AI can tell if a patient battling cancer needs mental health support
Psychiatrists and computer scientists at UBC and BC Cancer have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that can accurately...
Learn MoreApplicants to master’s and doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
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.
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
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.
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.
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Science.
Year | Citation | Program |
---|---|---|
2019 | Dr. Sola explored how modifications of carbohydrates influence plant cell wall function. He discovered a novel mechanism that reinforces the connections between the walls of adjacent cells. His results provide insight into how plants can provide strength in specialized tissues. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
2019 | Dr. Sherbo studied ways to perform common chemical transformations by using renewable electricity. Utilizing a specially designed reactor, she explored how to perform hydrogenation reactions with electricity and water rather than with pressurized hydrogen gas. This method decreases the energy, and carbon intensity of these routine reactions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
2019 | Dr. Vaswani designed data-driven algorithms for better decision-making under partial or incomplete information. These algorithms have wide-ranging applications from designing better clinical trials to computational advertising and marketing in social networks. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
2019 | Dr. Wathen worked on the development of new and efficient numerical solution techniques for large-scale multi-physics problems arising from fluid dynamics and electromagnetics. These problems appear in many applications from industry to geophysics and thus the development of models and simulations is of great importance. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
2019 | Dr. Fenneman revised the taxonomy of two genera of plants in the sunflower family, and developed novel criteria for the defining of these species in British Columbia. These developments will help to better understand the biodiversity of the province, and provide a stronger framework for species conservation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
2019 | Dr. Liu studied the free-surface flow of non-Newtonian fluids under gravity. His research provides insights in the dynamics of visco-plastic dambreak problems in different contexts. His results can be applied in many industrial and natural processes ranging from cementing to glacier movement. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
2019 | Dr. Zhang mapped global seahorse populations to reveal distribution and threat patterns for these data-poor marine fishes. He discovered which seahorses are threatened and what the major threats are. This work will help prioritize urgently needed conservation plans, inform fishery policies and support the establishment of marine protected areas. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
2019 | Dr. Zhu studied the optimal mapping problem: finding a bijective function between two topologically equivalent or inequivalent shapes. He developed several mapping algorithms that play crucial roles in many computer graphic applications such as planar embedding of curved surface, mesh deformation, and elastic simulations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
2019 | Dr. Hawkshaw explored the interaction of salmon and fisheries. He developed models to balance catch and escapement, estimate run timing, and manage fisheries based on in-season data. This research will inform better management of salmon fisheries. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
2019 | Dr. Mittelholz explored the magnetic field environment of Mars, addressing the crustal, ionospheric and magnetospheric fields from satellite data. Her work also addressed the longevity of the ancient dynamo field, a constraint on Mars' early thermal evolution. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geophysics (PhD) |