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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Dr. Tavormina completed her research in Counselling Psychology. Her research comprised a qualitative micro-analysis of the process of attunement, disruption and repair in the therapist/client dyad. Her study filled in a significant gap in the literature, informed existing theory on affect regulation, attachment, and the change process in therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Morton investigated the impact of novelty on sexual desire and sexual satisfaction in men and women in committed relationships. This research has important implications for couple therapy and self-help resources aimed at benefiting couples in long-term relationships who want to enhance their sexual desire and satisfaction. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Lee studied how religion and spirituality matter in the consumer use, design, and engineering of media and technology. His research showcases how educators, makers, and hackers, articulate networks of theological values alongside technological creations, practices, and personal ways of being. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Valdés studied how robots and motion-tracking technology improve therapy effectiveness for people post-stroke. Through realtime force and visual feedback, findings showed reduced undesirable trunk compensation during upper-limb exercise. His results support the idea of using technology for the rehabilitation of people with stroke. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Ukah assessed the validity of the fullPIERS model, a clinical risk prediction model, for women admitted with pre-eclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and showed that it can be used to guide effective management of such women to prevent maternal complications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Biswas studied the molecular mechanisms by which virus particles escape infected cells. Utilizing insect viruses, he discovered novel methods by which virus particles interact with host proteins to enable the rapid escape from infected cells. This information is critical for understanding virus pathology and disease spread. | Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Science (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Yuan tackled a longstanding problem of understanding the evolution of acid during hydrolysis of xylan and successfully posed a mathematical model, with experimental evidence, to explain this behavior. Dr. Yuan also developed a bio-refinery concept for implementing bamboo into the kraft pulping process to produce dissolving pulp and ethanol. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Westlake studied the impact of political parties on multicultural policy adoption. He showed that the positions of both government and opposition parties matter, and that parties are responsive to competing pressures from ethnic minorities and far-right parties. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. McKay studied the epidemiology and impact of psychiatric disorders in multiple sclerosis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Serban created advanced solar power converters. His contribution includes higher efficiency, better stability, and improved safety for the next generation solar and energy storage power systems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Nuesser asked whether parties follow voters in adjusting policies to popular demand or whether voters base their own opinions on the positions of the party they prefer for other, non-policy reasons. She found that voters routinely follow the party, not the other way around. These results point to a major democratic deficit. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. D'souza examined the role of the hormone leptin on body weight and blood glucose levels. She assessed the role of leptin signalling on insulin secretion and the significance of insulin levels when leptin is absent. These studies have further expanded our knowledge of leptin function in the context of obesity and type 2 diabetes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Despite their negative image, plastics are still critical to modern life. Dr. Chile investigated how modifications to bio-plastics can impact material properties, with the aim of increasing their widespread use. Her work provides insight into the feasibility of developing bio-derived and biodegradeable plastics to replace synthetic plastics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Shi created computer methods that identify which DNA sequence alterations impact the on/off switches for gene activity. This research will help us understand how each person's DNA increases or decreases the risk for health problems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Kay's work has established a scientific understanding of how gasses flow during the production of composite materials. This understanding will help engineers to create processes that can produce high quality composite parts at reduced costs compared to current methods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Petrucci studied Japanese piracy in southern Japan from the early 16th century. She determined that Kyushu pirates contributed to the economic integration of Kyushu within regional trade and that their absorption into local militia groups facilitated the political integration of Kyushu under the Tokugawa regime. | Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Lu developed high-performance data switches based on integrated optics technology. His research demonstrated that integrated optical switches can provide low-cost, high-speed, and high-capacity data switching service for next generation optical communication networks. This work will help to meet the rapid growth of data traffic. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Hein developed a new class of asymmetric ancillary ligand scaffolds for the synthesis of base-metal complexes. Low-coordinate species were isolated and used for small-molecule activation and catalysis. This research was an exploration into chemical space and will have useful impacts in future catalyst development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2017 | Fires play an important role in forests. Dr. van der Kamp examined how fuel moisture changes across a forested landscape due to variations in terrain and forest cover. By applying a novel model for simulating fuel moisture, he found that knowing how forest cover changes is important when predicting patterns in fuel moisture. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Spencer created a framework which expands the concept of deixis to analyze Dene/Athabaskan poetics in dual-language textualized orature, focussing on the epistemological power of animals within these texts to consider the concept of "narrative revitalization," which she defines as cognate to and coeval with community practices of language revitalization. | Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD) |
| 2017 | The interplay between ETS transcription factors and DNA is tightly regulated to maintain our normal daily life, and misregulation often leads to disease such as prostate cancer. Dr. Lau investigated the mechanism that regulates the activity of ETS factors. He also worked to develop new molecules that inhibit ETS-DNA interaction. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Schulz-Weiling studied the evolution of plasma near the exotic regime of Coulomb coupling. He found unexpected system behaviour in the arrest of energy redistribution channels for uncharacteristic durations, suggesting new physics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Ferland's research investigated the importance of decision making in addiction. She found that rats who naturally made poor choices were more sensitive to cocaine and showed enhanced risky decision making after a drug experience. Her work may help to inform therapies for addiction, and will hopefully reduce stigma around the condition. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Sharif Khodaei's work has provided new insight into the fundamental question of how protective barriers are created between cells to block pathogen invasion and fluid loss. She identified a group of proteins that create barriers at the corners of cells and a novel mechanism that controls the levels of the main protein at cell corners. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Shi completed her doctoral studies in the field of wood physics. She focused on water behavior inside the wood cell walls and used water molecules to unlock the cell wall structures. Her findings contribute to a better understanding of water sorption in wood and cell wall nanostructure and subsequent application to wood products in service. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |