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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dr. Booth showed how the molecules that give cannabis its psychoactive properties and unique aromas are produced in the flowers of the plant. Her research aims to explain why cannabis types differ in their aromas. Her results expand our knowledge of metabolism in cannabis, a plant of growing economic importance, and the properties of its products. | Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD) |
| 2020 | To accommodate the rapidly growing amount of data demanded by mobile users in wireless networks, Dr. Saberali developed caching techniques to prevent congestion of the telecommunications links. He proposed methods to encode the data demanded by multiple users into a smaller number of coded messages and decode them at the final destinations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Corbett examined the history of punctuality in modern Britain to better understand its development as a value. Tracing the use of the word punctuality, he found that the pressure to be 'on time' is rooted in moral valuations of debt, credit, and trust, which emerged in early eighteenth-century Britain. | Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Beetch studied how natural compounds derived from diet, namely a class of polyphenols found in grapes and blueberries, can reverse aberrant DNA methylation patterns that underlie cancer. Her findings show that these compounds exert anti-cancer effects through epigenetic gene regulation, which can be used in cancer prevention and therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Nutrition (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. McGuire conducted an ethnography of expensive rare disease drug access disputes in Canada. Through fieldwork with affected families, public drug plans, and pharmaceutical companies, she explored how high drug prices depend on particular framings of suffering that artificially separate rare disease patients from issues of collective concern. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Han studied how organic and inorganic water solutes affect the formation of nitrite, a byproduct in water treatment that is harmful to human health. Her research will impact the application of Vacuum-UV, a UV-based advanced oxidation process, for treating micropollutants in water, and will act as a guide to control the formation of nitrite. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Wang's research characterized the structure of the calmodulin protein, which is mutated in people who have heart rhythm disorders. Her findings demonstrate that each mutation causes disease through distinct mechanisms. This work will improve our understanding of heart rhythm disorders and their causes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Mandal studied welding of steels during construction of pipelines for safe energy transportation. She identified the critical weld regions to improve the mechanical and fracture behavior of the welded joints. Her findings will guide steel producers and pipeline constructors to choose welding parameters for better weld strength and toughness. | Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Mahmoud used preclinical models to examine how ovarian hormones impact risk or resilience to depression. Her work revealed novel insights into neuroimmune and neuroplastic mechanisms through which ovarian hormones may influence mental health outcomes. These findings contribute to the understudied field of women's mental health. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Chatzichristos developed a novel experimental technique that uses nuclear physics to study the diffusion of lithium ions in solid materials. Using this technique, he was able to resolve several questions about lithium diffusion in materials such as rutile titanium dioxide (a crystal), which may be used in a next generation lithium-ion battery. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Nkansah-Boadu studied the treatment of selenium-contaminated coal mine-affected water using microbial consortia from mine-affected sediments. He discovered novel selenium-reducing bacteria and selenium removal pathways. His findings contribute knowledge for designing systems for remediating selenium-contaminated mine waters. | Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. McClymont examined multiple aspects of HPV vaccination in women living with HIV. She found that while the vaccine has good efficacy, the post-vaccination burden of oncogenic HPV suggests that cervical screening remains important. These findings will inform the World Health Organization's global strategy for eliminating cervical cancer. | |
| 2020 | Dr. Zolaktaf examined ways of improving user interaction with data that is stored in large structured data sources. She developed algorithms and models that help users to explore, query, and analyze data more efficiently. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Reza developed a highly-scalable, distributed solution to support practical pattern matching based analytics in large graph datasets. He demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique through scaling experiments on massive real-world graph datasets and at platform scales, orders of magnitude larger than used in the past for similar problems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Booth investigated the development of small airways disease in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He showed that patients in the early stages of COPD already have chronically inflamed airways and tissue destruction. His work increases our knowledge of small airways disease in COPD and provides new avenues for treatment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Haggerty investigated the transitional experiences of multilingual writers socializing into the discourse practices of a Canadian university. Results point to a pressing need to re-consider the time needed and level of complexity involved in academic writing instructions in relation to linguistic, academic, and disciplinary needs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Moore investigated the causes of catalyst breakdown in renewable energy systems and strategies to improve catalyst lifetime. He found that dissolution of iridium catalysts is connected to durability in hydrogen fuel cells and that lead stabilizes tin in CO2 electroreduction. This research is crucial to strategies for mitigating climate change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Hossain investigated the use of Self-Tapping-Screws, a popular connector in Cross-Laminated Timber structures. These joints were tested under both monotonic loading and cyclic loading, which simulates the impact of an earthquake. Her research provides guidance to structural engineers and builders for designing timber shear connections. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Galiano Zurbriggen developed tools to improve the performance of power converters used in applications such as renewable energies, electric vehicles, and battery chargers. His contributions can be directly implemented in commercial products, creating significant benefits towards the de-carbonization of the energy and transportation sectors. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Roberson investigated the impact of immigration background on social belonging. Situating the measurement of social belonging in schools within an international comparative context, he shows that immigration background and national multicultural integration policy are valuable explanatory variables in the ecological validity argument. | Doctor of Philosophy in Measurement, Evaluation and Research Methodology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Eskandari investigated major ontological foundations related to the concepts of nature, environment, and ecology, focusing particularly on environmental education in a Shia Islamic village in Iran. Her findings offer insight into how we might reconceptualize and teach sustainability as a way of life grounded in contextual ethics and ontologies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Dunn examined the relationship between real estate and theatricality in downtown Vancouver. Through case studies that detailed the urban histories of theatre spaces, she showed that downtown Vancouver is unique in its inability to sustain large-scale locally-produced theatre, and that this gap has perhaps been filled by real estate development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Ishikawa demonstrated that people make health decisions based on stereotypes of health conditions and diseases, and developed a new approach to risk communication in health. His findings advance current strategies to reduce unintentional child injuries and fatalities, and help to address vaccine hesitancy and other health misconceptions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Ai developed a photo-acoustic imaging system through optical excitation and acoustic detection to illuminate the prostate from within the urethra using a transurethral probe. This technique will improve the detection and imaging of malignant tissue and prostate cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Mohseni studied matrix defects in aerospace composites manufacturing. He developed analytical models and approaches for process optimization to minimize waste and reduce the manufacturing cost, especially for small enterprises. This research will inform improvements to cure cycle design, which will enable defect-free part manufacturing. | Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering (PhD) |