical physics |
Greenstreet, Mark | Department of Computer Science | Dynamic systems, formal methods, hybrid systems, differential equations |
Greif, Chen | Department of Computer Science | Numerical computation; Numerical analysis; scientific computing; numerical linear algebra; numerical solution of elliptic partial differential equations |
Groat, Lee | Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences | Mineralogy and crystallography (except soil mineralogy and chemicals aspects of crystallography); Inorganic geochemistry; Economic geology; mineralogy; crystal chemistry; Geochemistry; economic geology; gem deposits; pegmatites |
Gujarati, Arpan | Department of Computer Science | Computer and information sciences; Systems |
Gustafson, Stephen James | Department of Mathematics | Mathematics and statistics; Mathematical Analysis; Differential Equation; Global and Non-Linear Analysis; Mathematical physics; Nonlinear partial differential equations; Nonlinear waves; Topological solitons |
Gustafson, Paul | Department of Statistics | Statistics; meta-analysis; Parametric and Non-Parametric Inference; Theoretical Statistics; Pharmacoepidemiology; Bayesian statistical methods; Biostatistics and Epidemiology; Causal inference; Evidence synthesis; Partial Identification |
Haber, Eldad | Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences | Scientific computing and its application to geophysical and medical imaging |
Hallam, Steven | Department of Microbiology & Immunology | Microbiome; Microbial ecology; metagenomics; Biological engineering; Synthetic biology; Bioinformatics; Machine Learning; Entrepreneurship |
Hallas, Alannah | Department of Physics & Astronomy | Physical sciences; quantum phenomena; magnetism; Materials design and discovery; Quantum materials |
Halpern, Mark | Department of Physics & Astronomy | Cosmology, Cosmic background radiation, history of star formation, measuring the geometry and contents of the Universe, satellites, balloon-borne telescopes, the physics of music, Physics of music, Cosmic Microwave Background, Physical Cosmology, Star formation history |
Hancock, Robert E | Department of Microbiology & Immunology | Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides, Host Defence Peptides and Innate Immunity, Functional Genomics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Regulation of Antibiotic Resistance, Array Data, Self-promoted uptake hypothesis |
Harder, Kenneth | Department of Microbiology & Immunology | Host-pathogen, tumours, infection, immunity, atherosclerosis, role of macrophages in inflammation |
Hariri, Amani | Department of Chemistry | Biological chemistry, Integrated Biosensors, Ultrasensitive sensor platforms for low abundance molecular detection, Aptamer switches for multifunctional stimulus-responsive Nano-systems |
Harley, Christopher | Department of Zoology, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries | Fisheries sciences; Zoology; climate change; community ecology; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; marine algae; marine invertebrates |
Harris, Leila | Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, Institute for Gender, Race, Sex and Social Justice | Critical identity, ethnic and race studies; Gender, sexuality and education; Human rights, justice, and ethical issues; Africa; Development Policies; Drinking Water; Environmental justice; equity and social justice; Ethics and Fundamental Issues of Law and Justice; Fresh Water; Gender Relationship; gender and social difference; Ghana; International development; participatory resource management; Resources Management; Social Contract and Social Justice; Social and Cultural Factors of Environmental Protection; South Africa; Turkey and Middle East; Water; water governance; water politics |
Harvey, Nicholas | Department of Computer Science | randomized algorithms, combinatorial optimization, graph sparsification, discrepancy theory and learning theory; algorithmic problems arising in computer networking, including cache analysis, load balancing, data replication, peer-to-peer networks, and network coding. |
Hasinoff, Michael | Department of Physics & Astronomy | Low-energy particle physics |
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 |
---|---|---|
2023 | Dr. Bolduc investigated and developed new synthetic applications for two sulfur-fluorine gases as reagents in synthetic organic chemistry. His work surveyed these two reagents in the context of four chemically distinct applications and has enabled the expedited synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant fluorinated organic motifs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
2023 | Artists often start creation by sketching digitally. Dr. Liu studied how humans mentally see sketches without being confused by busy, inaccurate lines and built computational methods to automate this process. These methods benefit various sketch-related computer applications, from colourizing 2D animation frames to lifting design sketches into 3D. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Lin's work focused on developing the theory and practice of geometric methods in machine learning. His research opens a new direction for exploiting hidden mathematical structures in real-world applications. His methodology was used to win the Bayesian Deep Learning Challenge in Neural Information Processing Systems 2021. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. López de la Lama explored the deep bonds Peruvian landowners share with nature through privately protected areas (PPAs). She unveiled diverse intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values driving their commitment to conservation. Amid structural challenges and tenure insecurities, these relationships underscore the importance of citizen-led conservation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Liu explored how plant-associated bacteria influence plant immunity and shield plants from pathogens. She discovered that bacteria dampen immunity through root acidification and protect plants via biofilm formation. Her work advances our grasp of plant-microbe interactions, offering insights into agricultural microbiome engineering. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Pascual showed how variation in genetics, habitat and time impact gene exchange in Texan wild sunflowers. Their encounter with Hurricane Harvey revealed the remarkable resilience of the species. These findings provide unique insights into how a single species can diverge into two, and how some species might respond to climate-driven disasters. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Reynolds used experiments in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to correct assumptions made in clinical practice about how fats and water interact in the human brain during an MRI scan, affecting accurate measurements. In doing so, he further developed a model of nuclear relaxation leading to a potential new form of contrast in MRI images. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Michta studied how phase transitions occur in finite volume for some classical models from statistical physics. This work contributes to a better and rigorous understanding of finite-size scaling theory in high dimensions. This is useful to the wide spectrum of people working at the interface between physics and mathematics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Tsai explored how luminescent materials and nanoparticles are useful for detecting biological molecules. In particular, she developed a new and improved method for directly sensing multiple genes, in parallel, in biological samples. She also elucidated important concepts in designing sensors based on more sustainable nanoparticle materials. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
2023 | Can we find structure in complex systems, like social networks or the interactions between cell proteins? Dr. Briercliffe designed a class of statistical models for discovering hidden structure in networks.By harnessing probability theory, his research created practical tools that allow scientists to reveal order and structure in our complex world. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |