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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Dr. Thompson's dissertation research made progress toward understanding how hybridization between species drives the origin of species. His studies illustrated the critical role of ecology in mediating this process and identified new ways to study natural selection acting on hybrids in field studies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Salmasi measured medication taking in atrial fibrillation patients in BC. She revealed that patients exhibit distinct patterns of medication taking over time. Study findings can inform the design of interventions to improve medication taking, and ultimately avoid preventable strokes and deaths in patients with atrial fibrillation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Wojcik studied how cognitive and affective processes affect trauma-related distress in adults. She found that across populations maladaptive cognitions can worsen negative self-appraisals following traumatic events. This knowledge will help improve clinical interventions for PTSD, depression, and other forms of trauma-related distress. | Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Greene examined the fire histories and developmental processes of dense, dry forests in southeastern BC. He found that Indigenous fires shaped historical fire regimes, and today's dense forests are novel byproducts of European colonization. His study advances forest management that aims to enhance forest resilience to fires and climate change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Yu examined what people would predict when jointly seeing two predictive cues. He found that people made conjunctive predictions that represented the overlap of the outcomes predicted by the cues. The results contribute to the understanding of human predictions and are helpful to those who design signage and labelling for the general public. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Franzen's dissertation added to our conceptual understanding of systemic violence. Asking how Nazi Germany's juridical genocide practically and paradoxically worked, her research showed how aspects of a subjectively civilized and heroic norm/self-education, systemic embraces of subversive acts and some prisoner's survival identity formed part of its functioning. | Doctor of Philosophy in Germanic Studies (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Hynes probed the role of dopamine at the intersection of addiction and decision making. His work led to the discovery that dopamine mediates addiction-relevant behaviours in way that is dependent on biological sex. This work emphasizes the necessary consideration of sex in the pursuit of pharmacotherapies to treat addiction. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Metcalfe explored how patients make decisions about management of high blood pressure during pregnancy, and developed tools to support patients and clinicians to make decisions that align with patient values. This work highlighted the importance of patient values in interpreting and applying medical evidence to individual treatment decisions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Whitehead explored early adolescent students' perceptions of their student-teacher relationships in three studies, by developing and validating a new student self-report measure, exploring students' qualitative descriptions of caring teachers, and examining the congruence of student and teachers' perceptions of their relationships. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Lee's a/r/tographic, curricular, and philosophical study develops a four-movement framework for cultivating a relationship with the unknown. She finds equanimity by mapping challenges along the square and moving through thresholds. Each turn layers concept, making, and breath, offering a curriculum for artful, purposeful, and meaningful living. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Ghahramani studied the rheological properties of a specific type of polymer blends referred to as Thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs). She performed comprehensive research to understand the origin of TPVs' flow instabilities such as melt fracture and wall slip. Her work resulted in clear recommendations to improve the processability of TPVs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Han's doctoral research focused on the study of the reactivities of phosphorus-containing compounds for the purpose of making the related inorganic polymers. He discovered the novel properties of several phosphorus species and investigated the possible mechanisms. His work helped to advance our understanding of the world of phosphorus chemistry. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Low studied how feeling shame or guilt as a parent impacts their capacity to learn during a parenting program. She found that guilt can be adaptive but shame hijacks learning. Her research showed that shaming parents does not help them learn, and that providing compassionate messages to counter shame led to better learning outcomes for parents. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Walters developed novel renewable nanomaterials from cellulose, a major component of plants and trees. Taking advantage of the unique structural and mechanical properties of cellulose, Dr. Walters demonstrated these materials could be valuable in packaging, catalytic, and energy storage applications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Rivard examined both how separatist political parties emerge and what makes them successful. He demonstrated that these parties have become increasingly successful in the contemporary era and pose a considerable problem for the management of state affairs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Kariyawasam explored the gene regulatory networks during the zygote differentiation of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Her research identified developmental mechanisms that play critical roles during the unicellular life cycle transitions and conserved between multicellular animal and plant embryo development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. McKeon, as a settler person, inquired into her changing spiritual, emotional, physical and mental relationships with land, colonialism and ancestral knowledges. Through story and poetry, this creative and critical work posits that by taking responsibility for our ways of perceiving the world, we can dialogue productively and bring about change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Siegner developed a manager's framework for decision-making to address plural sustainability objectives in the community forest enterprise. She subsequently applied this framework to study trade-offs facing senior staff in six communities throughout British Columbia. This research illuminates the role of organizational behaviour in scaling-up the community forestry model. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Hong studied super-Brownian motion, a mathematical model for an evolving population undergoing random migration and reproduction. His research provided insight into the occupation density of the population and the interface between the infected and susceptible individuals in an epidemic. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Lou's work challenges the traditional view that simile is a literal metaphor. Instead, he argues that similes formulate figurative comparisons that metaphors cannot. His study contributes to cognitive linguistics, rhetoric, and multimodal studies by illustrating how the human mind is attuned to thinking and communicating in similative ways. | Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Arcila-Maya explored questions about a mathematical structure called a topological Azumaya algebra, an important object of study in topology. Her work provides conditions for a topological Azumaya algebra to be broken down into smaller topological Azumaya algebras. Her research makes progress on the decomposition problem for this structure. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Mostafa developed schemes for supporting massive Internet of Things (IoT) systems in the wireless cellular networks using energy-efficient communication technologies. Those systems consist of a large number of IoT devices that collect data from the environment to enable diverse applications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Hadi designed a novel six-axis optical force sensor with unparalleled performance compared to commercial sensors. The sensor can be used in a diverse range of mechatronic applications. Dr. Hadi successfully integrated his sensor in a telesurgical system, which can lead to significant efficiency and accuracy improvement in surgical tasks. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Ammar looked at the role of leech saliva extract (LSE) in the treatment of prostate cancer (PCa), he also looked at the role of protease activate receptor-1 (PAR-1) in PCa. He found anticancer effects of LSE in advanced stages of PCa, while he did not find an impact of PAR-1 alone on PCa growth. This helps in better treatment of advanced PCa. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Lee's doctoral studies focused on how plants respond to environmental stresses such as drought and heat, and how they resist such stresses by examining changes in the expression of genes in two hybrid crops, canola and sunflower. His research advanced our understanding of the greater resilience of hybrid crops to environmental stresses. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |