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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | The extent to which tropical forests change after the harvesting of trees is not clear. Dr. Addo-Danso's research showed that the forest structure, biomass and productivity in a tropical forest in Ghana recovered to pre-harvesting levels 54 years after the trees were cut. His findings have important implications for the management of tropical forests. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Gibbons examined the evolution of physiological traits in the threespine stickleback fish using both whole organism and molecular genetic approaches. He explored the roles of salinity and temperature in driving evolutionary divergence during freshwater colonization by this species. His work helps us understand current patterns in fish distribution. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Da Silva developed algorithms and software systems for solving large-scale inverse problems. His work helps to reduce the impact of missing data on solving these problems, leading to more robust and cost-effective data-acquisition methods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Joy studied geometry modeling for the mathematical description of the shape of machining workpieces. He also studied machining simulation to cut these workpieces in a virtual environment. His research has lead to a more accurate and efficient method that enables fast and accurate process verification for complex multi-axis milling operations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Chartrand studied how riverbed shapes form along mountain streams. Using experiments, he found that their formation is determined by how channel width and velocity change moving downstream, which he captured with a mathematical model. This knowledge will aid in the design of river restoration projects that seek to improve conditions for salmon. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Keeler studied fast methods for integral equations applied to problems in fluid animation. The resulting surface-only methods implicitly handled infinite boundaries such as the ocean's depth. He also studied compressing the resulting surface data for use in real-time applications such as virtual reality and computer games. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Vincart-Emard simulated black hole dynamics to address fundamental questions related to superconductivity, entanglement propagation, and spacetime instabilities in higher-dimensional settings. Findings revealed unexpected physical consequences that may impact the solid state and gravitational physics communities alike. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Schelew designed a photonic integrated circuit in a silicon microchip with potential applications in information processing. She developed a novel protocol for extracting all relevant information about the circuits' optical response. The results of this work will help guide future designs of circuit components used to process optical signals. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Otani studied a Japanese university's writing centre, and examined how it was established and how it used imported pedagogical ideas in tutoring sessions. Her study connected the mechanism of policy borrowing to internationalization, revealing conflicts with local disciplinary practices and learning needs for Japanese and English academic writing. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Valizadeh completed her doctoral studies in the field of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She studied video compression algorithms for 2D and 3D videos. Her work focused on improving compression efficiency of the latest video coding standard. Her research enables better video quality compared to the previous state-of-the art methods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Brisson explored identity among plurilingual students in a Francophone school in BC. Her research highlights factors preventing the expression of some linguistic and cultural identities as legitimate and supports current views of identity as dynamic. This work will have important implications for plurilingual learners in regular classrooms. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Buren showed how connections from cortical to striatal neurons are disrupted in an early stage of Huntington's disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disorder. This study highlights the pre-neurodegenerative pathology and lays a foundation for therapeutic treatment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Christian examined how Indigenous cultural knowledge informs production practices when making films for Fourth World/Indigenous Cinema. Her work highlights the connections between land, story, and cultural protocols. This work will be of interest to social, political, film theorists and policy/decision makers who intersect with Indigenous arts organizations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Bodnar studied the impact of early-life environment on endocrine and immune function over the life course. She identified that in utero alcohol exposure results in a unique immune signature in the brain and periphery. Furthermore, her work has uncovered mechanisms underlying individual differences in inflammatory responses. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Ma developed novel communication methods and resource management algorithms in future smart home networks and fifth-generation wireless systems. The proposed methods and algorithms improve the quality of life of the residents in smart homes and boost the efficiency of the mobile communication systems, making life easy and fun in the future. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Lau engineered an immunogenic tuberculosis vaccine strain that is highly visible to the host immune system. Her work presents a novel approach to tuberculosis vaccine design and paves the way for eradication of the disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Gabel used advanced medical imaging tools to study how bone strength is gained across 12 years of adolescent growth and the influence of maturity, physical activity and sedentary behaviour in boys and girls. Her unique contributions confirmed adolescence as a critical 'window' for bone health and underscored the importance of physical activity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Kolpashnikova studied the gendered division of housework in Canada, paying special attention to changes over time and to the factors explaining women's and men's differential participation in routine and non-routine housework tasks. This research reveals patterns and processes that could propel societal changes toward greater gender equality. | Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Curle examined the transition from early intervention services to Kindergarten for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. She discovered that one of the main factors influencing the transition to school is the pattern of interactions between the individuals, groups, and institutions connected to the child. | Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education (PhD) |
| 2017 | Identifying anomalies in multivariate data is important in many applications including fraud detection. Dr. Leung developed methods to identify individual and chunks of deviating data cells in a data set. He subsequently extended his method to serve as an initial step for estimating different statistical quantities. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Due to increasingly high demand for Electric Vehicles, Dr. Shafiei studied the problems with DC-DC power converters as battery chargers. He also investigated the application of novel power converters and modulation strategies at various power levels. His work will help improve the efficiency and range of Electric Vehicle battery chargers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Brown discovered how malnutrition can affect gut microbes, metabolites and the immune system in the intestine. He used this information to develop the first animal model of an inflammatory disease called environmental enteropathy, which will be used to screen new therapies for reversing malnutrition. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Schneider developed new methods for kidney tissue interrogation through the use of ultrasound and ultrasound elastography imaging. This technique allows for the non-invasive measurement of tissue stiffness which is an indication of cancer and scar tissue build-up for improved surgical navigation and overall monitoring of kidney health. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | All academic writing shifts between more concrete and more abstract wording. The variability in abstraction is both a resource and challenge for writers using English as an additional language (L2). Dr. Ferreira developed a new, quantitative method of analyzing abstraction and identified the scope and function of abstraction in L2 writers' texts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Harrower showed how the structure of temperate grassland food webs changed when ecosystems go from wet to dry. His experiments help us understand how climate change events, such as persistent drought, will impact grassland biodiversity and ultimately have an effect on human activities such as ranching. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |