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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Over the past couple of decades, wastewater contaminated with selenium has become a major issue in mining. Dr. Mohammadi developed a novel method for the removal of selenium using a reducing agent called chromous. The invention of this process has significant impact on the current treatment of wastewater containing selenium. | Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Warner studied the effect of medications on recovery after spinal cord injury. Using secondary data, she performed analyses to identify the beneficial effects of a specific drug, as well as map the progression of pain after injury. Her research contributes to the search for treatments after spinal cord injury and their potential clinical applications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Ben Bouchta developed a method of measuring how much radiation healthy tissues receive during radiotherapy. He subsequently applied this method to compare different radiotherapy techniques and found that it is possible to reduce the risk of radiation-induced thyroid cancer by up to 10% in patients who receive whole-lung irradiation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Clinical guidelines should be informed by the latest evidence and analytic methods. Dr. Kanters used new methods to support the World Health Organization HIV guidelines, informing the change of the recommended first-line treatment. This research also showed that newer methods using more complex data do not always improve guideline development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Held studied political alienation in advanced industrialized democracies. His study shows the limitations of traditional institutional fixes and highlights the role of both procedural and substantive information for civic engagement. These findings may inform government strategies to increase youth voter turnout and political accountability. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Smid showed that dairy cows have a partial preference to access various outdoor areas and that outdoor space allowance influences this preference. In addition, she showed a positive influence of an outdoor space on the expression of heat behaviour of dairy cows. These results show the importance of access to the outdoors for dairy cattle. | Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Animal Biology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Keough examined how experience with speech-related airflow affects whether we use it to discriminate between sounds. She showed that while adults can use airflow cues even in novel situations, the ability likely arises through developmental experience. Her work helps us understand how interactions with the world shape our perception of speech. | Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Soleymanian studied Usage-Based Auto Insurance in which drivers allow their private data to be monitored in return for potential lower premiums. He found that monitored motorists became safer and earned discounts, but more readily dropped out when their privacy concerns were raised, suggesting a complex link among privacy, price, and public policy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration in Marketing (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Heim studied the role of intonation in Canadian English for the negotiation of shared beliefs. He discovered that the shape of the sentence melody correlates with the interpretation of the speaker's confidence and their response expectation. This study sheds a new light on how speakers encode their attitudes and intentions in conversation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Song examined the newly created autonomy among female Catholic virgins of nineteenth-century Korea under the intensified control of French missionaries. This research invalidated the established conclusion in Korean history that Catholicism liberated Korean women and contributed to destroying the patriarchy in Choson Korea. | Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Studies (PhD) |
| 2019 | If automation is inevitable, one must either fear it or embrace it; Dr. Christy believes the latter. His research focuses on bringing automation to the pulp and paper industry. He developed a spectroscopic method to predict product quality based on in-process pulp, and deployed it in a pilot plant. His goal is a full-scale mill implementation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Chang studied vine copulas, a hierarchical graphic tool used in statistics and probability distributions. He found that vine copulas relax the restrictive assumptions in classical multivariate Gaussian elliptical dependence. This work can be applied to machine learning and used in real-world data sets such as stock indices and weather. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Half of our DNA is self-replicating, "jumping genes" called transposable elements (TEs), a fifth of which are genetic fossils of ancient retroviruses. Dr. Babaian explored how these normally repressed viral genes are resurrected in human cancers, and how this re-activation drives the evolution of novel cancer-promoting genes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Lardizabal developed a new prostate cancer mouse model that can effectively and efficiently test new drugs and therapies against prostate cancer. His contribution can potentially provide prostate cancer patients with more treatment options by getting proven effective drugs and therapies into clinical trials faster. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Khosravi developed high-speed imaging systems and algorithms to study combustion inside an engine. His work helps provide more insight into modern combustion strategies and to further optimize these strategies for cleaner and more efficient power delivery in combustion engines. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Maestre led the first human clinical study to provide evidence of respiratory and systemic adverse effects of phthalate inhalation in susceptible populations. Phthalates are chemicals linked to detrimental health effects, but their use remains unrestricted. This research can assist regulatory agencies and potentially influence policy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Suh examined chamber music which was loved by the upper-middle class audiences in eighteenth and nineteenth century Korea. She brought light to the chamber music scenes through the position of musicians, placing musical issues as a window through which to explore the multiple realities of the pre-modern Korean society. | Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Studies (PhD) |
| 2019 | Understanding rock structure in engineering is key to building safe structures. Dr. Karimi Sharif developed an approach to better understand the failure mechanisms with naturally fractured rock masses. Her work uses numerical models to simplify the integration of discrete fracture networks and will inform future structural design. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mining Engineering (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Skaien studied the relationship between natural selection and genetic variation through observing local deer and seablush, a flowering species native to western North America. Her results illustrate the effect of natural selection by browsing deer on this species' ability to persist in the face of natural and human-induced environmental change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2019 | A controlled CD4+ T cell response is essential for protective immunity against influenza. Dr. Fonseca showed that CD4+ T cells are modulated by the infection-induced cytokine IL-27 and dynamic histone modifications during infection. Her work provides insight into the mechanisms that balance effective immunity and immunopathology during disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Basham studied practices of knowledge production and definitions of expertise in technical encyclopedias from seventeenth-century China. Using a military encyclopedia as a case study, she argued that Chinese readers in this period defined expertise as mastery of text-based knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge to state policy. | Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Zhang studied how institutional investors, such as mutual funds, specialize in a different class of assets. Based on empirical evidence, he developed a model that relates an institution's investment horizon with the characteristics of its stock holdings. His work contributes to the understanding of the behavior of financial institutions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration in Finance (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Defrenne showed that tree species can adjust to climate through their fine roots and associated symbiotic fungi, called mycorrhizal fungi. Her research on Douglas-fir suggests that the success of Douglas-fir as climate changes and stress increases may be dependent on maintaining strong associations with local communities of mycorrhizal fungi. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. DeBoer examined whether, why, and how businesses approach environmental sustainability initiatives in the US pulp and paper industry. This research advances our understanding of the factors that influence the adoption and implementation of environmental initiatives, as well as compliance with environmental regulation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Wu researched on the theory of Poetic Inquiry and conducted a poetic inquiry of his own experience in language. Poetic Inquiry is seemingly about ourselves, but it extends to people around us and the world. Poetic inquirers write about themselves to explore the nature of being human. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |