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. Lan developed an ion trap to separate and identify atoms through their mass and light emission. His research contributes to understanding whether one of the most mysterious fundamental subatomic particles known as neutrinos behave as their own anti-particles. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Twa characterized the pathobiology and sequelae, or consequences, of chromosomal rearrangements in lymphoid neoplasia, which arise from cancerous lymphoid cells. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Izadi-Najafabadi's doctoral study focused on understanding brain changes following rehabilitation in children with developmental coordination disorder. Her results showed that rehabilitation is effective for improving motor performance and induces changes in brain regions underlying self-regulation, emotion regulation, and attention regulation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Wiebe studied whether China's economic growth can be explained by meritocratic promotion, where leaders with higher GDP growth are rewarded with promotion. Focusing on prefecture leaders, he found no evidence for meritocracy, and found that the evidence from the literature is not robust. This research improves our understanding of modern China. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Knowledge about inequities and social determinants of health points to opportunities for evidence-informed action across a range of contexts. Dr. Shaw's research offered a model to identify context-specific barriers to action such as lack of infrastructure, capacity, or political will and provided a menu of approaches to address these challenges. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2021 | Charging electric vehicles produce unwanted heat loss. Dr. Valipour investigated different approaches to limit generated losses in chargers and power converters in these vehicles and solar panels. He proposed flexible architecture to increase efficiency by re-configuring itself and providing smart and optimized performance at each operating point. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Rahimi worked on different approaches for predicting moisture in a batch of kiln-dried timber. He provided a predictive model and proposed a closed formula to estimate moisture variation after kiln-drying. His research is a forward step to reduce over-dried and under-dried timbers and, therefore, render them more value-added products. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Hoffarth explored the catalytic potential of the biosynthetic pathway of an antibiotic called indolmycin for contributions to natural product and antibiotic development. This exploration provided mechanistic insights for rare types of oxygen-dependent enzymes and produced novel derivatives of indolmycin using bacteria. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Ede examined the potential of place aversion to assess affective pain in dairy calves. Basing the experimental approach on the animal's memory of common painful procedures such as injections and disbudding, calves were shown to display an emotional response to pain. | Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Animal Biology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Garces showed how disease-causing mutations in the gene of a protein called ABCA4 affects its function and causes Stargardt's disease. His thesis provides invaluable insights into the pathological mechanisms of Stargardt's disease, insights of which could help tailor therapeutic treatments to individuals suffering from this disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Essa developed a new method to evaluate and optimize traffic safety in real-time. His method accurately predicts and significantly reduces traffic conflicts, leading to better safety and mobility performances of signalized intersections. His research will aid in developing smart traffic signal controllers in the era of connected vehicles. | Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Camacho showed that predation rates and the strength of mutualistic associations decrease with elevation in the New World tropics. His research teased apart possible mechanisms behind these patterns, which are likely ultimately linked between elevation and changes in temperature and productivity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Utilizing an Indigenous Determinants of Health framework, Dr. Lebrun collaborated with Kanaka Maoli women leaders on Kaua'i on issues of food sovereignty, land tenure, and health. This research is being used to garner grants to establish a Food Sovereignty project on Hawaiian Homelands. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Dodd studied American poets theater. Using archival research and theory, her work argues that poets theater has been used as a tool for both building and preserving community through reperformance. These findings broaden our understanding of the intersection of poetry and performance and lends new insight into several important poetic movements. | Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Janet Currie examined the patient, clinician, socio-cultural and policy factors that have contributed to an increase in the off-label prescribing of domperidone to treat low breastmilk supply in BC. The research identifies approaches that can be used to improve the overall safety, effectiveness and transparency of off-label prescribing. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. McKay explored housing, building, and neighbourhood influences on the experience of "home" for long-term tenants of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Her research highlighted housing and service needs of people with housing, and showed the benefits of a supportive service environment where tenants can feel in control of their lives. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Sonier examined the improvement of radiation therapy accuracy for cancer patients by adapting for patient-specific systematic soft tissue deformations in the planning and delivery of prostate, lung, and head and neck treatment plans. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Morrice investigated how toxins and risk genes may cause the motor neuron degeneration underlying ALS, a neurodegenerative disease. She identified regulatory elements of gene expression enhancers as novel ALS risk factors. This research provides insight into ALS causal factors which may translate to future therapeutic interventions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Lim developed Selective Catalytic Reduction Controllers for diesel engines using gain-scheduling and preview control techniques to minimize nitrogen oxides and ammonia. He conducted simulation tests using experimentally obtained data, and demonstrated improved control performance under model parameter uncertainty and sensor noise. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Gill determined that children developmental coordination disorder have smaller cerebellar volume compared to typically-developing children, and that rehabilitation can increase the size of this brain structure and improve motor function. Results may influence clinical care and improve outcomes for the 450,000 Canadian children with this disorder | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2021 | Many proteins secreted outside of cells are regulated by enzymes called matrix metalloproteinases. Dr. Jobin's research revealed new extracellular roles for intracellular enzymes and how matrix metalloproteinases modulate these roles, and exposed novel biology by tapping into an unknown well of molecules that react with matrix metalloproteinases. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Longstaffe studied the history (1960s-1980s) of marginalized women in Downtown Eastside Vancouver. She offers a new view of gendered and racialized poverty, homelessness, and violence, and the efforts of diverse women to resolve these issues. Her work shows that marginalized women were the most effective at finding solutions to their problems. | Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. De Graaf developed a computer code that models turbulent combustion to provide reliable predictions of pollutant emissions at a low computational cost. The new tool simulated jet flames in three different configurations, demonstrating its flexibility and potential usefulness for the aerospace industry. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Morrison examined how temperature affects the binding of oxygen by haemoglobin in warm-bodied fishes such as opah, swordfish, and common thresher shark. He found that the haemoglobin of these fish have lower sensitivity to temperature than most animals. This comparative study contributes to understanding the convergent evolution of haemoglobin. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Gilman explored the impact of a family literacy program on women with immigrant and refugee backgrounds. This study concluded that a three-way model of family literacy has the potential for highly positive outcomes in both social and academic domains. | Doctor of Philosophy in Teaching English as a Second Language (PhD) |