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
2022 Dr. Fong studied tools for educational video and how to improve them. He examined the types of analytics that instructors wanted in order to better engage and assess students, and ways to best support students and their study habits, In particular, he studied viewing patterns, video search techniques, and video annotation. Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD)
2022 Dr. Maloney studied factors that contributed to kindergarteners' social competence. She found that children's self-regulation proficiency and the quality of relationship with kindergarten teachers contributed to children's empathy and prosocial behaviour. This knowledge will help educators promote social skills in children. Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD)
2022 Dr. Roccor investigated how a bacterium can degrade the natural polymer lignin and the plastic polymer PET. His research helps us to engineer bacteria that can transform these waste streams into valuable products to replace petroleum-derived chemicals. Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2022 Dr. Francis investigated the effects of patient-ventilator asynchrony on the structure and function of the diaphragm in mechanically ventilated patients. This study illuminates the role sedation and ventilator settings play in patient-ventilator interaction, and makes recommendations that could improve outcomes in critically ill patients. Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD)
2022 Dr. Tuengel studied age-related development of the immune system and immunity to viruses in a cohort of Ugandan infants.Her research identified how immune cells change with age and viral infections. Her findings increased understanding of healthy immune development during infancy and the changes that occur following viral infections early in life. Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD)
2022 In many real-world applications, data are collected as multiple samples from connected populations. Dr. Zhang developed statistical methodologies to jointly analyze the multiple samples. His research leads to more efficient and reliable data analysis procedures than some existing ones in the literature. Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD)
2022 Dr. Li investigated the folding-unfolding mechanisms of four important metalloproteins at the single-molecule level. These studies revealed some fundamental principles that guide the folding-unfolding processes of metalloproteins in general. Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD)
2022 Often seen as threats to urban society, crowds are also presented as utopian entities. Dr. Daniels' research demonstrated how digital crowds and thinking about crowds were reimagined as offering solutions to the problems of urban austerity in the United Kingdom. This informs our understanding of the impact of digital economies on urban development. Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD)
2022 Dr. Hales examined the mentor figure within British Columbia's public education system. Her study traced understandings of early career teacher mentorship and mentor work in provincial and school district policies and programs. Her research challenges assumptions about the desirability and benefits of teacher mentorship programs. Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD)
2022 Dr. Holanda accelerated the process of designing machine learning hardware systems by better understanding how those systems learn and how they behave when they fail. The design process enabled by Dr. Holanda's work illuminates the path towards making the development of those systems significantly faster, economical, and environmentally friendly. Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD)
2022 Dr. Tibebu developed the physical fractal diffusion model based on geometric fractal structure of wood. It reveals that the moisture transport phenomenon strongly depends on the fractal dimensions of wood. This research outcomes contributes to improving the wood drying process and boosting bioeconomy development. Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD)
2022 Dr. Koike analyzed the effectiveness of Japanese nonprofits that promote men's engagement in parenting to improve fathers' lives, lessen burdens on women, and help raise Japan's birthrate. His research found pervasive ideological and structural barriers and conflicts of interest that undermine the spread of family-oriented masculinities. Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
2022 Dr. Sha developed artificial intelligence methods to make precipitation forecasts in British Columbia more accurate. Dr. Sha also developed a new method to automatically remove poor-quality observational data. Dr. Sha's research improved heavy-rain forecasts, hydropower generation and flood forecasting. Doctor of Philosophy in Atmospheric Science (PhD)
2022 Dr. Islam studied epigenetic alterations associated with a subset of human lymphoid leukemias, which are the cancer of white blood cells. He identified key mechanisms for enhancer activation driving the oncogenic transcriptional program in those leukemias that might help to develop potential targeted anti-leukemic therapeutics. Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD)
2022 Dr. Savard developed a Penning ion source using helium gas, with the end-goal of generating alpha-particles for medical accelerators. He studied the internal plasma properties of this ion source, in order to better understand how these ion sources work. This will allow for better optimization of these ion sources in the future. Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD)
2022 Providing forestry students with outdoor learning opportunities in forested landscapes is increasingly challenging with urban expansion. Dr. Coupland examined if local urban forests could provide additional outdoor learning opportunities. This research aims to increase in situ forestry education and aid in curriculum development. Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD)
2022 Dr. Sreenivasan investigated the importance of certain survival signals made up of cytokines that enable medulloblastoma cells to resist chemotherapy. Blocking these survival factors with inhibitors and cytotoxic drugs makes medulloblastoma cells susceptible to treatment and offers a novel approach to combat acquired chemotherapeutic resistance. Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD)
2022 Dr. Yang characterized the molecular mechanism of a unique nuclear entry pathway used by parvoviruses. As these viruses are recognized for their great potential as anti-cancer agents, her findings deepen our understanding on how these viruses infect host cells and contribute to the development of novel anti-cancer therapies. Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
2022 Dr. Asleh studied the most aggressive form of breast cancer called the basal-like type that lacks successful targeted treatments. Using breast tumor samples from women in Canada, she identified biomarkers that predict which women with basal-like breast cancers benefit most from chemotherapy and drugs targeting the immune system. Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD)
2022 Dr. Ponomarenko studied the requirements the government must meet to justify a limitation of a Charter right. Currently, there is no judicial consensus on when these requirements must be strict and when they can be relaxed. Her dissertation examines this undertheorized body of jurisprudence and provides it with a principled theoretical basis. Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD)
2022 Dr. Alford studied the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes infection of many bodily niches including the skin and lungs. Her research identified mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and virulence using host-like models of infection. Her findings will be used to develop new therapies for treating infections in clinical settings. Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD)
2022 Dr. González-Espinosa studied the influence of thermal stress and solar radiation on mass coral bleaching patterns globally through numerical models. Furthermore, he demonstrated the value of including driving variables such as cloudiness when examining the fate of coral reefs under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD)
2022 Dr. Evans examined records retention and disposition in Canadian organizations. She found that by aligning information governance efforts and leveraging digital technologies, records managers, archivists, and technologists could significantly decrease the climate impacts of information and communication technology on the environment. Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD)
2022 Dr. Al Fayez worked on improving the effectiveness of currently available liver treatments. Her research focused on developing novel lipid-based nanoparticles for hepatocytes targeting. Dr. ALFayez believes these nanoparticles can be used as a platform to enhance the treatment of many terminal liver diseases including chronic hepatitis B infection. Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD)
2022 Dr. Verwoord used art-making and art exchange to explore the beliefs of individuals studying to become teachers, including what it means to be a teacher and the power of the arts for learning about 'being in the world.' She used ideas of what it means to be in the world as a human, to present suggestions for teachers and teacher education programs. Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD)

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