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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Dr. Vaikakkara Chithran's work explores how neural circuits are maintained in the adult nervous system. She demonstrated that axon guidance cues are essential for the survival of adult neurons. Her research also contributed to the development of a novel tauopathy model to study how protein toxicity leads to neurodegeneration and neuronal death. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Adak identified and demonstrated, for the first time, activity of enzyme involved in conferring antibiotic resistance to certain Gram-negative bacteria. This identification may help in the pursuit of making effective antibiotics against opportunistic bacteria that colonise the compromised lungs of individuals suffering from cystic fibrosis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Skinnider used machine learning to identify proteins that physically interact in living tissues. His work revealed how inherited mutations, present in every cell in the body, can cause dysfunction in just a single tissue. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Gunaratnam investigated iron behaviour and silver deportment through a unique industrial process employed in the mining industry to recover silver and gold from minerals with high iron and sulfide content. Her research illuminates the best operating conditions that maximize silver recovery. | Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering (PhD) |
| 2023 | Electric vehicles reduce carbon emissions, but the efficiency of power conversion matters. Dr. Hsu's research proposes practical ways to improve the efficiency of battery chargers, which saves your electricity bills. His research also explains the modeling of EV chargers, providing insights into high-performance battery charging for the future. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Whelan examined the genomes of a group of poorly-studied organisms called microsporidia. Their reduced genomes make them invaluable models to study complex cellular processes as there has been significant simplification. Overall, his research has broadened our understanding of the minimum requirements for cellular machinery. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Accili investigated the ecological imagination of English playwrights William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. Combining literary and theatre studies with art history and environmental philosophy, her research shows how Renaissance dramatists and artists understood animals and other non-humans in a way that might widen our ecological perspective. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Leahy studied the effect of age and sex on the human skeletal muscle metaboreflex. His studies further our understanding on the effects of healthy ageing on reflex cardiovascular function, as well as sex differences in blood flow distribution and ventilatory control during exercise. | Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Sridhar studied regions of close contact between parts of a cell using budding yeast. She studied the role of previously uncharacterized proteins in maintaining steady state levels of lipids at these sites. Similar proteins are present in humans and could have a role in disease biology. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Jones studied how transit-oriented development (TOD), increased redevelopment pressure on clusters of Vancouver's aging suburban rental housing. He critiqued the logic of TOD to argue against suburban gentrification and the displacement of marginalized renters. Dr. Jones found that these processes could be ameliorated by City Council leadership. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Xie studied the geochemical processes in the rhizosphere during the successful establishment of phytostabilization at sulfidic mine tailings. This work reveals the role of soil acidification and neutralization affecting the metal mobility for the phytostabilization, and how amendments can be combined to increase neutralization capacity and enhance the metal stabilization. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mining Engineering (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Eskandari showed that CASPASE-3, which is an enzyme known for its role in mediating cell death, has pro-survival roles in human mammary cells. This research assist us in understanding the mechanisms of cancer cell survival, and can help improve treatments for breast cancer therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Saleem studied home oxygen therapy in interstitial lung disease. He developed a scoring system to predict low blood oxygen, analyzed prescription criteria for oxygen worldwide, identified countries lacking access to oxygen, and determined the costs for this therapy. His research will help identify public health needs related to home oxygen. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Tulloch examined the way young people used Internet memes to process and communicate information in their daily lives. Her research highlights the importance of humour to their memetic storytelling and the implications it holds for digital citizenship education. Laughter,she argues, helps people negotiate the different values memes instantiate. | Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Cheng examined the interactions between urban forest policies and climate change (and related urban planning) policies in Canadian cities. Her research revealed key conflicts and synergies among municipal policies and explored solutions to better integrate urban forests into building a compact, livable, and climate-resilient city | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Hasbullah investigated the role of specific gene variants that increases the risk of patients developing heart failure after treatment from certain chemotherapy drugs. His research identified critical biological pathways that can cause this toxicity and demonstrated how drugs that modulate these pathways can prevent this adverse drug reaction. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Fatigoni contributed to our understanding of the early Universe by designing, building and deploying a Cosmic Microwave Background telescope at the South Pole. Her research was focused on understanding how to clean data from Atmospheric noise, so to improve the quality of observation made from the ground. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. McDowell examined how downstream differences in river characteristics cause differences in river response to floods, including topographic changes and sediment transport rates. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Leslie examined how the Canadian federal government implements mortgage securitization in Canada. He found that the government provides support to banks and investors and takes risks affecting the Canadian public without meaningful public oversight. His research will assist in developing sound housing finance policy going forward. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Luo developed several theories for understanding the behaviours of fluids described by a set of collective variables. His equations laid a foundation for rigorously performing coarse-grained simulations of complex fluids. These findings also enhance our understanding of fluctuations in small, open systems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Fatemi's doctoral studies focused on graph representation learning. She designed and developed machine learning models for graph-type data, such as social networks, and the internet. Her research helps to make predictions about the world by identifying patterns and relationships in data that would otherwise be difficult to see. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Newhouse used data from CERN's Large Hadron Collider to search for signs of yet-undiscovered "sterile neutrinos." He helped develop new algorithms and analyses to extend the reach of this search to new parts of the ATLAS detector. If found, these particles may answer several open questions about the fundamental nature of our universe. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Kim studied movement disorders in precariously housed and homeless people. He found that substance use and psychosis were differentially associated with movement disorders, and that parkinsonism rapidly increased over time. His research helps increase awareness of movement disorders in at-risk groups, especially during the overdose crisis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Kang's doctoral project evaluated how anti-racism and cultural safety paradigms are taken up in local health authorities. The three-phased study highlighted the significant need for provincial and national health organizations to incorporate principles of anti-racism, cultural safety, equity and social justice. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Jiang showed how can we improve the accuracy of camera pose using deep learning based methods, specifically on estimating the homography and image correspondences. He subsequently designed a pipeline to reconstruct the scene and animatable human from a single video. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |