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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Dr. Panjwani explored community recovery across five villages impacted by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia. Her study reveals the nuances of resettlement after disaster and the role of place-based and built environment mechanisms on wellbeing outcomes. Findings support the development of effective strategies for disaster recovery. | Doctor of Philosophy in Planning (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Clerici examined the relationship between subculture and literature in modern Japan through his introduction of the concept of "subcultural affects." Using the writing and reception of author Yumeno Kyusaku as a test case, this research deals with questions of marginality, narrative and how texts travel through time and space. | Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Studies (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. King studied how paramedics and their spouses cope with high levels of work stress. He showed that this stress transfers to the home and affects the health and relationships of the couples. The findings identify the forms of stress experienced by a population that is essential to pre-hospital care in Canada, informing policies and procedures. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Haga studied how ice forms on particles in the atmosphere. She found that human-caused pollutant coatings on dust particles affect their ice forming properties, and also that ice formation on biological particles might change how they travel in air. These results have implications for climate processes and on the spread of biological diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Razique studied the geology of economic mineral deposits and built a genetic model of copper-gold systems. He found most precious metal deposits are linked to a fertile magmatic system that has been active for as long as 1 million years. His space-time evolution model is used in the exploration and discovery of giant copper-gold deposits worldwide. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. McNeil studied access to health and harm reduction services for people who inject drugs. He examined how social, structural, and environmental forces affect access to these services. His work highlights the need to scale up harm reduction interventions, and expand these into hospitals, to improve health equity for people who inject drugs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Pena studied sepsis, which is the major infection-related cause of death worldwide. She demonstrated that most sepsis patients have a strong immuno-suppression profile known as endo-toxin tolerance. She also discovered valuable biomarkers that identify this profile, predict severity, and may enhance treatments to improve sepsis survival rates. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. d'Entremont developed MRI-based methods to reduce image distortion caused by surgical implants and to measure knee motion. She used these methods to study patients undergoing surgery to correct knee alignment, and found previously unreported changes in knee motion. This suggests that understanding mechanical changes may improve surgical treatment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Zargaran explored methods to reduce the electric power demanded for communication through wires that form the backbone of modern data networks. Based on the developed methods, he designed several microchips that can be used for applications that require low power consumption and high operation speed, such as Smartphones and Internet routers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Erratico investigated a family of enzymes present in the human body, namely the cytochrome P450. He studied their ability to transform two major environmental pollutants. These results show the role that metabolism plays in limiting the ability of these two environmental pollutants to accumulate in the human body. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Griffiths analyzed cell wall biosynthesis in plants. He examined cellulose and the role it plays in seed coat epidermal cells. This work establishes how cellulose is synthesized in specialized cell types to give the cell unique properties. It provides scientists with a better understanding of how cell walls are synthesized and structured. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Tommasi examined zooplankton populations in Rivers Inlet, a fjord in central BC. The research showed which zooplankton species are dominant under specific environmental conditions. Knowledge of how environmental forces shape zooplankton is essential to fisheries managers assessing how fish stocks such as salmon will vary in the future. | Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Blackburn studied jumping spiders in order to explore the evolution of new species. He found that natural selection promotes the evolution of distinct mating displays among closely related populations, even when gene exchange between populations is high. This work shows that, in sexual species, mating displays may help initiate speciation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Fast conducted research with young people who were street-involved and using drugs in Greater Vancouver. Her work encouraged youth to create a series of photo essays, to explore their complex senses of place in the city, over time. The findings have implications for how we think about, and attempt to intervene in the lives of marginalized youth. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Bérubé compared the language and reading skills, in both English and French, of Anglophone and ESL students in French immersion programs. He found that by Grade 6, all students had developed equally strong skills. This confirms that French immersion programs are viable for all students in promoting bilingualism in the official languages in Canada. | Doctor of Philosophy in Audiology and Speech Sciences (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Molavi focused on integrated circuit design for communication applications and proposed various techniques to improve performance. He developed inductors and oscillators for wireless communication transceivers. He also analyzed electromagnetic coupling issues in communication systems and proposed a solution to alleviate the problem. . | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Buckner studied S. enterica, proteins that contribute to disease such as Typhoid fever and gastroenteritis. She found one host hormone affects bacterial colonization. This has furthered our understanding of how Salmonella causes disease, and may lead to better treatments for the 90 million people infected annually worldwide. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Dahlke studied nursing practice with hospitalized older adults. Her theory of orchestrating care highlights the complexity and the importance of the role of nurses in caring for older adults. Solutions that will advance care of hospitalized older adults must consider the perspective of nurses, and the challenges they face | Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Lang studied hydrocarbon aerosols and showed that, at low temperatures, they can form long-lived liquid droplets before freezing. This is important for understanding clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. Her work provides data for astronomical remote sensing applications and can help to improve Titan's atmospheric models. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Salem studied the maximum flow through pulp pressure screens that enhance quality in pulp and paper production. He developed a new model that explains why existing screens fail and supported his theory with extensive experimental data. The outcome of this research will enhance the understanding of pulp screening methods and benefit the industry. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Trew examined the goals people have for social interactions. She found that those who experienced positive emotions were less worried about avoiding rejection and that people with social anxiety who engaged in kind acts were less concerned about avoiding negative outcomes. This suggests that kindness may improve the treatment of social anxiety. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Drugge studied the political thought of Isaiah Berlin. Berlin's work was used to explore ways in which different accounts of moral conflict affect how we think about political action and judgment. Getting our account of moral conflict right, Dr. Drugge shows, can help us think more productively about political disagreement and compromise. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Bauerschmidt studied problems related to the mathematical analysis of long chains of molecules, so-called polymer chains. Physicists and chemists have been interested in properties of these chains for decades, but their rigorous mathematical study has proven to be challenging. Dr. Bauerschmidt's thesis contributes to this theoretical understanding. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. de Souza studied nonparametric regression, a statistical technique that allows for varying forms of data dependencies. She proposed a new methodology to study dependencies when crucial information is absent from the data. She applied her method to determine power usage in buildings when the status of cooling and heating devices is not recorded. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Rastkar conducted research in Human-centric Software Engineering. She developed techniques to produce text summaries for a variety of software artifacts generated during the software development process. By conducting user studies, she showed that those summaries help software developers address their information needs more quickly and easily. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |