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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dr Nodwell found a way to make a new type of anticancer molecule that was originally isolated from a sponge from the oceans off of Papua New Guinea. This complex molecule, called "ceratamine A" shows great potential as an anticancer therapeutic and is currently being evaluated for its suitability as a drug. The new chemical structure of this molecule provides a possible different route to cancer therapy, expanding the currently known list of anicancer drugs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Monte Carlo methods have become the standard tool to solve many problems in statistics and scientific computing. Dr. Holenstein developed a novel Monte Carlo methodology for efficient sampling from high-dimensional distributions. The methods are demonstrated on problems in statistics, biology, chemistry, and finance. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Backer laid the theoretical foundation for algorithms that steer car-like robots in order to avoid obstacles. His work improves prior results in that it is more general, is more efficient, and provides explicit performance guarantees. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Stefanova designed a novel transparent probe to study heat transfer in a gas-solid particle system. She showed the effect of a key change in flow structure on heat transfer in laboratory and industrial scale units and developed a probabilistic heat transfer model. Her findings are important for the design of gas-solid reactors. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Andronescu has developed the best available thermodynamic models of RNA structure formation. To do this, she has leveraged rigorous optimization techniques to make new inferences from large RNA databases. Her models are being adopted by RNA structure prediction web servers world-wide, and are of great value to molecular biologists. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Tran designed and conducted studies to examine how blood pressure is increased in a rodent model of the metabolic syndrome, a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors. She showed that numerous factors are involved in the development of high blood pressure. This research may provide clues for potential therapies in the treatment of hypertension. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Linga used a new approach to capture CO2 from a flue gas mixture emitted from conventional power plants. This process, using gas hydrate crystallization, was successfully demonstrated in a newly built state of the art large scale apparatus. His work is relevant to CO2 capture and storage, a promising approach for mitigating global warming. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Tom-Yew characterized two new classes of iron-binding proteins from human pathogens that cause food-borne illness and whooping cough. A growth-essential iron-uptake role was shown and X-ray diffraction methods were used to elucidate the unique iron-binding mechanisms of these proteins, which have important implications for iron transport. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Komori developed an educational theory that would enable us to transform into ways of life that are not only ecologically/culturally sustainable, but also fulfilling and creative. He found that choosing simpler living could be a practical step toward such a sustainable life and society well in harmony with others. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Arthur investigated the impact of online scholarly reading tools on university student assignments. He found that students perceived the tools as beneficial, while no evidence was found that the tools improve student's ability to comprehend, critique, and use what they read. This research will inform the ongoing design of such tools to increase their likelihood of enhancing the online scholarly reading environment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Lehman examined spousal social support for persons living with rheumatoid arthritis. His work showed that a lack of shared understanding of disease impact is linked to poorer quality social support between partners. Findings have implications for the development of couple-based interventions to promote social support and improved health. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Good developed new techniques for the acquisition and analysis of computational representations of biological knowledge. He investigated systems that allow thousands of independent researchers to contribute to scientific knowledge bases. This research helps to define new modes of scientific collaboration that operate on the scale of the Web. | Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Park examined the populist political program led by a group of leftist intellectuals in Argentina during the 60s. She studied the relevance of poetic discourse in a political project for its fanciful and irrational practices. Her research indicates that the political vision informed by the group's novelistic discourse undermined the explicit political program. | Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Studies (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Johnson conducted a case study of a group of students who organized a campaign to prevent their high school from being reconfigured into a middle school. Students became involved because they valued their school and relationships with teachers and peers. The study demonstrates that for students to understand democratic citizenship they must practice it. | Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy (EdD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Song conducted experimental and numerical studies on the critical buckling load and lateral bracing requirements of metal plate connected wood truss assemblies. The test database and the output of the developed computer program bridge the knowledge gap and contribute to the improvement of design methods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Kaneda studied how trees produce wood in order to understand mechanisms of cell- wall precursor flows at the sub-cellular level. Her work made a significant contribution to our understanding of how trees export lignin, one of the most abundant biopolymers on earth. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2009 | Diabetic patients die from heart attack or stroke due to dysfunction of blood vessels. Dr. Farzad found that exercise in diabetic mice, equivalent to fast walking or jogging in human, completely reverses the vascular dysfunction by increasing the natural body antioxidants. The study also showed that exercise does not have to decrease body weight, blood sugar or lipids to prevent vascular dysfunction in diabetes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Zimmermann studied the structure of steep mountain streams and what forces mobilize the step-pool sequences that are commonly observed. He showed that the likelihood of the steps moving depends both on the stress exerted by the flowing water and the number of boulders spanning the channel. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Evoy studied the technical and ethical dimensions of health service funding decision-making processes. This interdisciplinary research provides practical insights for health administration and opportunities for greater public understanding of how local health service funding decisions are made on their behalf. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Sheinin negotiated science and story together, to explore sustainability in Eagle Creek, West Vancouver. She incorporated new practices into her daily living that better sustain watershed supplies, recreation, and salmon spawning in the creek. This research illuminates teaching from non-human nature, interdisciplinary questions, and an alternative research ethics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Clift studied the Abusive Personality in women who use dating violence. The Abusive Personality is a consistent way of perceiving and thinking about events, and acting in intimate relationships, which was originally identified in intimately violent men. Dr. Clift showed that these traits are equally related to women's perpetration of intimate abuse. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Holliday identified a suite of genetic markers that are associated with variation in the timing of dormancy and cold hardiness acquisition in Sitka spruce. This resource will be applied to tree breeding and conservation genetics related to adaptation to local climatic conditions, which will become increasingly important under climate change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Sirkia examined whether childhood abuse experiences, sub-clinical psychopathy, and emotional intelligence could predict relationship conflict in a community-based sample. She found that the best predictor is sub-clinical psychopathy, followed by childhood abuse experiences. Her research may have implications for community interventions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Esson described the development of cytoskeleton-associated surface patterns in single-celled algae and showed how changes in highly coordinated developmental processes may have influenced their evolution and biodiversity. This research contributes to our understanding of how complex cellular structures evolve. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Moy investigated the ways bullying is framed through curriculum, policy and media. She found that a singular focus on bullying works against the goals of social change. Her research explores how community and school-based educators can address identity and inequality as a route to counteracting violence in schools. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |