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...
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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Dr. Racicot's research in organic chemistry focused on the reactivity of iodine compounds of higher bonding order. The processes studied could ultimately find applications in diverse areas such as medical imaging, polymer science and natural product synthesis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2016 | Do all volcanoes shake the ground in the same way when they erupt? Dr. Unglert studied volcanic tremor, a type of earthquake that often happens before or during volcanic eruptions. Her work showed for the first time that the features of a tremor might be similar for different volcanoes, depending on the volcano type or the depth of the magma reservoirs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geophysics (PhD) |
| 2016 | If thieves and burglars that begin to appear in a once crime-free city are not working together in a coordinated manner, why then are certain neighborhoods more attractive to criminals than others? Dr. Tse studied why such crime hot-spots emerge, persist and evolve. His work provides insights into how police might respond. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2016 | People often behave in ways that are predictable, but which standard economic theory would call "irrational". Dr. Wright showed how to apply recent ideas from machine learning to this problem, developing algorithms that are optimized for people, rather than perfectly rational theoretical agents. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Chen studied Bioinformatics to examine gene regulation as it applies to biological hypotheses. Her work contributes to a better understanding of the hierarchical regulation of genes and the differential expression between the sexes. This work will further our understanding of diseases and phenotypes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD) |
| 2016 | Software tools mediate and shape users' behavior, constraining the way that people accomplish their tasks. Dr. Haraty studied and designed mechanisms that empower people to personalize their software by changing its functionality. Her design and the results of her empirical studies provide insights into the design of highly personalizable tools. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Racovita identified more than 15 new classes of chemical substances in the surface wax mixtures covering aerial parts of three plant species: candelabra aloe, fishpole bamboo, and bread wheat. These findings reveal the diversity of ways in which plants produce chemicals that help sustain their water reserves or defend themselves from herbivores. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Narimani studied different theories of gravity and used cosmological data for testing those theories. His research helps physicists gain a better understanding of how gravity works on the largest scales that we have ever reached. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2016 | Cardiovascular diseases remain the number one killer around the world. Dr. Li studied protein oxidation in blood cells in cardiovascular diseases. He developed and applied a widely applicable tool to quantify protein oxidation in a model system, and found innovative regulation mechanisms of key proteins in the disease development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Healy examined relationships between tolerances of high temperature and low oxygen, and metabolic responses to temperature change across multiple time scales in fish. His work highlights a need to incorporate an understanding of the physiological responses of organisms into predictions of the effects of climate change on species' distributions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |