Doctoral Citations

Dr. Yacyshyn showed that the response of the neuromuscular system to fatiguing exercise depends on the biological sex and age of participants as well as the muscle group tested. This research improves our understanding of fatigue and will aid researchers and rehabilitation specialists in tailoring their protocols to better assess muscle function.

No citation available at this time.

Dr. Adal developed molecular markers for lavender fingerprinting and diversity studies, and examined the biosynthesis of monoterpenes – the major components of lavender essential oils. He cloned and functionally characterized six genes responsible for the production of precursors and key monoterpenes that are critical steps to improve lavender oils.

Motivated by today’s ever-increasing demand for deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles in broad applications, Dr. Emran developed new control algorithms to improve their performance and stability. Through his research, he has contributed significantly to their safety and reliability subject to severe external disturbances and system failure. His research results enable the use of aerial vehicles in number of civilian applications including package delivery, transportation and pipeline monitoring.

No citation at this time.

No citation available at this time.

Dr. Xu developed numerical models to better understand the behaviour of bolted wire mesh for rock slope stabilization. He revealed the force and displacement response of steel wire mesh with various bolt patterns and spacing when the mesh is subject to loads from an unstable rock. This research has significant implications for improving the effectiveness of mesh on rock slopes using a proper bolt arrangement.

Dr. Bourne researched the influence of a set of design principles on the outcomes of a global service learning project situated in a challenging context. Her findings revealed that the three core values of respect, reciprocity, and reflection, were central to a creating a good global service learning project, worth doing for both students and in-country partners.

Dr. Goodman was passionate about improving chemistry education. Specifically, she studied the widespread use of misleading and conflicting concepts found in college chemistry teaching materials and classroom practices. In particular, Dr. Goodman’s research involved identifying the “threshold concepts” that best support students’ language development about and conceptual understanding of chemistry.

Dr.Jamal developed a business case for sustainability that linked the transportation system and projects with the quality of life,specifically by incorporating social case analysis to the economic,strategic,and implementation cases of conventional business case development methodology.Her methodology will help decision makers make informed decisions when planning and evaluating transportation projects.

No citation at this time.

Battery chargers and Data Centers need direct current electricity for operation, thus converters are used to change the alternating input mains into Direct Current (DC) electricity. Electricity is available in single-phase (two wires) and three-phase (three-wire) form. Three-phase is more economical for high power applications.Dr. Hafezinasab’s study focuses on high efficiency three-phase AC/DC converters.

Dr. Passmore’s work involves taking notice of nature in daily routines. Her multi-national research builds a strong case that simply noting emotions evoked by everyday nature strengthens feelings of connection and elevation. Her validated Noticing Nature intervention has a powerful effect on wellbeing, even without spending more time in nature.

No citation available at this time.

Dr. Quintans studied the differences between the interactions of plants with beneficial and pathogenic fungi, and how beneficial fungi enhance plants defenses against pathogens. She identified thousands of genes that can cause or prevent fungal infections in plants. She also found novel antimicrobial peptides that represent promising targets for the pharmaceutical and agricultural industry. Together, these data will lead to the development of better strategies to control fungal diseases.

Dr. Angel’s research engages people in social change through community-based artworks and processes. The dissertation contributes an interdisciplinary design methodology and a model for nurturing creative experiential learning. This work can inform sustainability researchers situated in and across environmental, educational and health sectors.

Dr. Ye studied how nutrients, especially fat, affect metabolic disorders such as heart diseases. Her conclusion challenges the current dietary fat guidelines on promoting polyunsaturated fats, which conversely worsen the preexisting chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. Her research makes people rethink dietary choices and provides a potential therapeutic target on managing metabolic diseases.

Dr Taylor investigated food security and food sovereignty in the Creston Valley of British Columbia during the renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty in the Creston Valley of British Columbia. Dr Taylor developed an innovative framework tool using key socio-economic factors which helped to assess food security and define the challenges to food producers in the area.

Dr. Jonathan Laumer examined the distribution of chemical bonds present within various types of thin-films of carbon, using an optical characterization technique. Through a characterization of the shape and form of the resultant spectra, he was able to quantitatively delineate between different types of thin-film carbon. This work has broad implications, both from basic materials and applications perspectives.

Dr. Reinholz developed a method for constructing non-congruent numbers that have arbitrarily many distinct prime factors. This technique allows known non-congruent numbers to be extended to produce infinitely many new non-congruent numbers, thereby considerably broadening the collection of non-congruent numbers that can be generated and described.

In multi-antenna systems, secure transmission designs are important for physical layer security which is a promising information security technique. In this thesis, Dr. Hui’s research focused on the secure transmission designs for three jamming signal aided multi-antenna systems, which can be applied in the next generation communication networks.

Dr. Martignoni studied the risks and benefits associated with the use of organic fertilizers consisting of commercially grown arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. She developed a series of mathematical models to determine when the introduced fungal fertilizers can coexist with native fungi and boost productivity, versus when the use of fungal fertilizers constitutes a biodiversity risk and it is ultimately detrimental to crop yield. Dr. Martignoni’s work sheds light on strategies for the management of a broad range of mutualistic communities that play a critical role in agriculture, such as below-ground microbes, bees, or other animal pollinators.

Dr. Kjorven examined the complexities of navigating her roles of clinical nurse specialist in geriatrics and daughter while caring for her hospitalized older adult father within a health care system that is risk adverse. Her research will help guide collaboration with patients and families in team based and person and family centered care.

Dr. Aubin studied the relationship among queer small presses, poetry, and lesbian and gay liberation movements in Vancouver. His study argues that small presses in Vancouver contributed to the development of liberation movements by creating queer-friendly cultural communities, publishing books, and circulating these objects to LGBTQ2+ readers.

Dr. Husain’s interdisciplinary research investigates poverty and class relations in the context of development aid projects in Bangladesh. Dr. Husain theorizes dual hegemony, an alliance between the political and economic elite and the international aid industry, to explain why development aid to impoverished countries benefit aid facilitators and donors, as well as a few wealthy clients, rather than empowering aid recipients on the ground.

Dr. Sarker investigated the structural and regulatory genes that control the biosynthesis of essential oil constituents in lavender. His work resulted in the discovery of important genes that control oil composition in this plant. Dr. Sarker also developed a comprehensive transcriptome database, which facilitates the cloning of genes expressed in lavender leaves and flowers.

Dr. Tymko’s thesis encompassed data collected on three separate high altitude expeditions in the United States, Nepal, and Peru. The research objective was to determine the impact of hypoxia on blood vessel health in lowlanders and high altitude indigenous populations. The primary was that that blood vessel function was impaired at high altitude, which was mediated by elevated neural activity.

Dr. Ahmadipour examined the effects of web and flange openings on structural capacity of timber I-joists,and proposed a design approach for such beams. He argues that the current wood design code does not address the existence of such openings effectively. His research paves the way for a safer design approach for such important building components.

Dr. Mohamed tackled some of the hurdles of current microscale tissue engineering methods. He developed efficient technologies and biomaterials for the biofabrication of 3D bioprinted and microfluidically produced constructs that can treat or replace an affected tissue. His research is a step towards translating research into real solutions for several medical problems.

Dr. Haji Mohammadi developed a mathematical formulation to perform numerical simulation of turbulent bubbly flows in complex geometries. He subsequently implemented the formulation into a parallel C++ code to run various real-life test cases. This novel formulation allows us to perform simulations of fluid flow with much less computational burden.

Dr. Kamali developed a multi-level decision support framework to quantify and benchmark the life cycle sustainability of residential modular buildings. This framework assists in selecting optimal construction methods and also improving the life cycle sustainability performance of modular buildings.

Dr. Hager examined the proposed transformation of art history into World Art History, a new approach to the study of all the worlds art based on seeking out connections between objects and their makers across nations, world regions, and time. Dr. Hager argued that World Art History signals a paradigm shift within the discipline of art history.

No citation at this time.

Dr. Muhammad developed a novel chemical additive using locally available bentonite soil for mitigating the problematic subgrade soil. Through Dr. Muhammad’s work the additive was employed as a soil stabilization technique for improving the strength and resilient modulus of the silty sand soil. She subsequently studied the mechanism of strength development in weak soil through microstructural analysis.

No citation available at this time.

Dr. Yousefi’s research was on development of an integrated management plan for urban water resources. He worked on analytical models to detect for any leakage and failure through the pipeline in water distribution systems. His research led to the development of an analytical technique, allowing for lower costs, higher accuracy and more reliability.

Dr. Wei studied deceptive language, focusing on changes in a person’s language pattern during deception. His research explored modeling techniques that can utilize the uniqueness of individual language style, and demonstrated the benefit of doing so in enhancing the performance of automatized lie detection systems.

No citation available at this time.

Motion control in micrometer scales is a challenging task due to the required stringent accuracies. Conventional sensors that can help to achieve such accuracies are often bulky and expensive. Dr. Zarif Mansour developed novel techniques to minimize the direct use of sensors in micro-positioning devices that use piezoelectric actuators. His research helps designers to design compact and economic positioning stages with micrometer accuracies.

Dr. Cook used social capital theory and participatory, spatial methods to promote understanding of homeless people’s presence/mobility in the urban environment. Her findings have significant theoretical implications and in the development of strength-based approaches to homelessness service delivery that foster maximum therapeutic benefit.

No citation available at this time.

Dr. Shrestha investigated the geological evolution of the mid-crust in the Himalaya. His research focused primarily on characterizing the cryptic geological structure of the mountain belt using an innovative, new analytical approach to detect subtle changes in the pressure-temperature-time paths that rocks record at the microscopic scale.

Dr. Morgan examined how sulfite and yeast additions during winemaking can alter the microbial communities and sensory profiles of wine, and identified a local population of yeasts that shows great winemaking potential. Her research helps winemakers make more informed decisions, enabling them to produce unique and high-quality wines.

Dr. Holland examined aspects of using symbiotic root fungi to enhance grapevine performance after transplant. He revealed that while symbiotic fungi are often beneficial to young grapevines, it depends on environmental and biotic factors. Overall, fungal inoculants are most advantageous in the presence of stressful environmental growing conditions.

Dr. Liu studied the application of microbial fuel cell technology in winery wastewater treatment. He designed an MFC reactor to treat winery wastewater meanwhile generating electricity, and studied the effect of pH, seasonality, and other operational parameters. This research illuminates the potential of recovering energy from wastewater treatment.

No citation available at this time.

Dr. Marten examined the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program in the Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada, from 2000 to 2015. Her case study focuses on German skilled workers and their families, who came to Canada as temporary foreign workers and hoped to gain permanent residence via the BCPNP. Her research reveals the BCPNP lacks oversight and enforcement, and creates a vulnerable workforce.

Dr. Kokkoris examined the effectiveness of fungal biofertilizers in the field and greenhouse. He found that biofertilizers performance depends on plant and fungal identity, and on soil conditions. The study also showed that unregulated spread of fungal biofertilizers that contain aggressive isolates have the potential to negatively affect natural ecosystems.

Dr. Tian developed chemical probes to study vital proteins in neurons. He obtained these probes through rational design and chemical synthesis. He subsequently these novel probes in living cells, which proved the application potentials. This research offered new tools to facilitate the elucidation of neurobiology problems.