Research Projects

Faculty Members Recruiting Students

This list shows a selection of faculty members who are currently looking for new graduate students. They may have specified particular projects they wish to fill. Please ensure to review the departmental profile of each faculty member to learn more about their research interests and to ensure a good fit to your intended studies at UBC.

Last namesort descending First name Research Interests Desired start dates: Project areas
Vanderwal Tamara Functional Neuroimaging; child psychiatric disorders Any time / year round
  • Movie + OCD = This project creates and tests a novel movie stimulus designed specifically to evoke symptoms of OCD while participants are undergoing fMRI scans. The goal is to identify a disorder-specific network that has clinical relevance at the individual-subject level.  Analytic approaches will include machine-based learning algorithmes (e.g., Connectome Predictive Modeling) and... Read More
Vedam Saraswathi Gestation / Parturition; Human Rights and Liberties, Collective Rights; Right and Access to Information; Home Care Services; Law and Health; Social Contract and Social Justice; Community Health / Public Health; Breast Feeding and Infant Nutrition; Family and Child Services; Home Birth; Place of Birth; Provider Attitudes; Respectful Maternity Care; Midwifery; Interprofessional relationships; Person-Centered Care; Patient Autonomy; Institutional Racism in Maternity Care; Maternal and Newborn Outcomes; Maternity care for diverse populations; Transdisciplinary engagement in health care; Mistreatment Any time / year round

Active analysis and knowledge translation projects: qualitative and quantitative data generated by participatory maternity care research: Changing Childbirth in BC, Giving Voice to Mothers - US (participatory research on experiences of maternity care and disparities), Access and Integration Maternity Care Mapping study (links between regulatory frameworks and disparities), Giving Voice to... Read More

Victoriano Ramon Antonio Caribbean literatures; Latin American literatures; Contemporary literatures; Hispanic Caribbean Literatures and Cultures; Latin American Contemporary Novel and Short Story Any time / year round

Blackness in the Hispanic Caribbean.

Cultural History of Hispanic Caribbean printed media. 
Vincent Amanda Marine Environment; Fishery Resources; Sustainable Development; Protected Areas; Biodiversity and Biocomplexity; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; ocean conservation; threatened marine species, especially seahorses and their relatives; marine protected areas; Small-scale fisheries; nonselective fisheries, especially trawling; wildlife trade; community-based conservation; citizen science; multilateral environmental agreements Any time / year round
  • India: costs and benefits of trawl fisheries
  • China: threatened species and spatial planning
  • Southeast Asia: emergence of biomass trawling
  • IndoPacific: ecology and conservation of the seahorse
  • Hippocampus kuda global: CITES and marine conservation
  • and other projects compatible with my group's priority interests
von Bergmann Hsingchi Social sciences; assessment; PBL; Teacher Beliefs & Identity; Online Teaching and Learning; Professionalism 2022

COVID-19 and Science Literacy

Online Teaching & Learning in Higher Education

population oral health

Health Sciences Education Assessment

Admission/Selection
Wachs Anthony Fluidization and fluid mechanics; Process control and simulation in chemical engineering; Numerical computation; Fluid mechanics; Particle-laden flows; Non Newtonian flows; Heat and mass transfer; Numerical simulation; High performance computing; Multi-scale modelling Any time / year round
  • Development of massively parallel codes for granular and particle-laden flow simulation
  • Multi-scale modeling of particle-laden flows
  • Shape effect in granular and particle-laden flows
  • Heat and mass transfer in fluidized beds
  • Blood flow and application to targeted drug delivery
Wang Fei Educational administration, management and leadership; Educational policy; Specialized studies in education; comparative policy studies; Education and Training Management; Educational administration and leadership; Ideology and Social Policy; Leadership; Social Contract and Social Justice; social justice and diversity; the role of the school principals

My research lies in the areas of educational leadership and administration, social justice and diversity, “subversive” leadership, leadership in cross-cultural settings, and educational policy studies. I explore how principals negotiate policies and practices that they consider socially unjust to students and how they “creatively” cope with conflicts between moral and ethical obligations and... Read More

Wasserman Wyeth Medical, health and life sciences; Medical and biomedical engineering; Creation of computational methods for the analysis of genome sequences (bioinformatics); Study of cis-regulatory elements controlling gene transcription; Applied analyses of genome sequences (genomics); Indigenous genomics Any time / year round

Gene Regulation

Amongst the most important challenges of this era of life science research is understanding the regulation of gene expression, a process that allows an incredible diversity of cells to be produced from the same genome sequence. During development and across physiological conditions, a set of proteins, called Transcription Factors (TFs), interact with the... Read More

Wasteneys Geoff Plant biology; Cell signaling; Hormones and Growth Factors; Molecular Genetics; Cellulose Biosynthesis; Microtubule Dynamics and Organization; Plant Cell Walls in Cell Shape and Tissue Function; Plant Growth and Development; Plant Responses to Abiotic Stress; Trafficking of Membrane Receptors and Transporters Any time / year round
  1. Coordination of Microtubule Assembly Dynamics by the Microtubule Polymerase MOR1 and the ARK Catastrophe Factors
  2. The Function of the GPI-anchored Protein COBRA in Plant Cell Wall Construction and Modification
  3. Hormone Signalling and Microtubule Array Organization During Meristem Development
  4. The Function of Microtubule Dynamics in Plant Resilience to Environmental... Read More
Webb P. Taylor Education systems; Philosophy; Education governance and education politics; Michel Foucault; Gilles Deleuze; Neoliberalism; Governmentality; Micropolitics; Biopolitics; Subjectivity 2022
  • Education policy, especially enactments and problematizations
  • Governmentality studies in education, particularly micropolitics and subjectivities
  • Methodological uses of 'fieldwork in philosophy' and post-qualitative approaches
Weber Alexander Neurocognitive patterns and neural networks; Central nervous system; Brain Diseases; Cerebral Palsy; Childhood Brain Tumors; Concussion; Diagnostic Imaging; Epilepsy; MRI Scans; Seizures; Traumatic Brain Injury Any time / year round

Fractal Analysis of fMRI Signals

Cerebrovascular Health of Spinal Cord Injury

Cerebral Metabolic Rate of Oxygen (CMRO2) Mapping by Combining Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) and Quantitative Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent Imaging (qBOLD)

Using Advanced MRI Techniques FLAIR2 and QSM to Identify and Classify Focal Cortical Dysplasia (FCD)
Wei Juncheng Mathematics and statistics; Mathematics; applied and geometric analysis; Mathematical biology; Nonlinear partial differential equations; reaction-diffusion systems; singular perturbations and concentration phenomena; singularity formations in fluids Any time / year round

De Giorgi conjectures, fractional equations, blow-ups in nonlinear parabolic and elliptic equations
Weidberg Hilla Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Cell Signaling; Genes; Genotype and Phenotype; Enzymes and Proteins; Nucleic Acids; Cell Biology; Genetics; Biochemistry; molecular biology; Organelle biology; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial stress; Protein quality control; Metabolism; Neurodegenerative diseases Any time / year round

 

 
Weijs Steven Civil engineering; Water; Hydrological Cycle and Reservoirs; Drinking Water; Fresh Water; Information; Hydroelectricity; Ice and Snow; control of water systems; droughts; experimental hydrology; floods; Hydrological Prediction; Hydrology; information theory; mountain hydrology; sensors; uncertainty; water resources management Any time / year round

Projects regarding new measurement techniques for catchment hydrology
Projects working on uncertainty analysis / quantification for hydrological prediction
Projects on optimal monitoring network layout / optimal expermental design
Projects on applications of information theory in hydrology and water resources
Weis Dominique Geology; Earth Structure and Composition; Geodynamics; Chemical Pollutants; Earth Sciences; Environmental geochemistry; Geochemistry; High-precision/sensitivity geochemical analyses; Indigenous studies; Oceanic islands and mantle plumes 2021

Geochemistry of the Hawaiian mantle plume - trace element modelling, time evolution and relation to the deep mantle geophysical anomalies.

Honey, salmon as bioindicators - see also UBC Excellence Research Cluster, BeeHIVE: https://beehive.ubc.ca/

Indigenous/Science - see also UBC Excellence Research Cluster, Indigenous/Science at UBC:... Read More

Wellington Cheryl Lea Alzheimer's Disease; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Trauma / Injuries; Lipid/Lipoprotein analysis; Structural Tissue Engineering / Biomaterials; Traumatic Brain Injury; Tissue Engineering; Biomarkers; drug discovery; Apolipoprotein E; Cerebrovascular function Any time / year round
  • Relationship of biomechanics to pathology in TBI animal models
  • Translational biomarkers for TBI across clinical and animal specimens ApoE modulators
  • Cerebrovascular contributions to Alzheimer's Disease pathogenesis
  • Animal Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Williams Ben Topology; Algebra; Algebraic topology; Motivic homotopy theory; A1 homotopy theory 2021

The A1- and classical homotopy theory of algebraic groups, and their applications to algebra.
Wilton Steven Electrical engineering, computer engineering, and information engineering; Integrated Circuits; Computer Architecture; Computer Hardware; Computer-Aided Design Algorithms; Field-Programmable Gate Arrays; High-Level Synthesis Any time / year round

Debug for FPGAs FPGA Architectures CAD for FPGAs
Winstanley Catharine Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Psychology and cognitive sciences; Addiction; Behavioural neuroscience; decision making; Gambling disorder; Impulsivity; Mental Health and Society; Neuronal Systems; Neuropharmacology; Trauma / Injuries; Traumatic Brain Injury

Exploring the neural, neurochemical and molecular basis of impulsivity and risky decision making, particularly as these cognitive traits relate to addiction disorders. Most of the work we do uses rat models of cognitive behaviour, but we are starting to translate our findings into human subjects.
Withers Stephen Enzymes and Proteins; Blood Substitutes; Organic Molecules and Biomolecules; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Diabetes; Drug development; enzyme inhibition; carbohydrates; glycobiology; metagenomics; directed evolution

Development of novel therapeutics for diabetes and lysosomal storage diseases
Discovery of enzymes for the enzymatic removal of cell surface antigens
In vitro and In vivo glycosylation of proteins
Woody Sheila Psychology and cognitive sciences; Mental Health and Society; Anxiety; cognition; Community Health / Public Health; Specific Social Services (Clientele); Hoarding

The Centre for Collaborative Research on Hoarding, which I direct, has two lines of research that present opportunities for graduate students. One area of inquiry is in the cognitive underpinnings of hoarding disorder, and the other is on community-based interventions for hoarding.
Wright Handel Educational policy; Specialized studies in education; (post)multiculturalism and multicultural education; Africana studies; Critical Race Theory; Cultural Studies; Educational Approaches; identity, citizenship and belonging; postcolonialism and decolonization; Transcultural Studies; Youth Studies Any time / year round

(post)multiculturalism; youth identity and belonging; cultural studies and education; Africana identity; comparative and international education
Wu Lyndia Biomechanical engineering; Biomedical instrumentation (including diagnostics); Biomedical signal processing; Mechanical characterization (including modeling, testing, and monitoring); Injury biomechanics; Soft Tissue Biomechanics; Traumatic Brain Injury; Sleep Biomechanics; Sensors and Instrumentation; Data Mining and Machine Learning; Wearable Sensing Any time / year round, 2021

Please refer to simpl.mech.ubc.ca for project areas and opportunities.
Wylie Alison Philosophy; feminist philosophy; philosophy of archaeology; philosophy of science; philosophy of the social and historial sciences; Philosophy, History and Comparative Studies; research ethics (non-medical); science studies Any time / year round

Feminist standpoint theory; community based collaborative practice; Indigenous/science; content effects of systemic inequities in the sciences.
Yada Rickey Enzymes (including kinetics and mechanisms, and biocatalyst); Other biological sciences; Food science; Food protein chemistry; Structure-function relationships; Enzymes; aspartic proteases Any time / year round

Current research interests include: the structure-function relationships of food and non-food related enzymes using molecular biology and various physico-chemical techniques (eg. circular dichroism spectroscopy, micro-calorimeter, small angle neutron scattering, ultracentrifugation, enzyme kinetics, etc.), carbohydrate metabolism in potatoes as it related to process quality as well as various... Read More

Yadav Vikramaditya Chemical engineering; Genomics; Medical and biomedical engineering; Bioactive Molecules; Biocatalysis; Bioinformatics; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Biomass (Energy); Biomaterials; Bioprocess engineering; Bioremediation; Biotechnology; drug delivery; Drug discovery & development; Medical biotechnology; Metabolic engineering; Structural Tissue Engineering / Biomaterials; Synthetic biology; Technoeconomics; Tissue Engineering; Vaccines Any time / year round

My research group utilizes metabolic & enzyme engineering to investigate and customize novel biosynthetic enzymes that can convert biomass-derived feedstocks into value-added chemicals. We have published highly acclaimed papers on model-guided enzyme engineering, process development, enzyme discovery using metagenomics and engineering metabolic control schemes that bridge with bioprocess... Read More

Yip Calvin Biochemistry; Gene Regulation and Expression; Genetic Diseases; Enzymes and Proteins; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Molecular Structure and Sizing; Imaging; Chromatin modification / epigenetic regulation; Molecular etiologies of rare diseases; Regulation of autophagy degradation 2021
  1. Characterizing protein complexes involved in chromatin modification and epigenetic regulation
  2. Dissecting the regulatory mechanisms of autophagy degradation
  3. Investigating the molecular bases of rare diseases
Yoon Dongwook Computer and information sciences; Computer Science and Statistics; design; Educational Technologies; Augmented reality; computer supported cooperative work (CSCW); Educational technology; Human-computer interaction (HCI); Interaction and interface design; Multimodal interaction; Speech, touch, multitouch, stylus, gesture, mixed-reality, 3d interaction; Virtual Reality Any time / year round

My research lies at the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI), computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), computer-mediated communication (CMC), and educational technology. My primary research focus is to build rich collaboration systems that offer expressive multimodal interactions, i.e., interactions through multiple communication channels (e.g., speech, gesture, and grasp). My... Read More

Zerriffi Hisham Forestry sciences; Biomass (Energy); Energy Transformation and Energy Using; International development; Environment and Society; Ideological, Political, Economical and Social Environments of Social Transformations; Social and Cultural Factors of Environmental Protection; energy poverty Any time / year round

I do not have current funding for additional graduate students or post-doctoral scholars but am generally interested in modeling of energy access in developing countries, assessment of socio-ecological linkages in energy use, household choice and welfare implications related to energy use, and synergies and tradeoffs in meeting sustainable development goals in forestry, energy and land-use. ... Read More

Zhang Yuelin Plant biology; Plant immunity; Salicylic acid signaling; Systemic acquired resistance; ROS signaling; MAPK signaling; plant immune receptors Any time / year round

Systemic acquired resistance, SA signaling, ROS signaling, MAPK signaling, signal transduction pathways downstream of plant immune receptors
Zhang Jenny Li Accounting; Economics and business administration; Management information systems; Finance and Accounting; Financial reporting, corporate disclosure, restatements, pension

Financial reporting, corporate disclosure, restatements, disclosure of foreign firms listed in the U.S.
Zhang Wei Public and population health; Health Policies; Pharmacoeconomics; Economic evaluation; Health economics Any time / year round, 2021

Work productivity loss measurement;

Economic evaluation of health interventions 
Zhang Gaoheng Intercultural and Ethnic Relationships; Cultural Exchanges; Migrations, Populations, Cultural Exchanges; Media and Society; Media Ethics; Media and Democratization; Migration Studies; Mobility Studies; Postcolonial Studies; Gender and Masculinity Studies; Race Theory; Film and Media Studies; Rhetoric and Communication Studies; Cultural Theory; Italian-Chinese relations; Italy's global networks; Modern and contemporary Italian literature and culture Any time / year round

Migration, postcolonial, and tourism studies relating to Italy and Europe;
Networks between Italy and China, and Europe and East Asia;
Italy's international past and present;
Transnationalism and globalization in Italy;
Media, filmic, and literary depictions of minorities;
Italian and comparative male and gender identities.
Zhou Youwen Skin Cancer; Skin Disorders; Lymphoma; Gene Regulation and Expression; Genomics; Molecular Genetics; Transgenic Model; Immune Mediators: Cytokines and Chemokines; Biomarkers in cancer and inflammation; Genetics and genomics of skin diseases; Melanoma, vitiligo, hyperhidrosis, and skin lymphoma; Innovative therapeutic development Any time / year round
  1. Treating cancer by targeting tumor microenvironment
  2. Modulating innate immunity for treatment of melanoma and vitiligo
  3. Genetic determinants of sweating and anxiety--discovery and clinical translation
  4. Novel therapeutics for skin inflammation and cancer

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