Jonathan Girard
Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs
Graduate Student Supervision
Doctoral Student Supervision
Dissertations completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest dissertations.
Despite the wealth of Canadian clarinet repertoire, most of the existing studies focus only on pedagogy for student performers. Its significance and merit can better be understood, however, by considering its cultural context, especially through the perspective of Canadian identity. Canada’s social framework directly impacts its musical output and reflects Canada’s core values, especially multiculturalism, which became government policy in 1971. Using multiculturalism as a focal point for examining Canadian clarinet repertoire, this study explores the ways in which music performance is a multicultural action rather than simply stating the fact of social pluralism. From a list of Canadian clarinet works reflecting multiculturalism, selected works have been chosen for detailed study. Empty Sky by Elliot Weisgarber, Sitpatsimoyi by Robert Rosen, Anerca II by Milton Barnes, and Between the Shore and the Ships by Derek Charke are four Canadian works which use the clarinet as a solo instrument and reflect the ethnocultural groups the Canadian Multiculturalism Act accommodates: immigrants, First Nations, and French-speaking people. Selected works are examined from contextual and musical perspectives for representations of ethnocultural identity. Likewise, performance decisions are discussed revealing how performance is a multicultural gesture requiring musical, contextual, and social analysis. The evaluation of these factors are consolidated into performance which musically illustrates an understanding and sensitivity to ethnocultural accommodation and comments on social issues making each performance a multicultural action.
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Master's Student Supervision
Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.
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Although there has been extensive research on the thermoelectric effect, there have only been some reports on the photo-thermoelectric effect in carbon nanotubes, i.e. the conversion of light to heat to electricity. A device capable of producing a thermoelectric voltage by light irradiation on a forest of aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes has not yet been reported. The work presented in this thesis first outlines the growth conditions by which millimetre-long CNTs were grown by catalytic chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Two novel thermoelectric devices were fabricated based on two intrinsic properties of CNT forests. (1) Using the “Heat Trap” effect (light-induced heat localization), the first device induced a potential difference (few hundred μV) from low incident laser power. The temporal dynamics of the induced voltage were understood to be due to a competition of the temperature gradients within the device materials. A finite element analysis model was simulated the thermal and electrical characteristics. The temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of CNTs was derived based on the experimental induced voltage and was seen to fall-off with temperature, confirming a previously-suggested mechanism for the effect. (2) Since the thermal conductivity of CNTs can be 1-2 orders of magnitude smaller in the direction perpendicular to the nanotube axis, a second device was fabricated to achieve a higher temperature gradient. Under a few hundred mW of laser power, a few mV of potential difference was induced, indicating power conversion efficiencies in the 10ˉ⁵ % range. A finite element analysis model was created, which by using the experimentally-derived thermal conductivity from the previous device, predicted the induced voltage to within 10% at high laser powers. Calculation of the room temperature figure-of-merit ZT was low (10ˉ⁶ range), however no device optimization had been performed in these proof-of-concept prototypes. If CNT-based thermoelectric devices are to be used at higher temperatures, the three temperature-dependent material parameters enhance ZT and the efficiency. CNTs can be a promising material choice if cost and low toxicity are concerns, since the CVD process is fairly inexpensive and carbon-containing precursors are abundant. Moreover, CNTs have a high power-to-weight ratio and CNT forests are sparse.
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News Releases
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Exploring new frontiers at UBC’s Emerging Media Lab (11 Mar 2019)
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