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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Dr. Henshaw adopted a biographical approach to study Chinese collaboration with Japan during the Second World War. Although wartime collaboration has long been denounced in China as a moral failure, Dr. Henshaw's work examines the norms of pre-war Chinese politics and situates collaboration in the longer context of 20th century Chinese history. | Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Ajaykumar studied cellular and mitochondrial toxicities of HIV antiretrovirals. He showed that some HIV drugs used in pregnancy increase the amount of mitochondrial DNA in infants, and that a newer drug increases mitochondrial toxicity. His research advances our understanding of the long-term safety of HIV therapy, for both mother and child. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Ehlers investigated how stress influences how we learn which things or actions are associated with something good. She showed that stress can both be beneficial and detrimental. Results further demonstrated that in the brain, novel associations are represented by our emotional response to them. Her work may have important clinical implications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Shababo studied the life and work of the seventeenth century Korean scholar and statesman Yun Hyu. In his research, he demonstrated how insights from cognitive sciences can improve our understanding of historical data and particularly of religious motivations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Studies (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Zhao studied the effect of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) on placental development during pregnancy. He found that BMP2 positively regulates human placental cell invasion and the underlying mechanisms involved, which may inform advances in clinical diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for pregnancy disorders. | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Grain studied the impacts of service-learning (an educational approach that combines learning objectives with community service) in Kitengesa, Uganda. She found that participants reinforce efforts of local community leaders to enhance education, financial literacy and human rights. This work informs relational politics in global engagement. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Kazemi explored how machine learning can be applied to worlds composed of objects and relations. He devised models and facilitated computational techniques that use data about objects to make predictions about their properties and relations. His work can be used in applications where the underlying data is in the form of a graph. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Torres-Beltran explored how microbes interact to build networks driving methane consumption under low water column oxygen conditions. Her observations expand our understanding on how this greenhouse gas is cycled in ocean regions where oxygen loss is ongoing due to global warming effects. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Lam investigated how post-childhood linguistic experience affects the way bilingual adults perceive speech sounds. In a Cantonese word identification experiment, Cantonese speakers who grew up in Canada used different listening strategies from those who grew up in Hong Kong. These results advance our understanding of bilingual competence. | Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Windt extended knowledge in sport and exercise medicine by exploring why some athletes get hurt and others do not. He analyzed novel international data sets using advanced methods to unpack the association between sport participation and injury. His discoveries will reduce the burden of sports injury and allow athletes to perform their best. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Sim studied biogeochemical cycling of trace metals in the world oceans. She evaluated the relative importance of input and removal mechanisms of trace metals in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Her research expands our knowledge about the cycling of trace metals and the role of particles in determining the distribution of dissolved metals in the ocean. | Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Liu studied plant immunity using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Her studies provide new insights on how plants sense pathogens and regulate defense responses, which help us better understand the complicated plant immune system | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2019 | Drug discovery can be lengthy, complicated and requires extensive resources. Working in partnership with the pharmacy and chemistry departments, Dr. Koperniku explored access to pharmaceutically relevant small molecules. Her work advances the optimization of pharmaceuticals and informs improved patient care. Her past and future dedication is to serve humanity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Jessani studied the oral health needs and services of people living with HIV in British Columbia. His results identified three quarters of this population had unmet dental treatment needs, half of the respondents had not visited a dentist with in the last year and half had experienced some kind of discrimination by their oral health providers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Craniofacial Science (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Stephenson studied the interplay between chronic stress and close relationships. Her work shows that coping with stress can be better understood as a social process, involving not just one person, but also those around them. Her findings highlight specific ways that close relationships can promote better health and wellbeing in times of stress. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Lekhi researched international students' views of scientific knowledge and their experiences in first-year undergraduate chemistry courses. Her work revealed the importance of active learning techniques in transforming student views towards those that are more aligned with the tenets of science. These views tended to manifest better academic behaviours. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Javadi studied the waste rock piles that mining companies pile up following excavation. She developed numerical models to investigate and understand flow rates, and the chemistry of the water that discharges from stockpiled waste. These models can help industry make more informed decisions to manage the potential effects of contaminated water. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Alharbi studied the genetic diversity, the population structure, and the phenotypic leaf variation among peripheral and core mangrove populations on the Red Sea. His study opened avenues for the advancement of the conservation and sustainable management of mangrove ecosystems on the Red Sea. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Singh studied cerebral vessel growth in Alzheimer's disease. She repurposed drugs used in cancer therapy to reduce pathogenic blood vessel formation and improve cognition in mouse models of Alzheimer's. Findings from these studies improve our understanding of how an altered blood vessel growth can contribute to pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Lee examined and developed human-computer interactive approaches, where clinical experts and computers collaboratively analyze genomic data for rare genetic disease diagnoses. This research will contribute to future genome analysis methods that empower experts to expedite critical diagnoses. | Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Berseth developed new methods for controlling the movement of simulated characters and robots. Using machine learning methods, he developed control structures that allow for more efficient learning as well as the integration of multiple motion skills. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Carta studied macrocycles, defined as molecules with a cyclic structure. She developed new metal-containing macrocycles and investigated their change in properties when large molecules are hosted in their cavity. This new approach could make certain polymerization reactions accessible to a wider number of macrocycles. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Galindo da Fonseca studied the decision of an individual to open a firm or look for a job. He found that although unemployed are more likely to start a firm, they create smaller less successful firms. This work has important implications for understanding the consequences of policies promoting entrepreneurship. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Zhao worked on improving probabilistic models for Continuous Time Markov Chains and developing Bayesian models and associated Monte Carlo methods for inference. Her modelling framework has been applied to build novel protein evolution models, where the model complexity can be controlled and good estimation is achieved. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Optical biopsy provides a non-invasive method for delivering tissue images. Dr. Huang developed a novel, handheld multiphoton microscopy system to achieve optical biopsy. Such a compact and portable optical imaging system can potentially help to detect oral cancer at early stage. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |