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 | NID |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Dr. Commodore examined Indigenous doctoral student's journeys to and experiences at a Canadian university. She found that students established success by creating community, maintaining family and cultural connections, and engaging in Indigenous and faculty mentoring programs. These findings inform policy, programs, and student services for Indigenous doctoral students. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Kaldas studied perfectionism in patients. She examined how the need to appear perfect impacted patients' interpersonal relations and the process of group psychotherapy. This work can help inform clinicians on how to better attend to and address perfectionistic patients, allowing them to benefit more from psychotherapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Carlson developed a simple, scalable method for the rapid stabilization of membrane proteins called the peptidisc. He used the technique to rapidly identify novel and known interactions between membrane proteins in the bacterial cell envelope. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Viljoen's study looked at creating and comparing trauma-informed behaviour plans to regular behaviour plans for primary school children with a history of adverse childhood experiences. While results were inconclusive, the research suggested trauma-informed practice would be most effective using a school-wide model. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Salkeld developed a foundation for applying computer programming languages to recordings of running software. Called "Time-travel Programming," it allows computer scientists to interact with previously recorded software behavior using the same tools and techniques as live execution. This approach can be used to diagnose previously unsolved, difficult-to-reproduce bugs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Train studied the influence of pleasure in Physical Education. He examined the natural desire young people have to move for pleasure and the developmental lens through which an educator tends to view their movement. He provides an alternative framework for educators interested in investigating the value of pleasure-based physical education. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Tsao studied the safety of treatments for autoimmune diseases when used during pregnancy. Autoimmune diseases occur more frequently in females and untreated disease results in harm to both mothers and offspring. Her research findings show that a group of medications called biologics are safe and effective treatment options during pregnancy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Ghanouni developed a novel client-centred virtual reality gaming program as a therapeutic intervention for children with autism to enhance their socio-emotional skills. This trans-disciplinary project illuminates the role of community as equal partners with researchers during the design and development of products that can meet end users' needs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Raisinghani examined teachers' perspectives on students' cultural diversity and responsive science and mathematics teaching. Her research adds to the scant literature on this topic and provides insights into culturally responsive teaching in a Canadian context. It also brings Canadian teachers' voices to the fore in the field of multicultural science education. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Boyle examined the role of repetition in a selection of postmodern compositions, proposing new theoretical principles for understanding the perception of musical segments. Her work expands on previous discussions of musical form by explaining not only the emergence of closed segments, but also of more open forms and processes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Music, Emphasis Musicology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Fagan investigated the ruby and pink sapphire deposits of southwest Greenland. He found that gem corundum forms in unusual mafic-ultramafic rocks that have metamorphosed at high pressure and temperature. This study illuminates the role of recrystallization and hydrous-halide fluids in the formation of coloured gemstone deposits. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences (PhD) |
| 2018 | Why do some armed groups use child soldiers and some let them go? Dr. Plowright's research in Syria and Myanmar shows that certain armed groups will release child soldiers in order to appear more legitimate to international actors. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2018 | Flowering plants' genomes have large numbers of genes that arose by gene duplication events. Dr. Qiu studied the evolution of these duplicated genes. He characterized three new models of the evolutionary fates of gene pairs after duplication. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Fang studied how to use seismic data to create an image of the Earth's interior. He developed a technique to achieve this goal without knowing the original signal characteristics. This technique can help oil and gas industries make better exploration decisions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geophysics (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Najjar provided new evidence of how firms change their operations in response to environmental policy. His work showed how these changes contribute to a cleaner economy, but may disadvantage domestic firms relative to foreign firms. These results give new insights into the environmental and economic consequences of environmental policy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2018 | Sepsis is a life-threatening illness. Dr. Arora discovered a novel pharmacological target for sepsis immunotherapy and identified specific substrates, which can be modulated to control the disease prognosis. He also clarified a mechanism to better understand the disease progression. This work will help save 10 million lives every year. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Poon studied Canadian abstract painting in Toronto in the 1950s. She highlighted the artistic and practical strategies used by Toronto artists to establish themselves as the vanguard of modern painting in Canada. Her research considers the contributions made by Canadian artists towards the international world of modern art at midcentury. | Doctor of Philosophy in Art History (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Wang analyzed the pricing, competition and investment issues in the transportation industry. His research contributes to a better understanding of the economic impact and the interactions of new transport modes, such as high-speed rail or low-cost airlines. It also has policy implications for transport development in emerging countries such as China. | Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration in Transportation and Logistics (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Yang used advanced proteomics techniques to characterize cancer drug resistance, and to study the function of a tumour suppressor protein. These studies further our understanding of protein signalling pathways in cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Ashby studied the synaptic and cellular mechanisms that contribute to memory formation. Through his research he described a new role for the weakening of connections between brain cells during the memory formation process. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2018 | Fuel cells are promising devices to sustain our increasing need for clean energy. Dr. Chan developed a novel catalyst component using nanofibrous materials to study the impact of material and structural properties on fuel cell performance. The findings from her research can reduce costs and increase efficiencies in future fuel cell designs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Kulkarni studied nanoparticles to enable gene therapies for the treatment of liver diseases. Through his research, he overturned the existing paradigm of the structure of these nanoparticles; proposed a novel structure; and re-engineered the nanoparticles for diagnostics and gene therapy applications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Armstrong investigated the presence of plant carbohydrate degrading genes present in terrestrial, aquatic, engineered and host associated environments using functional metagenomic methods. This revealed novel genes and previously uncharacterized modes of degradation and enabled the development of new synthetic tools. | Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Miller's research studied the atomic properties of xenon. He produced states in xenon, which are sensitive to the effects of magnetism, and probed these states using ultraviolet laser light. His research will help create xenon-based magnetic sensors that work in the near-vacuum conditions of subatomic physics experiments. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Henderson's dissertation is a critical exploration of aging and old age in contemporary, professional Canadian theatre. It investigates recent English-language, Western-based plays, asking how they offer alternatives to stereotypical, negative ways of depicting aging and old age either through aspects of their dramaturgy and/or production. | Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre (PhD) |