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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dr. Scholer showed how avian traits, such as body size, number of eggs laid, and metabolic rate, along with a less seasonal climate, are all linked to the long lifespan of tropical birds. His work brings together some of the first empirical support for several key concepts in life history theory. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (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. Modi investigated the effects of stumping and tree species composition on the soil microbial communities in the interior cedar-hemlock zone of British Columbia. She observed that stumping can have positive impacts on soil microbial communities when performed along with planting mixtures of tree species such as Douglas-fir with paper birch. | Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Snoddy studied regionalization in the labour market, particularly the effects of internal migration and union wage spillovers at the city level. He developed a new method of controlling for selection bias caused by internal migration, which uses machine learning tools to improve on existing methodologies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Edgcumbe invented, patented, and licensed an augmented reality navigational aid that helps surgeons to visualize blood vessels and cancer tumours. Dr. Edgcumbe undertook his research to improve the surgical outcomes for the 50,000 Canadians that are diagnosed each year with liver, kidney, bladder, or prostate cancer. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Oveisi Fordiie analyzed the complexity of industrial gasification systems. He describes an industrial gasification system where solid woody biomass is converted to non-condensable gases. His research will help to reduce uncertainties in utilizing urban biomass feedstock for a full scale bioenergy facility. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Tian developed an in vivo skin microscopy imaging method to study the behaviour of human skin cells, including damage and repair after solar radiation. This interdisciplinary and translational study helps us to solve biological problems by imaging human skin non-invasively. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Optoelectronic links in datacenters connect servers across vast distances in order to communicate and carry a massive amount of data. Dr. Ahmed's research demonstrates different techniques for enhancing the energy efficiency and improving the performance of such links in order to support higher data throughput. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Paz studied the use of Direct Current (DC) microgrids in the integration of renewable power and energy storage. He developed an efficient method to detect the changing characteristics of DC microgrids, which will improve their performance and accelerate their deployment in renewable energy applications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Ozburn examined generalizations about which sounds in some languages can be exempt from a process called HARMONY, in which vowel sounds within a word must match in some aspect of how they are pronounced. She argues that traditional treatments of such exemptions are inadequate, and provides a new theoretical analysis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Rettie studied the performance of muon reconstruction and identification within the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. He contributed to a search for new phenomena in events with two muons by analyzing proton-proton collisions. This search resulted in world-leading constraints placed on new physics scenarios. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Gatev developed a new method for analyzing epigenetic data to characterize genomic regions of concordant DNA methylation, which is an important part of the epigenome. His approach was used to characterize sex differences in DNA methylation of blood tissue. This work will improve statistical discovery and validation in future applications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Colombo describes some of the first distributions of lead, iron, and manganese in the Canadian Arctic Ocean, as well as trace metals in remote rivers in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. His findings shed light on important biogeochemical processes and water masses circulation taking place in this unique and sensitive environment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Gao's research investigated the use of ultrasonic vibration-assisted cutting in milling and drilling applications. He developed a novel ultrasonic vibration tool holder and a corresponding sensorless control system. This research will benefit the manufacturing industry in machining advanced material such as composites and titanium alloys. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical 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. Furtado found that, despite its being a relatively obscure musical genre, the Brazilian tango is a body of work well worthy of further study. Through historical and musical analyses, he explores the Brazilian tango as a vehicle for pianists to develop technical and musical skills, and as an exciting option for concert programming. | Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano (DMA) |
| 2020 | Dr. Thompson studied how the delayed rectifier potassium current (IKs) responds to phosphorylation at high heart rates. She shows that phosphorylation allows these channels to open more quickly, enabling the heart to relax faster, and protects against arrhythmia. This research provides important insight into the mechanism behind this response. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (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. 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. Sacheli used fMRI and PET brain imaging techniques to show that exercise can increase dopamine release in people with Parkinson's disease. This shows why exercise is specifically beneficial for people with Parkinson's disease, and supports the use of exercise as an adjunction therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Wakefield studied home, school, and community beliefs about strengths and resources of culturally and linguistically diverse children and families. Stakeholders viewed cultural and linguistic diversity as both a challenge and an opportunity. This research informs both practice and policy to support young children's transition to school. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Munz examined how plants and algae respond to a lack of nitrogen, a macronutrient that is essential for growth and development. Using the genetics model of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a single-cell green algae, Dr. Munz makes a critical first step toward uncovering the elusive signaling mechanism that responds to cellular nitrogen status. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (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. Forde examined the role that soccer clubs fulfilled in a particular township in South Africa during apartheid. The clubs offered spaces for resistance and political organizing; they also offered spaces for community support, solidarity, and joy. This research provides an understanding of how sport contributes to political and social change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Zwartsenberg discovered a novel quantum mechanical approach to switching materials from electrically conductive, to electrically non-conductive. His results are not only of importance to the understanding of fundamental physics, but also open up new avenues to explore in the design of future electronics and sensing materials. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |