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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Dr. Leung explored how infants learn proper names and common nouns. She found evidence that 16- and 17-month-olds interpret novel words for people as names but interpret the same words for artifacts as nouns. The findings shed light on how infants learn the word categories of their native language. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr Kolosova studied conifer defense responses to weevil attack and pathogenic blue stain fungi. Her research on the genome level revealed massive responses in conifer trees to these forest health threats and resulted in identifying molecular traits potentially important for conifer disease resistance. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Chiang developed learning algorithms for constructing statistical models about sets of interrelated individuals or objects. This work generalizes many existing approaches, producing accurate predictors for many domains, such as the analysis of document corpora and link prediction in social networks. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Baker examined the physiology of white sturgeon, a primitive fish with ancient origins. Using whole animal, in vivo and in situ approaches, he found that sturgeon exhibit a novel pattern of pH regulation that may be common in primitive fishes and has implications for tolerance to carbon dioxide and vertebrate evolution. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Sueda developed a novel framework for the computer simulation of highly-constrained cable-driven systems, with applications in diverse areas such as hand surgery, industrial cranes, and computer animation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Kaligineedi developed techniques to improve the security of the cooperative spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks. By designing efficient algorithms to enhance performance, his research adds crucial insights into issues for successful deployment of cognitive radio networks. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Kozak contributed to the development of environmentally friendly carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions catalytic in platinum, gold or silver salts. These reactions produced nitrogen-containing molecules of significant interest in drug discovery and the pharmaceutical industry. She successfully applied an example of her inventions in the construction of the biological molecule named fawcettidine. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Mendelsohn researched and developed new types of synthetic organic chemical oxidation reactions. He applied these reactions in a novel synthesis of the core of the potent marine natural product tetrodotoxin. These new technologies are aiding scientists in the chemical synthesis of natural products and potential new human drug entities. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Barry explored the interface between land use planning and Aboriginal reconciliation by studying the evolution of a government-to-government relationship in BC's Central Coast. Her work contributes to institutional planning theory by offering new conceptual and methodological tools for examining the strategic importance of macro and micro-level processes and politics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Planning (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Thompson developed a novel method for extracting low abundance sequences of DNA from samples contaminated by a large amount of background DNA. This method provides a solution to the 'needle in a haystack' problem of detecting low abundance DNA in applications ranging from forensics, to early cancer detection. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Klaassen investigated how bereaved parents of faith grieved for their deceased children. He found that parents grieved jointly, and that their joint grieving impacted their relationships with each other, the Divine and their deceased child. These findings have implications for grieving theories and grief counselling. | Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Seekings used an "ethics of care" approach to examine global health aid. Building from the current practices of major donors, he demonstrated how a care approach creates a more responsive and engaging method of developing aid policy that has the potential to better meet the needs of target communities. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Rogers has identified human proteins targeted by a specific Salmonella factor termed SopB. These studies have assisted us in understanding how Salmonella bacteria manipulate human cells, and also how human cells respond to infection. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Zhang identified the functions of the smallest information units within journal article components, and examined how they can be utilized in journal reading. This research suggested that individual functional units can be organized and presented to benefit readers' information usage of journal articles. | Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Wilcox showed that the presence of a functional protein is required for survival past the blastocyst stage of development and that this protein is important in regulating immune responses. These studies provide further insight into how immune responses are controlled and may provide a target for autoimmune disease drug therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Zou developed an integrated model for force prediction in peripheral milling operations. His research on cutting force prediction established innovative approaches to the difficulties in milling relating to edge force, entry and exit effect, and surface slope. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Mróz explored dietary perceptions and practices of men with prostate cancer and their wives. He found that although masculine food ideals shaped men's diets, complex couple dynamics were also implicated. His research showed that illuminating gender relations can help us better understand men's food and self-health practices. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Nutrition (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Janzen's study explores teachers' understandings of teacher identity and the implications of these beliefs on teachers' development. Her study illustrates the force of external pressures exerted on teachers, the tensions between external pressures and teachers' personal desires, as well as the ethical and curricular implications of such tensions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Brown studied the influence of the mountain pine beetle on the carbon, water, and energy balances of lodgepole pine stands. He showed these stands are recovering relatively quickly due to increased photosynthetic capacity of surviving trees and understory vegetation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr Ojeda showed in a group of legumes how bird pollination evolved from plant ancestors which had a bee-pollinated flower. He showed how flower color and petal texture was modified during this transition. His findings provide a framework to further understand the evolution of bird pollination in other plant groups | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Mitra proposed and analyzed techniques to minimize interference in next generation communication systems. In particular, advanced signal processing techniques were applied to design low complexity and efficient systems for ubiquitous access. The overall goal of his work was to get us closer to the idea of anytime, anywhere connectivity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Randhawa showed that brain stimulation at 5 Hz is beneficial, at least in the short-term, in people with Parkinson Disease. Brain stimulation improved accuracy, handwriting and brain activity in people suffering from Parkinson Disease. This thesis contributes to future research for the development of brain stimulation as a therapeutic option for Parkinson Disease patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Philpot studied character perception in four children's novels. His conceptual model and descriptive catalogue of narrative structures offer teachers and students in elementary grades resources for exploring the perceptual and psychological experiences of fictional children. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr Liu researched the development of architecturally complex photosensitive pigments. He investigated the optical properties of these photosensitizers and discussed the structure-optical relation of these pigments. This work may lead to the development of new anti-cancer drugs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Saunders developed a non-contact optical diagnostic technique to analyze gas composition in reacting flows. Using this technique it was possible to observe the gaseous reactions of methane/steam reformation at high temperatures. The tools that Dr. Saunders has developed have applications in solid oxide fuel cell research and development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |