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 | NID |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Dr. Erfan explored the healing potential of the planning profession while working with a small Indigenous community on Vancouver Island. Her dissertation, written largely as autobiographical fiction, tells the stories of her action research engagement, and proposes a path forward for a therapeutic orientation to planning. | Doctor of Philosophy in Planning (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Viveiros used Caenorhabditis elegans as a model to study how muscle cells migrate and organize during embryogenesis. His studies identified a number of well-conserved components involved in regulating these processes, His work may aid further research into mammalian muscle morphogenesis and regeneration. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Talhouk developed algorithms to estimate the relationship between data measurements to improve the understanding of how they simultaneously change under different conditions. Modelling the heart rate of patients under anesthesia and modelling the daily return of stocks in a financial portfolio are examples of ways these algorithms can be used. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Tomal conducted his research in the field of Statistics. He developed new statistical methods to search more efficiently for potential pharmaceutical drug molecules in a large collection of chemical compounds. His methods capitalized on the richness of information contained in high-dimensional data, which have many useful variables. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Kotur studied nitrate and nitrite uptake in plants, which is critical for their growth. She found a novel nitrate transporter in roots that functions at low nitrate concentration, and induces other nitrate-responsive genes. This transporter may help breeders to improve nitrogen-use efficiency in crops, to minimize fertilizer consumption. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Pawliuk completed his doctoral studies in the field of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His focus was on microscopy and he searched for ways of improving the resolution of imaging systems. His most notable contributions were in the development of novel electromagnetic scattering models. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (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. Samadian studied at the iCapture centre in St Paul's hospital. He proposed a pathway towards "in silico" clinical research, investigating methodologies to facilitate the representation and sharing of clinical knowledge. The goal of the research is to provide a decision support framework to help clinicians make efficient healthcare decisions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Pottie-Sherman examined the intercultural interaction in Vancouver's summer night markets. These public events illustrate the vast changes in the social geography of immigration, and the ethno-cultural diversity in Metro Vancouver in the last quarter century. This research illuminates how public market places can serve as inclusive public spaces. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Reaume studied the use of bio-diesel fuels. A process was developed for improving the cloud point of bio-diesel through the formation of an alkyl side chain on the biodiesel molecule. This helps us better understand the cold flow properties of bio-fuels and will provide insights into proper winter mixing of petroleum and bio-based fuels. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. An investigated state-of-the-art CT scanning technologies for sorting and grading logs in a sawmill. He developed a coarse-resolution CT scanning system which gained attention in academia and among industry partners. If successfully applied, Dr. An's work will help boost profits in the sawmill industry and add value to the forest products industry. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Monroy developed an equation to predict lateral soil forces on pipelines buried in trenches. By conducting full-scale tests and numerical modeling, he simulated the development of soil forces. His research adds to our knowledge about the seismic design of buried pipelines, which will contribute to efforts to make pipelines safer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Uban demonstrated neuro-biological alterations in central dopamine-stress interactions following prenatal alcohol exposure. These novel neurobiological findings help explain the increased prevalence of substance use disorders observed among individuals with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Zhu studied the electronic structure of topological insulators, furthering our understanding beyond all previous theoretical descriptions. For the first time, he has demonstrated how to achieve full control of the photoelectron spin polarization. His work paves the way to the application of topological materials in novel opto-spintronic devices. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Hunter explored changing views on higher education at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. She contends that the construction of the "knowledge-based economy" as a framing context fortifies market-capitalist assumptions about education and economics. Meanwhile OECD shifts from these perspectives in other social policy fields. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Guang Dai studied how seniors make the decision of purchasing a long term care insurance policy. His work also explored why people's family names matter in rural China area. His research advances our understanding of an individual's economic behaviour and market outcome, under various cultural and institutional environments. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (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. Malek-Esmaeili has proposed copyright protection systems to detect illegally distributed content on multimedia sharing websites, such as YouTube. The systems can determine if a video, an image or a song contains any part of an original work, and are efficient in finding violations, even if illegal contents have been modified before distribution | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Wernicke examined the impact on BC French teachers of their study abroad experiences in France, and how those affected their sense of professional identity. She found that an overwhelming concern with being an "authentic" French speaker can diminish teachers' sense of expertise and shapes how they teach and engage in further teacher development | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Brooks studied ways that attention and emotion can be adversely affected by circumstances, causing people to make moral mistakes. He found that there is no set of character traits that can protect against all of these effects in all circumstances, making it impossible for any individual to become morally perfect. | Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy (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. Morrison investigated cold molecular plasmas formed from highly excited nitric oxide molecules. This exotic state of matter presents an experimentally accessible environment in which to gain further understanding of correlated plasma systems--such as those found in fusion reactors, and interstellar space. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Rezaei studied the performance of recycled catalysts for slurry-phase bitumen and residue-oil upgrading. He identified and proposed a conceptual model for the loss of catalyst activity in heavy-oil upgrading. His findings assist commercial development of slurry-phase bitumen upgraders that add value to Canada's vast oilsand reserves. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Isenberg's work explains how we can have real beliefs and emotions about fictional characters and situations when we know that they do not exist and did not occur. She developed a framework for characterizing these responses that will provide guidance for future work in the semantics of fiction and the philosophy of film. | Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Sarraf conducted research in the field of micro-accelerometers, which are used to measure acceleration in a single or multiple directions. He developed and implemented novel techniques to increase their sensitivity, accuracy and resolution, making them suitable for applications such as non-invasive surgery, navigation or oil and gas exploration. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |