Emily Cranston

Professor

Research Classification

Nanoparticle synthesis, properties and applications

Research Interests

Bio-based materials and nanocellulose
Atomic force microscopy (forces, adhesion, friction, imaging)
Colloid and interface science
Polymer chemistry
Cellulose nanocrystals
Bioproducts
Foams, emulsions, aerogels

Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs

View all programs

Affiliations to Research Centres, Institutes & Clusters

BioProducts Institute
Pulp and Paper Centre
 
 

Open All

Recruitment

Master's students
Doctoral students
2022
I support public scholarship, e.g. through the Public Scholars Initiative, and am available to supervise students and Postdocs interested in collaborating with external partners as part of their research.
I support experiential learning experiences, such as internships and work placements, for my graduate students and Postdocs.
I am open to hosting Visiting International Research Students (non-degree, up to 12 months).
I am interested in hiring Co-op students for research placements.

Complete these steps before you reach out to a faculty member!

Check requirements
  • Familiarize yourself with program requirements. You want to learn as much as possible from the information available to you before you reach out to a faculty member. Be sure to visit the graduate degree program listing and program-specific websites.
  • Check whether the program requires you to seek commitment from a supervisor prior to submitting an application. For some programs this is an essential step while others match successful applicants with faculty members within the first year of study. This is either indicated in the program profile under "Admission Information & Requirements" - "Prepare Application" - "Supervision" or on the program website.
Focus your search
  • Identify specific faculty members who are conducting research in your specific area of interest.
  • Establish that your research interests align with the faculty member’s research interests.
    • Read up on the faculty members in the program and the research being conducted in the department.
    • Familiarize yourself with their work, read their recent publications and past theses/dissertations that they supervised. Be certain that their research is indeed what you are hoping to study.
Make a good impression
  • Compose an error-free and grammatically correct email addressed to your specifically targeted faculty member, and remember to use their correct titles.
    • Do not send non-specific, mass emails to everyone in the department hoping for a match.
    • Address the faculty members by name. Your contact should be genuine rather than generic.
  • Include a brief outline of your academic background, why you are interested in working with the faculty member, and what experience you could bring to the department. The supervision enquiry form guides you with targeted questions. Ensure to craft compelling answers to these questions.
  • Highlight your achievements and why you are a top student. Faculty members receive dozens of requests from prospective students and you may have less than 30 seconds to pique someone’s interest.
  • Demonstrate that you are familiar with their research:
    • Convey the specific ways you are a good fit for the program.
    • Convey the specific ways the program/lab/faculty member is a good fit for the research you are interested in/already conducting.
  • Be enthusiastic, but don’t overdo it.
Attend an information session

G+PS regularly provides virtual sessions that focus on admission requirements and procedures and tips how to improve your application.

 

ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS

These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.

View More Advice Videos

Supervision Enquiry

If you have reviewed some of this faculty member's publications, understand their research interests and have reviewed the admission requirements, you may submit a contact request to this supervisor.

Graduate Student Supervision

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.

Colloidal stability, rheology, and self-assembly of carboxylated cellulose nanocrystals (2024)

The full abstract for this thesis is available in the body of the thesis, and will be available when the embargo expires.

View record

Scalable processing strategies for microencapsulation using cellulose nanocrystals (2022)

Bio-based materials are promising alternatives to less sustainable materials (i.e., petroleum-based chemicals), however, very few have been commercialized in advanced material roles. In addition to formulation development, new processing methods must be established to allow bio-based materials to make the leap from lab-scale to industrial-scale processing. In this work, we investigated the use of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) in the microencapsulation of oils. First, drying techniques including freeze drying, spray freeze drying, and spray drying were compared for producing corn oil-filled powders stabilized by CNCs, methyl cellulose (MC) and tannic acid. All three techniques produced dry oil powders with high encapsulated oil content (>90%). The oil powders could be redispersed in water to reform an emulsion and could be stored dry for weeks (in the fridge) without oil leakage. The three drying techniques imparted different surface morphologies that were linked to powder redispersibility and oil release properties. Spray freeze dried powders displayed the most tunable oil release when tested on a hydrophobic substrate. It was demonstrated that spray drying could be used to encapsulate a variety of oils that have different interfacial tensions and volatilities, including jojoba, lavender, and tea tree oil. Next, a dry jet wet spinning apparatus was designed and fabricated to use the same CNC and oil encapsulation system to produce oil-filled fibres. Coaxial extrusion provided a continuous spinning process whereby an external CNC-MC “shell” and internal oil “core” led to fibres with discrete oil-filled beads measuring ca. 2 mm in width along the fibre. The spun fibres were stable under ambient conditions, relatively flexible, and exhibited interesting optical properties. The encapsulated oil could be released by shearing or by re-wetting the fibres. Both the oil-filled powders and fibres were prepared using scalable processing techniques, employed plant-based and industrially-produced “building blocks”, worked with commercially-relevant oils, and will hopefully contribute to the development of environmentally sustainable emulsions, powders, and fibres for food, cosmetic, biomedical, pharmaceutical, agricultural and construction applications.

View record

Publications

Current Students & Alumni

This is a small sample of students and/or alumni that have been supervised by this researcher. It is not meant as a comprehensive list.

Alexandra Rousseau

Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD)

Research Topic
Electrochemical modification of cellulose nanocrystals
 
Emily Cranston's Profile
Publications on Google Scholar
ORCID Profile
Other link
Supervision Enquiry

Membership Status

Member of G+PS
View explanation of statuses

Program Affiliations

Forestry
Chemical and Biological Engineering

Academic Unit(s)

Department of Wood Science
Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering
 

If this is your researcher profile you can log in to the Faculty & Staff portal to update your details and provide recruitment preferences.

 
 

Explore our wide range of course-based and research-based program options!

Explore Programs