AI can tell if a patient battling cancer needs mental health support
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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
- Biodiversity Research Centre
- Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research
- Centre for Microbial Diversity and Evolution
Computational Sciences and Mathematics
- Data Science Institute
- Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems
- Institute of Applied Mathematics
- Statistical Consulting and Research Laboratory
- Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences
Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
- Geophysical Inversion Facility
- Lithoprobe: Canada's National Geoscience Project
- Mineral Deposit Research Unit
- Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research
- Seismic Laboratory for Imaging and Modeling
Genomics and Biological Sciences
- Centre for High-Throughput Biology
- Geomatics for Informed Decisions Network
- Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics
- Michael Smith Laboratories
Human-Computer Interaction
- Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems
- Vancouver Institute for Visual Analytics
Life Sciences
- Centre for Blood Research
- Centre for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health
- International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries
- Life Sciences Institute
- Michael Smith Laboratories
- Neglected Global Diseased Initiative
Chemistry and Materials Science
- Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory
- Max Planck-UBC Centre for Quantum Materials
- Quantum Devices Group
- Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute
Physics
- Antihydrogen Trapping and Spectroscopy at CERN
- Pacific Institute for Theoretical Physics
- TRIUMF: Canada’s National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics
- UBC ATLAS Project at Large Hadron Collider
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.
Schools / Departments
Graduate Degree Programs
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.
Recent Thesis Submissions
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Diet and the microbiome in Parkinson's disease (MIIM - PHD)
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Dr. Suzuki studied how entanglement among internal degrees of freedom of a composite object can affect its interaction with the other physical objects. This study has applications to the fundamental questions of the transition from quantum to classical physics, quantum gravity, quantum computing, quantum chemistry and condensed matter physics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Mavraki studied Diophantine Geometry, a subject with a rich history. Her work uses insights from the young field of arithmetic dynamics, which studies number-theoretic questions arising from the iteration of self-maps. Findings involve small points in families of elliptic curves and generalize earlier results in the literature. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Wor explored the interactions between fish migration and fisheries management with a focus on Pacific hake. She developed two new modelling tools and a framework for fisheries management evaluation. Her work will aid future management of Pacific hake and many other fish species around the world. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Lau examined how sculpin fishes distributed along the marine intertidal zone deal with varying oxygen levels in their environment. Her research on different species revealed variation at the subcellular level where oxygen is used to power cellular activities but may also produce harmful byproducts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Berkman measured properties of the pervasive tiny neutral particles called neutrinos with the T2K experiment. She developed a method to detect a second type of neutrino interaction. This method recovers neutrino events that were previously discarded and predicts a 40% increase in the total number of neutrinos used in analysis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Chung showed how mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, help fish to cope with changes in temperature across different timescales. This work reveals the important role of mitochondria in allowing organisms to adapt to climate change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Peng studied a variety of computational imaging modalities. He developed lightweight but powerful computational cameras and mix-and-match holographic displays. This research illuminates the insights on incorporating optics and computation algorithms to better record, understand and deliver visual information. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Wang studied biologically active natural products from marine invertebrates, bacteria and plants. She found a series of terpenoids that activate latent HIV provirus expression from a marine sponge. Her work advances our understanding of using marine-derived compounds for novel drugs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Dee studied the evolution of diverse cell shapes in fungi. By comparing cellular organization and gene content across the fungi and its closest relatives, Dr. Dee has expanded our understanding of how different fungal shapes could have been molded with a shared set of genetic tools that was present in the common ancestor of fungi and animals. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Hilchie developed new methods to rigorously test for the action of chemical processes that produce and differentiate rocks. His applications of these methods inform the nature of chemical variability in some of the oldest volcanic rocks on Earth. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD) |