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. Grenz showed how reclaiming an Indigenous Ecology redefines how we approach land and water healing. She has created a values-based decision-making tool that will help lead us toward ecological reconciliation. Her work provides a path forward for scientists to unleash the potential of an Indigenous worldview to illuminate new paths of inquiry. | Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD) |
| 2020 | Through theoretical and qualitative inquiries, Dr. Clegg invited Canadian counselling psychology educators to listen deeply to Indigenous Knowledges, changing assumptions underlying curriculum and disciplinary identity, and unfolding questions of what it means for educators, students, and clients to relate to place and land. | Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Kepplinger devised reliable statistical methods to identify proteins for predicting severity of heart diseases in the presence of anomalous protein levels, an issue as technology affords measuring numerous proteins. Beyond proteomics, these statistical methods boost generalizability of results from studies with few subjects but many variables. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Finlay studied the markers of sustained success in high performance sports organisations, proposing two conceptual models on how leaders managed processes of change management and performance management. The research informs high performance sports organisations, and the leaders working within them, in relation to best practices in these areas. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Zhou studied nonlinear partial differential equations with an emphasis on phenomena where solutions become unbounded. By developing new gluing methods, he rigorously constructed solutions to equations arising from different contexts such as geometry and mathematical physics. This research gives a deeper understanding of singularity formation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Davis explored six ways to study the traumatic past, a unique area in curriculum studies. Indigenous practices of orality, listening to stories of Survivors, choosing to become a witness, and taking steps towards reconciliation were identified as the educational legacy of the TRC - Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Adhami explored the experiences of patients in Cardiac Rehabilitation programs and found they were shaped by intersections of personal, social, and political contexts that overlap at the individual, healthcare provider, and healthcare system level. This suggests a need for a shift from one-size-fits-all to a person-centered care approach. | Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Maharaj found evidence for the impact of climate change on coral reef ecosystems in the Caribbean, showed that coral habitats are important for protecting resident fishes from these impacts, and demonstrated that multi-scale comparisons of ecosystem models help reconcile the differences in climate impacts expected at global and regional scales. | Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Kumar examined the genetic mechanisms involved in chemotherapy resistance in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. His research improves our understanding on how treatment resistance occurs and allow for the development of counteractive therapeutic alternatives. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. McCartney studied the history of international undergraduate student policy in Canada since WWII. He found that policymakers often used these students to advance a racist "Canada first" agenda both economically and politically, while international students' presence has significantly reshaped post-secondary institutions and Canadian law. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Close individuals tend to show synchronized ups and downs of stress hormones such as cortisol. Dr. Pauly examined interconnections in cortisol levels in older couples' daily lives. Her findings help us understand the everyday dynamics that contribute to health being linked in older couples. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Thompson examined modern bacteria from an iron-rich lake to address questions about the growth and interactions of microbial communities in the global oceans three billion years ago. Ancestors of these modern bacteria likely supported life for over a billion years by fueling the production of a warming climate under the faint early Sun. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Shoman invented a photonic reflection-cancellation circuit and used it to demonstrate the first stable quantum-well laser against varying reflections without traditional expensive and bulky magneto-optic isolators. His invention promises the large-scale, low-cost production of electronic-photonic chips for computing, communication and sensing. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Ashkani developed a methodology for seismic assessment of reinforced concrete bridges. He also investigated the role of soil-structure interaction in the probability of collapse of reinforced concrete bridges and studied variation of the bridge foundation motions from the earthquake ground motions at the ground surface. | Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Mazinani studied the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and blood clotting. He found that proteins that cause Alzheimer's disease assist in blood clotting, and that these proteins can be modified by coagulation enzymes. His findings contribute to a new understanding of potential causes of Alzheimer's disease, as well as new therapies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Caffrey applied light and electron microscopy to answer key questions in human health and disease across several size scales, from human tissue to single proteins. His research examines 3D distribution of mitochondria in tissues, the effect of novel therapeutics on cells and illuminates the role structural defects in protein play in disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Espid collaboratively designed, fabricated and tested a new photo-electro-chemical sensing technology to analyze contaminants in water and air, aiming to determine the level and type of treatment needs. This research illuminates the role of novel UV-LEDs to develop low cost and high performance sensors to monitor and control indoor air quality. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | How does one archive the immaterial, the absent, the inaccessible after times of crisis? How does one make visible the disappeared? Dr. O'Brien investigated the work of Lebanese and Palestinian artists who, after the 1975-1990 Civil War in Lebanon, in which 17,000 people were deemed disappeared, make visible these populations and their histories. | Doctor of Philosophy in Art History (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Manesh worked using transgenic animal models of spinal cord injury. His research showed that spinal cord neurons can adapt in the absence of protective myelin sheaths and restore function to the damaged spinal cord. His research impacts therapies for spinal cord injury as well as other myelin disorders like multiple sclerosis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 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) |