Faculty of Science

At UBC Science, outstanding scientists and students strive to unravel the principles that underlie our universe - from the subatomic to the macroscopic, from pure mathematics to biotechnology, from ecosystems to galactic systems. Through the breadth and depth of our academic endeavours and the calibre of the people who make up our community, we take pride in discovering new scientific knowledge and preparing Canada’s and the world’s next generation of scientists.

A diverse range of highly ranked programs

With access to master’s and doctoral degrees through nine departments and 350 research groups, our graduate students work with world-class faculty to explore the basic sciences, and to pursue interdisciplinary and applied research across departments and units. UBC’s research excellence in environmental science, math, physics, plant and animal science, computer science, geology and biology is consistently rated best in Canada by international and national ranking agencies.

Committed to outstanding graduate training

UBC Science houses a wide range of prestigious NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience and related industry programs: from atmospheric aerosols to high-throughput biology, from biodiversity research and ecosystems services to plant cell wall biosynthesis, from quantum science and new materials to applied geochemistry. The options for enriched graduate training in industry related fields are almost endless.

World-class research infrastructure

Our affiliated institutes and centres include UBC's Michael Smith Laboratories, Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, Biodiversity Research Centre, Life Sciences Institute, Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, Mineral Deposit Research Unit, and TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics.

Top research talent

UBC Science boasts more than 50 Canada Research Chairs, 12 fellows of the Royal Society of London, and has been home to two Nobel Laureates. Our graduate students have won 15 prestigious Vanier Scholarships.

A diverse, supportive community of scholars

UBC Science is committed to excellence, collaboration and inclusion. Women account for 41 per cent of the Faculty's graduate enrollments, and the percentage of international students has increased to 50 per cent over the past decade.

Mission
To nurture an exceptional scientific learning and research environment for the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world.
 

Research Centres

Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology

Computational Sciences and Mathematics

Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences

Genomics and Biological Sciences

Human-Computer Interaction

Life Sciences

Chemistry and Materials Science

Physics

Sustainability

Research Facilities

Designed to inspire collaboration and creativity across disciplines, the new Earth Sciences Building (ESB) lies at the heart of the science precinct on UBC’s Vancouver Campus. The $75 million facility is home to Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Statistics, the Pacific Institute of the Mathematical Sciences, and the dean’s office of the Faculty of Science. ESB’s updated teaching facilities will help Canada meet the challenges of a transforming and growing resource sector. Just as importantly, the researchers and students working and learning in the new facility will offer a valuable flow of well-trained talent, new ideas, and fresh professional perspectives to industry.

Research Highlights

Receiving more than $120 million in annual research funding, UBC Science faculty members conduct top-tier research in the life, physical, earth and computational sciences. Their discoveries help build our understanding of natural laws—driving insights into sustainability, biodiversity, human health, nanoscience and new materials, probability, artificial intelligence, exoplanets and a wide range of other areas.

UBC Science boasts 50 Canada Research Chairs and 10 fellows of the Royal Society of London, and has been home to two Nobel Laureates. 

Graduate Degree Programs

Research Supervisors in Faculty

or browse the list of faculty members in various academic units. You may click each unit to view faculty members appointed in that unit. View the full faculty member directory for more search and filter options.
Name Academic Unit(s) Research Interests
Bertram, Allan Department of Chemistry Atmospheric sciences; Chemical sciences; Atmosphere (Including Chemical Aspects); Physical and analytical chemistry of atmospheric aerosols
Beschastnikh, Ivan Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; software engineering; distributed systems; cloud computing; software analysis; Machine Learning
Bizzotto, Dan Department of Chemistry Electroanalytical chemistry; Electrochemistry; Colloid and surface chemistry; Electrochemical Systems; Surface Characterization; Surfaces, Interfaces and Thin Layers; Sensors and Devices; Electrochemical and Fuel Cells; biosensors; electrocatalysis; fluorescence microscopy; interfacial analysis; self assembled monolayers; spectroelectrochemistry
Blakney, Anna Michael Smith Laboratories, School of Biomedical Engineering Biomedical materials; Medical molecular engineering of nucleic acids and proteins; Gene and molecular therapy; Gene delivery; RNA; Biomaterials; Immunoengineering
Bloem-Reddy, Benjamin Department of Statistics developing methods for evolving networks whose history is unobserved; distributional limits of preferential attachment networks; uses of symmetry in statistics, computation, and machine learning
Bohlmann, Joerg Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Botany plant biochemistry, forestry genomics, forest health, conifers, poplar, bark beetle, mountain pine beetle, natural products, secondary metabolites, terpenes, floral scent, grapevine, Conifer genomics Forest health genomics Mountain pine beetle, fungus, pine interactions and genomics Chemical ecology of conifer, insect interactions
Boley, Aaron Department of Physics & Astronomy Astronomy and Astrophysics; Planet formation, protoplanetary disk evolution, formation of meteorite parent bodies
Bonn, Douglas Andrew Department of Physics & Astronomy Condensed matter, high temperature superconductors, microwave measurements, crystal growth
Borduas-Dedekind, Nadine Department of Chemistry Chemical sciences; atmospheric chemistry; chemical mechanisms; atmospheric ice nucleation; Biogeochemistry; mass spectrometry; Photochemistry; indoor chemistry; atmospheric aerosols; singlet oxygen
Bostock, Michael Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences structure of the Canadian upper mantle, Geophysics, formation and evolution of the first continental landmasses, the structure and dynamics of subduction zones
Bouchard-Cote, Alexandre Department of Statistics machine/statistical learning; mathematical side of the subject as well as in applications in linguistics and biology
Bowman, William Department of Computer Science Computer and information sciences; Programming languages and software engineering; Programming languages; Compilers; programming languages
Boyd, David Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs Human rights
Bradbury, Hal Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Chemical oceanography; Ocean biogeochemistry; Marine geology; Isotope geochemistry; Biogeochemistry; Paleoceanography; Chemical Oceanography; Reactive Transport Modelling; Carbon cycle; Marine Sedimentary Environments; Early Diagenesis; Biogeochemical Cycles
Brauner, Colin Department of Zoology Gas exchange, ion regulation and acid-base balance in fish, Evolution and comparative physiology
Bruce, Heather Department of Zoology
Brumer, Harry Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Chemistry Biochemistry; Chemical sciences; Genomics; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; biomass; carbohydrates; cellulose; Chemical Synthesis and Catalysis; Enzymes; microbiota; plant cell walls; polysaccharides
Bryan, Jim Department of Mathematics Algebraic and differential geometry; Algebraic geometry, moduli spaces, enumerative invariants related to theoretical physics.
Bryman, Douglas Department of Physics & Astronomy Particle physics, experimental; Experimental Particle Physics; Applied physics; physics
Burke, Sarah Department of Physics & Astronomy, Department of Chemistry Scanning probe microscopy, organic materials, nanoscale materials, surface physics, photovoltaics
Bustin, Robert Marc Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Unconventional Petroleum Reservoirs
Campbell, Trevor Department of Statistics automated, scalable Bayesian inference algorithms; Bayesian nonparametrics; streaming data; Bayesian theory; Probabilistic Inference; computational statistics; large-scale data
Carenini, Giuseppe Department of Computer Science Artificial intelligence, user modeling, decision theory, machine learning, social issues in computing, computational linguistics, information visualization
Cautis, Sabin Department of Mathematics Mathematics and statistics; Geometry
Chan, Kai Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability Natural environment sciences; Human Ecology; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; Social and Cultural Factors of Environmental Protection; Applied Ethics; Values and Lifestyles; Sustainable Development; conservation finance; Conservation science; cultural ecosystem services; Ecosystem services; environmental assessment; environmental values; incentive programs; payments for ecosystem services; resilience; social-ecological systems; sustainability science

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Recent Publications

This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Science.

 

Publication: Chemistry - A European Journal
UBC Author(s): Jolene Reid (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 09476539
Volume: 30
Publication Date: 19 August 2024

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Publication: Science (New York, N.Y.)
UBC Author(s): Daniel Pauly (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 385
Page Range: 721-722
Publication Date: 16 August 2024

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Publication: Physical Review Letters
UBC Author(s): Gordon Walter Semenoff (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00319007
Volume: 133
Publication Date: 16 August 2024

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Publication: ACS Catalysis
UBC Author(s): Jason Hein (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 14
Page Range: 12671-12680
Publication Date: 16 August 2024

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Publication: ACS Catalysis
UBC Author(s): Jason Hein (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 14
Page Range: 12331-12341
Publication Date: 16 August 2024

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Publication: iScience
UBC Author(s): Khanh Dao Duc (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 27
Publication Date: 16 August 2024

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Publication: Microbial ecology
UBC Author(s): Laura Parfrey (Botany / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 87
Page Range: 106
Publication Date: 14 August 2024

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Publication: Nature communications
UBC Author(s): Judith Mank (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 15
Page Range: 6893
Publication Date: 12 August 2024

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Publication: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
UBC Author(s): Michael Wolf (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 15
Page Range: 8042-8048
Publication Date: 8 August 2024

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Publication: Advanced Healthcare Materials
UBC Author(s): Charles Haynes (Michael Smith Labs / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 21922640
Volume: 13
Publication Date: 7 August 2024

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Publication: Molecular Therapy
UBC Author(s): Anna Blakney (Michael Smith Labs / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 15250016
Volume: 32
Page Range: 2437-2438
Publication Date: 7 August 2024

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Publication: Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry
UBC Author(s): Tao Huan (Chemistry / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 10440305
Volume: 35
Page Range: 1818-1825
Publication Date: 7 August 2024

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Publication: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
UBC Author(s): Geoffrey Schiebinger (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 121
Publication Date: 6 August 2024

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Publication: Current Biology
UBC Author(s): Kaitlyn Gaynor (Zoology / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 09609822
Volume: 34
Page Range: R736-R738
Publication Date: 5 August 2024

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Publication: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
UBC Author(s): Michelle Kunimoto (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00358711
Volume: 532
Page Range: 1444-1458
Publication Date: 1 August 2024

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Publication: Movement Disorders
UBC Author(s): Vesna Sossi (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 08853185
Volume: 39
Page Range: 1256-1257
Publication Date: August 2024

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Publication: PLoS Computational Biology
UBC Author(s): Daniel Coombs (Mathematics / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 1553734X
Volume: 20
Publication Date: August 2024

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Publication: American Journal of Botany
UBC Author(s): Jeannette Whitton (Botany / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00029122
Volume: 111
Publication Date: August 2024

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Publication: Reports on Progress in Physics
UBC Author(s): Kirk Madison (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 00344885
Volume: 87
Publication Date: August 2024

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Publication: PLoS Biology
UBC Author(s): B Brett Finlay (Michael Smith Labs / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 15449173
Volume: 22
Publication Date: 1 August 2024

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Publication: European Physical Journal C
UBC Author(s): Colin Gay (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 14346044
Volume: 84
Publication Date: August 2024

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Publication: PLoS ONE
UBC Author(s): Patrick John Keeling (Botany / Faculty of Science)
Volume: 19
Publication Date: August 2024

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Publication: Astrophysical Journal
UBC Author(s): Mark Halpern (Physics & Astronomy / Faculty of Science)
ISSN: 0004637X
Volume: 971
Publication Date: 1 August 2024

View Publication

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Recent Thesis Submissions

Doctoral Citations

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
2024 Dr. Ruder examined the conditions under which novel agricultural technologies can support transitions to more just and sustainable food systems in Canada. Her research offered new ways to evaluate impacts of technologies, made policy recommendations, and informed a toolkit of public scholarship resources for governing data and technology. Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
2024 Dr. Moerhuis investigated the timescales of closed-system crystallization of basaltic magmas within the Earth's crust using the 56 million-year-old Skaergaard intrusion in East Greenland as a natural laboratory, contributing to a better understanding of widespread basaltic magmatism in the North Atlantic at a time of significant global warming. Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD)
2024 Dr. Li developed computational tools to discover and design novel antimicrobial peptides using machine learning techniques. His research provides high-throughput solutions for the development of novel peptide-based therapeutics to combat the escalating threat of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Zhang developed statistical methods to uncover hidden patterns in biological data. His research helped to unravel the underlying mechanism of complex diseases. In a study of pancreatic cancer, his method revealed seven gene programs related to cancer progression, which can aid researchers to develop more effective treatment strategies. Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Oliveira studied a new class of surfaces of interest to researchers in different areas of mathematics and provided many previously unknown examples. His research contributes to an understanding of the deeper relationships between seemingly separate subjects. Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Sample developed methods to improve salivary gland dose constraints during radiotherapy. This included the development of medical image deblurring techniques, tools for locating salivary glands on CT images, dose response analyses, and tools for treatment planning with modernized dose constraints. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Reid investigated topics in numerical relativity including the critical collapse of the Maxwell field and further developments of the Z4 formulation. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Koniar developed and validated novel methods for assessing the in vivo biodistribution and dosimetry of actinium radiopharmaceuticals for targeted alpha therapy. Her research contributions will assist in the optimization of theranostic agents to deliver personalized cancer care in patients with widespread metastatic disease. Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Physics (PhD)
2024 Dr. Tian studied how plants transduce immune signals from a major type of immune receptors. He revealed and characterized several essential proteins that regulate the immune pathway. This new knowledge has the potential to be applied to engineering resistant crop cultivars against a broad-spectrum of pathogens. Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD)
2024 Dr. Su studied 3D computer vision for human digitalization, which converts real-world images and videos into 3D animatable avatars. His methods simplify complicated motion capture pipelines, showing a promising way for 3D avatar creations from everyday devices. Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD)

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