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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Dr. Tse examined how Cantonese-speaking Protestants grounded their theologies by democratically participating in the civil societies of Vancouver, San Francisco, and Hong Kong at the end of the 20th century and early 21st century. This study helps the public to understand how Chinese Christians are participating in politics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Kanazawa studied flat 6-dimensional spaces, known as Calabi-Yau threefolds, from a topological point of view. The main result of his thesis is the complete classification of Calabi-Yau threefolds with infinitely many loops. They provide a good testing-ground for general theories and conjectures, both in mathematics and string theory. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Green studied the impact of logging on floods in snowmelt watersheds. She showed that moderate levels of forest harvesting increase the frequency of floods which can affect the stability of streams. Her results challenge current perceptions of how forests affect floods and will help establish sustainable levels of harvesting in snowmelt areas. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. MacWilliam researched the ways in which British cookbooks published between 1660 and 1760 shaped conceptions of physical and aesthetic taste. Her work suggests that eighteenth-century aesthetics and cookery were the topics of public conversations that helped shape our current notions of subjectivity, professionalism, and disciplinarity. | Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Tai studied the link between white blood cells and cardiovascular disease. He found that deletingf inflammatory proteins in white blood cells increases the risk of future heart attacks and stroke. This finding improves our understanding of how to use one's own immune system as a means to combat cardiovascular disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Wong studied local governance reforms which were introduced in China to advance urbanization. She found that the reforms resulted in state building rather than state power decentralization. This refines our understanding of how and why China has maintained rapid urban growth despite land disputes and social tensions in different localities. | Doctor of Philosophy in Planning (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Lewis studied the growth and properties of a new type of semiconductor alloy containing the element bismuth. Thin single-crystal layers with record bismuth concentrations were realized and the underlying physics of the growth process was revealed. These materials have a wide range of applications in devices which emit and detect infrared light. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Loh studied experimental particle physics. He focussed on the production of particles with a potentially long lifetime, using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This study has helped to increase our understanding of new physics, beyond the recently discovered Higgs particle responsible for giving masses to all other particles. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Martin studied the effects of identity loss upon the She-KWE-pem people, caused by Indian Act legislation, Indian hospitals and Residential Schools. This intergenerational project demonstrates how Indigenous knowledge transmission, familial relationships, and land-based/culture-based experiences developed and sustained cultural identities. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Pribowo looked at the potential to recycle enzymes needed to breakdown wood biomass to sugars. These sugars can subsequently be converted to the many products that we currently derive from fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas. His work will dramatically help to reduce the cost of making the bio-refinery approach a commercial reality. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. DeGiuli studied the flow of granular materials like sand and soil, and derived fundamental equations governing stress transmission in those materials. These equations will improve the mathematical models used every day by civil, chemical, and mechanical engineers in a range of industries, from food processing to pharmaceuticals. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Santiago studied international health worker recruitment and migration. He investigated how local, transnational and global policies and the knowledge and expertise of people in Canada and the Philippines affect that migration. This research allows us to rethink how both countries might craft more just global health and immigration policies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Brown examined the factors controlling carbon in the Arctic Ocean. Her research employed field-based measurements to infer the relative importance of several processes affecting carbon distributions in the water column and sea ice. This work advances our understanding of carbon cycling in the polar ocean and the impact of sea ice on this cycle | Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Butler's research was in the field of Chemical and Biological Engineering. He studied a method of capturing carbon dioxide through the use of a calcium oxide absorbent in combination with hydrogen production from sawdust. This process has the dual benefits of providing a sustainable source hydrogen and reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Chu studied the effect of inflammation on white blood cell behaviour in cardiovascular disease. He discovered that inflammatory conditions decrease the ability of white blood cells to remove cholesterol from the surroundings. This research furthers our understanding of how inflammation can affect the progression of cardiovascular disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Diamant contacted research in underwater telecommunication. He developed and demonstrated transmission in the ocean using acoustic waves to connect divers, submarine, and autonomous underwater vehicles, and to located their position underwater. His work has been recognized as an important step to assist oceanographers in exploring the ocean. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Gutierrez performed numerical studies in the field of mathematical physics. His work focuses on the Skyrme model, which describes the atomic nucleus as a wave in a fluid. He developed techniques to solve the complicated equations of this model using computers. His contributions are relevant to stellar astrophysics and parallel computing. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Malek-Esmaeili has proposed copyright protection systems to detect illegally distributed content on multimedia sharing websites, such as YouTube. The systems can determine if a video, an image or a song contains any part of an original work, and are efficient in finding violations, even if illegal contents have been modified before distribution | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Feir conducted her studies in labour economics and applied econometrics. Donna used statistical analysis to demonstrate the dramatic, long term consequences of Canada's Indian Residential School system. Her findings will help both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people alike in their quest for truth and reconciliation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Weaver conducted the first known qualitative study with marginalized drug-using fathers. They were partners of patients in a harm reduction maternity unit serving poor, substance-using pregnant women from Vancouver's downtown east side. This study revealed the nature and negative impact of father exclusion on these mothers, fathers and families. | Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Lauzon's research focused on the development and understanding of catalysts based on non-toxic, inexpensive transition metals, such as tantalum and zirconium. These catalysts are able to facilitate difficult chemical reactions that were previously inaccessible and have implications in both the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Brooks studied ways that attention and emotion can be adversely affected by circumstances, causing people to make moral mistakes. He found that there is no set of character traits that can protect against all of these effects in all circumstances, making it impossible for any individual to become morally perfect. | Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Church studied human dimensions of urban nature. Her results suggest that rather than simply adding nature to the city, planners should consider how residents interact with and access nature, their ability to personalize space, and how they find solitude in those spaces. These results are important in the face of urbanization and city densification. | Doctor of Philosophy in Planning (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Phillips examined brain blood flow regulation in humans with traumatic spinal cord injury. His studies showed that a specific pharmaceutical, which increases blood pressure, enhanced brain blood flow regulation in this population and led to marked clinical benefits. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Bond studied how the common condition of obesity leads to more rapid neuro-biological disease progression in people with bipolar disorder. His research suggests an explanation for the more severe psychiatric illness courses seen in obese patients, and opens new avenues for understanding disease progression in people with psychiatric illnesses. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |