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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Dr. Braich studied the impact of climate change on agriculture in the Prairies, both past and into the future. She found warming trends have already negatively impacted yields, and by 2050 yields could be reduced by more than 20%. Her findings emphasize the need for adaptation planning to address climate impacts in this key agricultural region. | Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Weiner examined how rebel groups adapt to shifts in the strategic environment during long conflicts. Focusing on the Syrian civil war, he found that leader turnover reduced group battlefield performance but not overall violence, while revenue shocks led groups to tax people in their territory more rather than increase looting. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Kalia devised computer vision techniques for augmented reality in robotic surgery, aligning patients' MRI or Ultrasound images with the surgical camera view. This enables clinicians to do a real-time assessment of cancer margins and anatomy, to optimize clinical decisions and thus, reducing the incidents of incomplete cancer removal. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Davies explored the communication needs of individuals living with primary progressive aphasia, a language led dementia, and their families. The findings of this research provide guidance for the provision of evidence-based care and for further research in this area investigating avenues of meeting the communication needs of this underserved population. | Doctor of Philosophy in Audiology and Speech Sciences (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Aslanimehr conceptualized exile as an internal force carried within, hindering recognition. Her work explored the tension between self-understanding and how others perceive us. Applied within academia, she challenges the theory of recognition by emphasizing attentive listening attuned to the unique experiences that may send the self to exile. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Rees developed and characterized dextran-coated nanoparticles and nanoparticle assemblies for bioanalytical applications such as the specific labelling of cancer cells. These materials were very brightly fluorescent, stable, non-fouling, and will help enable point-of-care diagnostic technology that will make molecular medicine more accessible. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Sauve explored the experiences that early-career teachers had with social and emotional learning (SEL) as they completed their teacher preparation programs in Oregon. Her research contributes to the limited understanding of the degree to which teachers receive preparation in SEL as they complete their teacher preparation programs in the U.S. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Mirzaei delved into finding an environmentally friendly water treatment train for highly toxic chemicals called PFAS. Her thorough systematic experimental and theoretical work orchestrated the potential combination of UV based degradation and removal techniques and offered new mechanistic understanding and guidelines in the given application. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Hamidi studied elliptic curves over quadratic imaginary fields. Using a new and robust technique, Dr. Hamidi proved significant results about the vanishing and bounding of certain invariants. His results could have applications in number theory, cryptography, and other areas of mathematics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Azimi developed an integrated robotic system for advanced vision-based structural health monitoring. He introduced high-resolution image and point cloud segmentation methods and leveraged large language models for human-robot interactions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Segat studied how intrinsic and extrinsic factors can influence the onset of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She showed that inflammation favors the development of a more immature disease subtype, and that a gene called MYCN is essential for this subtype. She also found indirect ways to inhibit MYCN which could guide therapy development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Tully's work lays the foundation for measuring the electronic structure and fate of excitations in carbon-based solar cell materials. Her measurements of excited states in C60 films demonstrate the first high-quality data on such systems with lab-scale equipment, enabled by advances in film quality developed by Dr. Tully. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. McCabe's research explored ableism in higher education, examining collective agreements and institutional policies governing academic responsibilities showing that ableism is strongly entrenched and condoned in university policies and governance. | Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy (EdD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Kakoty investigated amplification effects of earthquake shaking in Metro Vancouver due to deep sedimentary basins and collapse risk of older concrete buildings in Vancouver, which have implications in future seismic policy of the city. | Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Liu delves into the creation of innovative platforms and methodologies to study one-pot multistep reaction. His work enabled an automated control and analysis system for one-pot telescoped reactions and proposed an efficient optimization strategy for complicated multistep syntheses. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Horst employed innovative digital arts-based methods to inquire into the futures literacies of a group of teacher candidates. Her study found that futures literacies pedagogy can provide teacher candidates with creative outlets to express their extant feelings and narratives about the future in generative ways that enable new possibilities to emerge. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Han's research delves into the ingenious strategies employed by our intestinal cells to detect and combat the food-borne pathogen Salmonella. These tactics include promoting mucus secretion to expel the pathogen, releasing signals to enlist immune cell reinforcements, and, remarkably, self-sacrifice to eliminate the invading bacteria. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Omidvar developed a way to make flexible ultrasound sensors using inexpensive polymers that can be rapidly produced in various shapes and sizes. His work opens a path for making new types of ultrasound devices to improve diagnosis and monitoring of a range of medical conditions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Montante studied the application of Artificial Intelligence for the advancement of biomedical research. Manual analysis of data extracted from blood samples is becoming increasingly complex. He developed a new Artificial Intelligence algorithm that is simple to use, accurate and able to analyze complex biomedical data in a few minutes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Schmidt designed and researched methods for efficiently tracking organ surfaces during surgery. He designed multiple algorithms to track tissue motion along with a dataset to evaluate performance for applications of tissue tracking. His research in efficient tracking will enable applications in surgical robotics, such as autonomy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Deberdt addressed the unequal nature of green transition supply chains through the example of cobalt from the Congo. His dissertation demonstrates the greenwashing at stake in the fight against climate change and the more or less unintended human rights abuses of these processes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Molzahn characterized the composition of protein aggregates that form in brain tissue during aging, contributing new information to the mechanism of aggregate formation and neurodegeneration. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Rostamzadeh's Markerless Dynamic Tumor Tracking method revolutionizes cancer treatment, utilizing the lung-liver interface for precise radiation targeting, reducing side effects, and providing hope to liver and lung cancer patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Physics (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Reyes assessed the capabilities of soil constitutive models for predicting seismic liquefaction-induced displacements. He enhanced them for the simulation of undrained cyclic shearing under a wide range of initial and loading conditions. His research contributes to the field of performance-based earthquake engineering involving liquefaction. | Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Ewé studied sound art since the 1960s, with a focus on artists who use sonic technologies to examine the role of the listener. They investigated how artists used cybernetics research to challenge the notion of the ear as a passive receiver of sound. Their dissertation contributes to the ongoing research in the history and theory of sound art. | Doctor of Philosophy in Art History (PhD) |