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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dr. Jafer explored politics of victimhood and agency in the everyday lives of a religious minority community in BC. She demonstrated that subtle acts of resistance, when motivated by religious convictions, create religio-political identities that insist on active citizenship and equal recognition, providing a new interpretation of victimhood. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Park found that parents' flexible thinking and problem solving skills are important in reducing the association between the experience of chronic stress and harsh parenting. Given that stress is such a common experience for parents, her study provides important implications for parenting interventions to support healthy child development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (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. Ebneyamini's research focused on the regeneration of limestone-based particles as sorbents for the capture of CO2 via calcium-looping. His work introduced a novel technology, capable of efficient sorbent regeneration at relatively mild temperatures. The process also benefits from CO2 utilization, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (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. Mitelman developed an analogous method for solving ground-support problems, having an impact on the obligation for civil and mining engineers to ensure the stability of underground excavations. His proposed method requires less simplifying assumptions than analytical solutions and less computational resources than numerical methods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mining Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Mehrtash developed computer algorithms to assist doctors and improve outcomes for patients undergoing image-guided procedures. He devised novel machine learning methods for improving prostate cancer diagnosis and interventions. His work led to the development of new methods for uncertainty estimation in clinical decision-making systems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (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 | Dr. Kim studied particle breakage in sorption-enhanced chemical looping, which produces H2-enriched synthesis gas while capturing CO2 from fuels. He examined the breakage of oxygen carrier and CO2 sorbent particles and developed a model to improve the efficiency and stability of the process to reduce the impact on public health and the environment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Yee examined how Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators and advocates came together in a Community of Inquiry to support Indigenous (and all) students. Based in research on colonialism and decolonization, her study traced how diverse participants co-constructed practices to enact a shared vision of education based on respectful relationships. | Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Cui developed comprehensive approaches to interpreting deep learning models in visual understanding. These approaches provide explanations from diverse aspects for the black-box deep learning models. His work will help build trust in end-users for those deep models and contribute to the model deployment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Blundon showed that hearing may be one of the last senses to remain active before death. Some hospice patients may still be able to hear sounds, especially music, when they become unresponsive just before they pass away. These results broaden our understanding of what happens to us as we die and how best to care for our dying loved ones. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (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. Villacreses proposes a conceptual approach to understand literary production from a writer's global creative project. He incorporates media studies, the analysis of works of fiction, critical interventions, and public image into the overall literary study of an author. He applied this method in Latin American writers from the late 20th century. | Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Studies (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. Bulaeva developed a new model of acute myeloid leukemia by overexpressing a gene called MYC in normal human blood cells. Using this model, she found that these cells require signals also present during inflammation to initiate leukemia and behave normally in their absence, suggesting that inflammation may play a role in human leukemogenesis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Coronel examined how changing response formats and scoring methods affect differences between groups based on electronic device, sexual orientation, and gender; including trans and non-binary folk. His research shows how seemingly small choices in survey research shape statistical results and shouldn't be considered obstacles to survey use. | Doctor of Philosophy in Measurement, Evaluation and Research Methodology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Canning studied how people living with advanced dementia in long-term care continued to experience meaningful engagement. Despite significant losses they demonstrated a range of enduring abilities and skills. Her findings support ways for caregivers to connect with residents during both structured activities and informal interactions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Bowles investigated an axiomatic framework for problems concerning optimal ways to transport a distribution into another. In his work, he focused on an associated class of non-linear operators and developed their invariant properties. This research contributes to our understanding of common structures that persists across such problems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Lal studied the role of the protein VEGFB in the diabetic heart. He found that this growth factor has the potential to protect against the changes that occur in the heart following diabetes and can lead to heart failure. This research helps in identifying a novel therapeutic target to prevent diabetic heart disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Wynes examined how individual actions can be optimized to reduce the greenhouse gases that warm our planet. His interdisciplinary research included analysis of political and lifestyle choices. This study demonstrates that societal elites and motivated members of the public may be missing opportunities to fight climate change more effectively. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (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. Li's research focused on nuclear medicine in cancer treatments, particularly metal-based radiopharmaceuticals. She developed several metal-binding agents which demonstrated promising chemical and biological properties upon binding with important medical radiometal ions. Her discoveries impact medicinal inorganic chemistry and nuclear medicine. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Boltokova examined processes of language change among the Sakha, an Indigenous People in northeastern Russia. She shows that disagreements between older and younger Sakha about how their language should be spoken is a key driver of linguistic change. Her study strengthens our understanding of Indigenous language revitalization. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Ren proposed architectural supports for efficient synchronizations in both single-Graphics Processing Units and multi-GPU systems. His work can simplify GPU programming, increase performance, and extend hardware scalability to large-scale systems, thereby attracting more programmers and extending GPU to a wider range of application domains. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |