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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Dr. Marshall discovered that lung tumours contain bacteria that produce nutrients essential for tumour growth, while the airways harbour bacteria that forewarn cancer development. Her discoveries led to new strategies for early detection and treatment of lung cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Mahmood investigated accelerometer based measurement of physical activity (PA) and sedentary time in South Asian adults at high risk for diabetes. This research highlighted low levels of Light and Moderate-to-Vigorous PA and high sedentary time. Socio-cultural influences impacted how PA was conceptualized in a South Asian context, offering valuable insights and recommendations for policy development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Del Gobbo investigated genetic variation in the placenta to identify contributors to fetal growth restriction, finding that both large chromosomal changes and smaller genetic imbalances are associated with poor fetal growth. This work improves our understanding of how genetic variation may impact placental function and alter fetal growth. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Kim's research utilized nanoparticles in bioanalysis, including in assays, as sensors and for cellular imaging. For example, Dr. Kim developed new nanoparticle-based probes capable of real-time and simultaneous analysis of 3 distinct enzymes, which will be useful for gaining better understanding of complex biological mechanisms. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Nizamudheen studied novel therapeutic strategies for two childhood genetic eye diseases, Aniridia syndrome and Usher syndrome 1D, in mouse and 3D tissue models. Drug (Ataluren) and stem cell approaches were used to replace the missing Pax6 and Cdh23 proteins, rescuing the structural abnormalities and improving vision in the mouse models. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Wang developed non-equilibrium and non-equilibrium multilayer models to evaluate the thermal performance of liquefied natural gas storage tanks under dynamic conditions with minimum computation time. Also, the models successfully predict the thermal stratification and rollover phenomena in the cryogenic liquid storage tanks. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Glass-forming materials are solid upon cooling but remain disordered on a molecular scale. Dr. Fujimoto has examined the near-surface molecular motion of two such glass-formers: a polymer and an ionic liquid. His characterization of these dynamics contributes to an understanding of the fundamental physics governing these materials. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Petroleum resource development has raised concerns about fugitive natural gas leakage into the environment. Dr. Chao's research advances the understanding of the transport and fate of natural gas in a typical groundwater system of Western Canada. Her findings address the potential environmental impacts of fugitive gas and contribute to environmental practices at sites impacted by gas leakage. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Voon studied heat transport in carbon nanotube forests. Through computational simulation, he showed how their unique structure and arrangement contributed to highly efficient heating, and how to harness their properties towards optimizing their efficiency and lifetime towards applications such as solar thermal energy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Morishige studied enumerative geometry, which classifies spaces by counting geometric solutions. She developed a method to compute invariants associated to a type of Calabi-Yau threefold. These flat 6 dimension spaces are fundamental in string theory as the hidden directions of space-time, and a central focus of research in mathematics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Naresh Maroju studied the fundamental mechanics of machining amorphous metal alloys known as bulk metallic glasses (BMG). He developed physical models to predict chip formation, stress and temperature in the machining processes. The research results can guide the process planning in order to enhance the machining performance for BMG materials. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Inuit interactions with their homelands create unique ways of knowing that guide how people interact with the land and living beings. Dr. Greene examined how Inuit living along the western Hudson Bay coast have formed and passed on land-based knowledge and how people draw on lived experiences and expertise to contribute to governance in Nunavut. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Kwong develops, tests, and implements a new technique for estimating zooplankton secondary production in the northeast Pacific. Her research highlights the importance of alternative hypotheses between zooplankton and higher trophic levels in ecosystem and fisheries models. | Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Hong studied the Morse index estimate of constant mean curvature surfaces. He found that the analytic index is bounded by the topological information of the surface. This discovery will aid in the understanding of stability theory of surfaces in Riemannian geometry. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Wilcox studied HealthWISE, a tool created by UN agencies to improve the occupational health of health workers using local resources. Focusing on its use in 7 hospitals in Africa, she concluded that strengthening international organizations to better support and facilitate the sustainable implementation of such interventions would be beneficial. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Rice explored risk and decision analysis in mining capital projects, showing how an adaptive approach to risk response can improve risk management outcomes. This research demonstrates that flexible and adaptive approaches can be used to manage risks characterized by high uncertainty in mining project development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mining Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Morgan's work focused on the discovery of bioactive bacterial natural products using chemical and genetic tools. She developed a methodology targeting discovery of piperazic acid-containing natural products utilizing a combination of genome mining and nitrogen-15 nuclear magnetic resonance. This work will be applied to future discovery efforts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Mottiar explored the innate plasticity of lignin formation in plants. Lignin is a phenolic polymer found in plant cell walls that is biologically and industrially important. Discoveries in lignin biochemistry were leveraged to devise new strategies for engineering lignin and ultimately improving the efficiency of industrial biomass utilisation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. He studied cell divisions that occur in the mammary gland. This research indicates a new and crucial role for the breast cancer gene, BRCA1, and suggests new ways to detect and possibly treat hereditary breast cancers that arise in young women. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Bavli examined the historical, ethical, and social aspects of public health errors. He investigated the origins of errors, their consequences for different populations, and efforts by national health institutions to correct them. This research provides insight into the complex process of assessing and responding to mistakes in medicine. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Asoodeh focused on the design and implementation of two key building blocks of 5G phased array systems, namely, power amplifiers (PAs) and phase shifters (PHSs). 5G systems require both highly linear PAs to minimize the overall distortion and efficient PAs to prolong the battery life. PHSs also play the key role in steering the beam into space. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Sankey studied legal processes developed by Squamish Nation for land use planning and environmental assessment of natural gas projects. Her research finds that in developing policy aimed at reconciliation, Canadian governments will learn much by shifting their focus away from principles of consultation defined by Canadian courts, toward processes for achieving consent established by Indigenous nations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Wu's research focused on movement behaviours and cardiovascular risk factors in individuals living with type 1 diabetes. Her research contributes to a theoretical understanding of movement behaviours for diabetes management. She also provides valuable information to health professionals regarding creating evidence-based guidelines on optimizing movement behaviours among these individuals. | Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Kodirov explored offering network bandwidth guarantees as a first class cloud service. He developed efficient algorithms to schedule datacenter network bandwidth, and proposed a methodology for their evaluation in a realistic environment. He also built a prototype, and demonstrated that it is feasible to price bandwidth in a competitive manner. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Adeniyi explored the views of healthcare providers and pregnant women in British Columbia on integrated prenatal oral care. Her results show the need for a clear referral process for prenatal oral care, oral health funding, and interprofessional collaboration. A model to guide healthcare providers, policymakers, and advocates was produced. | Doctor of Philosophy in Craniofacial Science (PhD) |