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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dr. Choi investigated speech perception in preverbal infants. Her behavioural and neuroimaging research demonstrated that infants integrate information from their articulatory movements during speech perception. These studies advance understandings of how infants may acquire speech, the complex perceptual and motoric skill essential for language. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Miled conducted an ethnographic study to explore how Muslim high school students position themselves as Muslims and/or Canadians and how they construct their belonging and unbelonging to Canada. This study highlights the complexities of their experiences and illuminates the role of schools in the identity formation of racialized students. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Hernandez Torres studied two probabilistic models that emulate phenomena in physics and biology. She focused on understanding the behaviour of these models at a large-scale. Her results add to our mathematical understanding of the relation between microscopic and macroscopic descriptions of natural processes within probability theory. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Caveney showed how the final stages of bacterial cell wall biosynthesis can be modulated. These modulations are part of both natural bacterial life but additionally can play an important role in bacterial infection. This research paves the way for improved antibacterial therapeutics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Wei studied how mortgage market fluctuations in the early 2000's affected long-term labor market outcomes in the US. Her work also investigated the impact of tax incentives on small business growth. These findings have policy implications for labor market recoveries after a financial crisis and the promotion of small businesses. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Gubran studied the hardware architecture of low-power integrated computer chips of mobile devices. He created modeling tools and developed hardware techniques that can aid researchers and chip architects in understanding, designing, and improving the performance and power-efficiency of mobile chips. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Durney used mathematical and biophysical modelling to show how the individual and collective motion of cells cause a variety of mechanical behaviors of tissues during development. His work provides understanding to the mechanisms that are responsible for the correct development of form during organ development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Hategeka examined health system quality and the contribution of several quality improvement interventions in Rwanda. He found that health system quality has improved over the past decade, however, further improvements are needed to improve maternal and child health. His research will inform future quality improvement strategies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Chang explored the literacy instruction of an elementary student with learning disabilities. Her research highlights the affordances and constraints of a variety of semiotic materials and the intersection of literacy, disability, and pedagogy. The findings suggest a continued effort is needed to change perceptions of lower literacy achievement. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Serrano-Mora studied the use of activated carbon electrodes to desalinate brackish water. He analyzed the long-term influence of commonly found water components and different approaches to restore their desalination capacity. This research advances the development of Capacitive Deionization for the production of freshwater using saline sources. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Haq's research focused on detecting groups within a biomedical system. She proposed novel methods to find groups in two crucial brain structures, brainstem and putamen, which play important roles in understanding several neurological diseases. She also investigated groups of similar X-ray images to generate a guidance tool for diagnosis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Dixon studied the molecular basis of inherited cancer predisposition. Using novel sequencing technologies, her work demonstrated that specific genetic changes influence normal cell and tissue function to increase disease risk. This research provides insights into the challenges of genetic diagnosis and may improve the care of affected families. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Lee used novel techniques and various modelling approaches to evaluate impacts of nitrogen fertilization at a coastal forest and provide better estimates of photosynthesis and respiration. These results help us understand more about the role of temperate forests in climate change mitigation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Padda explored the role of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in supporting the regeneration of lodgepole pine trees at abandoned gravel mining pits. Her research showed that pine trees associate with these beneficial bacteria as a survival strategy to thrive on such degraded sites, offering the potential to be used as a sustainable reclamation tool. | Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Gerak studied a protein fragment, called the PNT domain, that is present in many oncoproteins. She investigated how the PNT domain self-associates to activate these oncoproteins, thereby causing cancer, and searched for molecules that might prevent this self-association. This knowledge aids in identifying a new class of anticancer therapeutics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Gavrilovic examined the lifecycle performance of buildings that have been damaged during earthquakes. Simulating the repair of damage on a computer, new results provide insights into the costs, repairability, and sustainability of several structural materials. This research will assist in the design of more resilient and sustainable buildings. | Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Liaw explored machine learning from the lens of theoretical computer science. He developed new algorithms with strong theoretical guarantees for online decision making and distribution learning. His contributions may be applied to develop learning algorithms with improved error guarantees while requiring sufficiently less data. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. O'Regan explored the notion of community in literature of the Hispanic Caribbean diasporas, focusing on authors who write communities that escape classification. No longer identifying by race, culture, class, gender, or sexuality, these collectivities privilege difference over identity for a creative relationality. | Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Wang studied baroclinic critical layers, thin layers in fluids with pronounced wave amplitudes. His research theoretically revealed the evolution of the critical layers and the potential mechanism through which they replicate. These discoveries advance our understanding of transition to turbulence in ocean, atmosphere and astrophysical disks. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Puri studied plant-beneficial bacteria living inside the tissues of boreal forest trees growing on disturbed, nutrient-poor soils. His work indicated that these bacteria can enhance tree growth via nutrient acquisition, plant hormone modulation and pathogen regulation, thereby suggesting their use as biofertilizers for boreal forest trees. | Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Mennigke wrote a philosophical inquiry on leadership in the age of liquid modernity. His dissertation critically analyses key themes in broad theoretical literature through a dramatic personification of each theme as a character. Using these themes as forms of conceptual analysis contributes a critical understanding of the nature of leadership. | Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy (EdD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Booth showed how the molecules that give cannabis its psychoactive properties and unique aromas are produced in the flowers of the plant. Her research aims to explain why cannabis types differ in their aromas. Her results expand our knowledge of metabolism in cannabis, a plant of growing economic importance, and the properties of its products. | Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Dong studied the methods to apply renewable energy and artificial intelligence to wireless communication systems. He found that there exists a tradeoff between users' quality of experience and system energy expenditure. His developed algorithms will help to reduce the carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions of wireless communications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Hsieh studied how our immune system weakens with age using blood samples from people living with HIV, who appear to age faster than the general population. He found that HIV affects some cells more than others, and his research suggests that treating viruses that are even more common than HIV may slow aging for the majority of people. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Chen developed new ways to deliver chemotherapy drugs to leukemic cells. His work involved the use of liposomes, which are nano-carrier vessels that can deliver drugs to cancer cells. Through his work, Dr. Chen was able to improve the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapy drugs and shed new light on the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |