Student Achievements

See how students are addressing global challenges through conservation, geological exploration, and climate research projects.

At the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, our students are at the heart of a vibrant academic and professional community. They participate in industry and academic competitions, produce original research, and take on community and industry-supported projects. Their achievements not only demonstrate the practical application of discipline-specific and professional skills but also serve as a beacon of inspiration for both current and prospective students.

"A love of nature, exploration, and science is perfectly matched to geoscience studies, enabling a path that combines my recreational and academic interests for an exciting future career." - An EOAS Student

EOAS Honors theses

An “honours” degree involves intense specialization in a single field or a combination of fields (see the Faculty of Science information, & UBC’s details). In EOAS, honours students are expected to complete a 2-term research project under the guidance of a Department researcher. Many make significant contributions to the Department’s research output. 

These are often formative experiences for young scientists and professionals. This list of honours thesis topics shows the quality and diversity of EOAS students’ work.

Community and Industry Engagement

Faculty and students are grateful for all the generous time volunteered by our valued project sponsors from local industry, who make it possible for students to gain experience working on real-world geological engineering challenges. 

ENVR 400: Research Project in Environmental Science

ENVR 400, “Research Project in Environmental Science” is a capstone course for Environmental Science students. Student teams work with community partners on guided, community-based environmental science projects. Teams articulate project questions and goals, devise methods, conduct research and communicate results. 

Click the following dropdown to view projects from recent years. To find abstracts and reports from this course, search by title at the UBC cIRcle repository.

Students Year Project Title Community
Partner
Nina Dorsch, Audrey McBean, Emma Pantel, Callie Phelps 2023 Rethinking Riley Park’s Education Garden Border through the Selection of Culturally Significant Native Plants Little Mountain Neighbourhood House
Paul English, 
Yin Liu,
Janet Ng, 
Syd Treasure
2023 Comparing Long-Term Effects of Two Herbicide Treatments for Controlling English Holly (Ilexaquifolium) in Pacific Spirit Regional Park Metro Vancouver Regional Parks
Morgan Frey, 
Jonathan Lai, Lauren Moody, Talia Morfopoulos
2023 Analyzing spatial and temporal variation of residential woodsmoke pollution in Sechelt, British Columbia Society for Atmospheric Solutions
Avery Chan, Yoana Dinkova, Subin Lee, Sebastian Martinez Sotomayor 2023 Vancouver’s Batscape: Enhancing Urban Habitats for Our Winged Neighbours City of Vancouver
Niki Afsharpour, Keelie Beierbach, Peggy Pei-Chi Hsieh, Shanti Scarpetta-Lee 2023 Herring in the City Pacific Herring in False Creek and Coal Harbour, British Columbia City of Vancouver
Hayley Lai, Reta Wu, Bellie Zhu, Corrine Zhu 2023 Comparing the Carbon Impacts of Retrofit versus Redevelopment Options for the Alder Bay Housing Co-op in False Creek, Vancouver, British  Columbia False Creek South Neighbourhood Association
Grace Gooding, Lana Ladki, Luke Ni, Shaoxuan Peng, Emilie Robinson-Leith 2023 Investigation of Insect Abundance near the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant: Implications for Vancouver's Aerial Insectivore Populations Birds Canada
Anya Boardman, Kailey Chelswick, Sophia Collins, Pui Yi Law 2023 Spatial and Temporal Indicators of High Fecal Coliform Concentrations at Three Sites With Marine Shellfish Harvesting Activity on Vancouver Island BC Centre for Disease Control
Jasmine Kwok, Wenwen Wang, Vanessa Xiong, Shirley Zhou 2023 Predicting Dangerous Biotoxin Levels along the Coast of British Columbia: Achieving Food Sovereignty and Safety for Coastal Indigenous Communities First Nations Health Authority WATCH
Eric Li, Xinyi Liang, Peka Mueller, Helen Wang 2023 Towards a Circular Economy: Recommendations for Circularity at UBC IT SEEDs and UBC Campus and Community Planning, Sustainability and Engineering Department
Maria Bradley, Chadd Hennig, Christian Huang, Tanya Keenan 2023 Growing Together Village Vancouver
Nahaz Ferdous, 
Susan Huang, 
Liyuan Wang, Jennie Zhou
2023 Rain Down the Drain: UBC Vancouver Green Rainwater Infrastructure Performance Monitoring and Future Weather Event Modelling SEEDS and UBC Campus and Community Planning
Jessica Debiasio, 
Damon Ellis, Arshia Uppal, Miku Yamada
2023 Bolstering Intertidal Understanding: Collecting novel winter data using updated methodology, analyzing historical summer data and creating educational material Stanley Park Ecology Society
Students Year Project Title Community
Partner
Hazel Barthel, Sylvie Cox, Samantha (Sammy) Wilhelm, Thomas Gardner 2022 Mapping the distribution of Kretzschmaria deusta fruiting bodies along trails in mature Acer macrophyllum-dominant stands in Pacific Spirit Regional Park from 2022 to 2023 Metro Vancouver - Pacific Spirit Park (MVRP)
Giulio Saibene, Francesco Murdocco, Joyce Sam, Lyndsay Amat 2022 Evaluating the Predictors of the Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasi) Spawn Population in False Creek in 2023 City of Vancouver / City Studio
Irina Roche, Meagan Mak, 
Chad Campbell, Clare Price
2022 Preserving Vancouver’s Intertidal Zone : A Qualitative Assessment of Species Richness and the Influence of Abiotic and Biotic Characteristics on Ecosystem Wellness (2022 - 2023) City of Vancouver/ City Studio
Sarah Pudritz, 
Megan Francisco, Luke Meloche, 
Liam Brennan
2022 Seeking shellfish harvesting safety, security, and sovereignty : Trends in Environmental variables, biotoxins, and shellfish harvesting closure instigations in coastal First Nations Territories in British Columbia First Nations Health Authority (FNHA)
Philip Bartha, 
Timothy Wong, 
Ryan Brehon, 
Mark Wen
2022 Bats on Campus : Living with an Endangered Species UBC SEEDS
Emma Douglas, 
Nathan Mao, 
Zeqing Sun, 
Alyssa Yu
2022 Animal Farm : An Analysis of Interspecies Interactions and Responses to Anthropogenic Influences at the UBC Farm UBC Farm
Yinzhi Li, Annabel Tse, 
Logan Hwang, 
Samantha Kortekaas
2022 Water Quality Analysis of Lost Lagoon and Associated Biofiltration Ponds at Stanley Park Stanley Park Ecology Society
Alex Hernandez, Chloe Curry, 
Maia O'Donnell, Danica Graves
2022 Planting Seeds and Growing Futures : Supporting Village Vancouver’s Seed Library Program Village Vancouver Seed Literacy
Students Year Project Title Community
Partner
Natasha Harland, Natalie Varga, Lauren Kummer, Haoyue Wang 2021 Greening the Marina: A Roadmap to Renewable Energy for the Clubhouse at Spruce Harbour Marina False Creek South Neighbourhood Association
Nicole Cheng, Emily Suchy, Felicia Tsui, Taylor Tulissi 2021 Accounting for Nature: Responding to the Climate Emergency by Valuing Natural Assets: A Primer City of Vancouver / City Studio
Shuhong Cao, Kelley MacDonald, Samantha Marohn, Xianyu Zhang 2021 Ecological literacy in Riley Park : Community accessible lesson plans for elementary school aged children Little Mountain Neighbourhood House
Teresa Trinh, Katie Eadon-Clarke, Brendan O'Callahan 2021 Mapping climate initiatives and climate policy in Metro Vancouver SPEC / CALP
Emma Menchions, Isla Francis, Victoria Knoblauch, Caleb Weinhagen 2021 Can species distribution modelling improve the climate threat assessment of at-risk mosses in Canada? UBC Herbarium
Justin Haw, Edmond Chen, Xizhen Wang, Matthew Loveland  2021 Electrifying Change: An Analysis of Streetlight Electric Vehicle Charging Around Multi-Family Residential Units in Vancouver 2 Degrees Institute
Trixie Li, Sophie Thornton, Oskar von Wahl 2021 Assessing Avian Biodiversity Data in the City of Surrey Birds Canada
Amelia Wohlers, Edward Le, Megan Stewart, Mikaela Frame 2021 LiteFarm Sustainability Assessment Framework LiteFarm / UBC Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Hannah Bates, Marija Bozik, Chunyu Pan, Markus Thormeyer 2021 Monitoring and Mitigating Reed Canary Grass in Stanley Park, BC Stanley Park Ecology Society
Sara Alshanteer, Jessica Brown, Mark Pope, Joshua Shepherd 2021 A Living Classroom without its Teacher : Investigating the causes of, and possible solutions for poor Oncorhynchus keta (Chum salmon) returns to Spanish Bank Creek (Vancouver, BC, Canada) Spanish Bank Streamkeepers
Raymond Hao, Meg Sheline, Megan Yu 2021 Controlling the Invasion : The Progress of the EcoBLITZ and EcoRESTORATION Monitoring Project in Pacific Spirit Regional Park Metro Vancouver
Students Year Project Title Community
Partner
J. Lin,
M. Marcus,
T. Cui
2020 Electrification of the Sunshine Coast Transit System: A Feasibility Study. 2 Degrees Institute
Z. Zhang,
P. Zhang,
Q. Lyu.,
Y. Tang
2020 Evaluating municipal waste management strategies between Vancouver and world cities. Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
L. Faulkner,
M. Liu,
E. Newman
2020 Increasing Riparian Habitat and Ecosystem Function in Lost Lagoon through Shoreline Restoration. Stanley Park Ecology Society
J. Cheng,
J. Mancer,
R. Hernandez
2020

Modelling the Impacts of Sea Level Rise on Suitable Dunlin Habitat in the Fraser River Delta.

Abstract Accepted: Salish Sea Ecology Conference, April 2020; Cancelled due to Covid-19)

Birds Canada
Students Year Project Title Community
Partner
R. Huang,
X. Huang,
Y. Xia
2019 Assessing the Policies and Processes of Waste Management in Four Canadian Cities. Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
T. Kapoor,
G. Singh,
R. Park
2019

Place-Based Learning (PBL) at Riley Park: An Outdoor Educational Tool for BC Schools.

External Funding: CCEL Community Partnership Grant

Little Mountain Neighbourhood House
M. Poblacion,
G. Sharma
2019

Energizing the Public: Designing and Installing a Renewable Energy Demonstration in Riley Park.

External Funding: CCEL Community Partnership Grant

Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
O. Hester,
E. Milne,
K. Wang
2019 A spatial analysis of terrestrial salamander distributions and disturbance levels in Pacific Spirit Regional Park. Metro Vancouver
Students Year Project Title Community
Partner
F. Ramsay,
X. Tang,
Y. Yuan
2018 Beyond Styrofoam: A Life Cycle Analysis and Eco-Efficiency Portfolio of Single-Use Containers (Polystyrene, Plastic, Biodegradable Plastic, Paper, and Aluminum). Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
L. Munwar,
M. Niyaz,
K. Sano
2018 Do Ponds on UBC Campus play a role in the well-being of Individuals? UBC SEEDS
M. Gray,
R. Lewko
2018 The Impact of Experiential, Research- and Community-based Learning in Herbaria on First-year University Students. UBC BIOL121 / UBC Herbarium
C. Deduque,
J. Huynh
2018 Physical Literacy and Nature Exploration (PLANE): Enhancing Connections Between Families and Nature. Little Mountain Neighbourhood House

EOSC 445: Engineering Design Project

EOSC 445 “Engineering Design Project” is a capstone course taken by all upper-year geological engineering students who work in small teams to solve complex, open-ended design challenges supplied by volunteer Project Sponsors from industry. Click the following dropdown for a summary of recent projects.

Team Year Student Names Project Sponsor Project
A 2023 Chris Chan, Dylan Chua, Jozi Sebanc, Christian Kyle BGC Engineering Jura Creek Risk Assessment and Mitigation Design
B 2023 Mark Grandberg, Kyle Gounder, Kaleb Mailey, Salman Syed Klohn Crippen Berger

Tailings Dam Remediation Report

C 2023 Farah ElAmir, David Sadelski, Nakul Sharma, Sacha Vinciguerra Hatch Metro Vancouver Coquitlam Main No.4 Tunnel Section – Preliminary Design Report
D 2023 Liam Kramer, Rajan Brar, Jacob Stevenson, Satkaran Kang Knight Piesold Purple Canyon Mine Project – Geotechnical Engineering Report
E 2023 Jarod Finnie, Griffin Brown, Angus Wong Tetra Tech Canada Pre-Feasibility Pit Slope Stability Assessment
F 2023 Charles Barrett, Michael Uzunov, Alex Barth WSP Gold Mining Corporation Gucci Gold Project – Prefeasibility Open Pit Geotechnical Design
G 2023 Ahmin Ahmed, Windson Hau, David Matson, Juan Pablo Torres Piteau Associates Cobre Dorado Open Pit Slope Desig
H 2023 Maiya Callister, Taylor Chisholm, Clarisse Owen, Kamila Sadyrgazhy WSP Conceptual Closure Design of White Sullivan Pond Tailings Storage Facility
I 2023 Katrijn Bjornson, Julia Costa, Luke Komisarski, Matthew Liew Klohn Crippen Berger Landslide Mitigation for CN Rail
Team Year Student Names Project
A 2022 Adrian Tam, Evelyn Dina, Kyla Boersma, Tristan Campbell
 
2022 Scoping Study for an Open Pit Coal Mine
B 2022 Anda Cen, Alexander Cunha, Mitchell Karppa, Stephen Siska

Eureka Mine Tailings Storage Facility Design

C 2022 Andrew Tongol, Cynthia Lee, Emmanuela Ambah, Sacha Vinciguerra  Steep Creek Hazard Mitigation Design
D 2022 Caleigh MacDonald, Owen Perfect, Gurjap Grewal, Abeer Lamba Conceptual Closure Design for the White Sullivan Prospecting Mine Tailings Storage Facility
E 2022 Eason Xu, Jade Graham, Justin Hunter, Kristin Gage The West Coast Way Pedestrian Tunnel
F 2022 Mark Gharghouri, Yulia Hung, Will Raleigh-Smith, Kaden Sadownyk Tailings Management Facility
Site Selection and Conceptual Design
G 2022 Erfy Adeshi, Aurgha Das, Paul Papadoulis, 
Albert Setiapoetra
Gucci Gold Mining Project
Team Year Student Names Project
A 2021 Lucy Myrol, Justin Fuhr, Joshua Kemper, Gareth Jones Jura Creek Risk Assesment & Mitigation Design Report
B 2021 Émile Fretier-Gauvin, Jordan Fu, Yohann Rurange, Natalie Yim

St. Cyr Landslide Final Report

C 2021 Sammy Baumgartner, 
Ashley Chang, Ethan Enns, David Johnson
Capstone Creek Crossing
D 2021 Alice Xu, Josh Cheng, Hussein ElBanhawi Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) Siting Study and Conceptual Design
E 2021 Daniel Alphonso, Aaron Arcadi, Nicolas Mejia, Aniko von Wahl Yoho National Park Trans Canada Twinning Project
F 2021 Matthew Weiss, Christian Valerio, Paul Brezanoczy Edwards Gucci Gold Pre-Feasibility Open
Pit Slope Design
G 2021 Zaara Hussain, Chris Sarrazin, Tavjot Dhanoa, Sanjay Shankar Pit Slope Design for Phase 3 Expansion
at Barro Gold Mine
Team Year Student Names Project
A 2020 Andrew Funk, Arnaud Dione, Gemma Ferland, Karina Stapleton, Nandini Bulusu Jura Creek Risk Assessment and Conceptual Mitigation Design
B 2020 Abbas Haider, Alexandra Nagy, Mark-Antoine Berthiaume, Zai Chern Cheng

Pre-feasibility Design of Tailings Storage Facility

C 2020 Justin Kelly, Kendra Mercer, Logan Haubrich, Rian Watanabe, Stephanie Tarnai Mine Water Management Upgrade Project
D 2020 Andrew Cleghorn, Charles Xia, Ciaran Robinson, Jeremy Young, Raphael Bayaban Deep Excavation for Residential Tower - Shoring and Water Management Solutions
E 2020 Heya Gupta, Kshitijendra Thakur, Omar Farahat, Piradeepan Uthayakumar, Rachel Choboter Capstone Creek Highway Widening Design Project
F 2020 Jacob Ong, Jordan Fu, Matthew Ng, Nodir Musaev, Vincent Wong Burebista Open Pit Slope Design
G 2020 Arlena Kamuzima Musinga, Danielle Bridle, Morgan Weller, Teri Herbert Gucci Gold Project Pre-feasibility Open Pit Slope Design
H 2020 Gavin Anderson, Matt Doricic, Nouran ElAmir, Youhan Ding Buchanan Lake Groundwater Supply Feasibility Study

 

Geological engineering project competitions

Faculty of Applied Science Design & Innovation Day

Through interactive exhibits and hands-on demonstrations, Design and Innovation Day showcases challenging design projects completed by upper-year UBC students in all disciplines of engineering.

2024 (23W) Design and Innovation Day Winner:

TEAM I: Landslide Mitigation for CN Rail (read about their project here)
Project Sponsor: Klohn Crippen Berger
Project members: Katrijn Bjornson, Julia Costa, Luke Komisarski, Matthew Liew


The Canadian Geotechnical Society’s Student Competition

Funded by the Canadian Foundation for Geotechnique, the nationwide annual Canadian Geotechnical Society Student Competitions recognize excellence among undergraduate and graduate engineering students at Canadian universities. In recent years, UBC geological engineering teams have placed first or second in the CGS competition. We celebrate all participants for their hard work and tremendous achievements! Most recently: 

2023 (22W) CGS Undergraduate Report Award (Group) – 2nd Prize:
Project title: Conceptual Closure Design For The White Sullivan Prospecting Mine Tailings Storage Facility
Project members: Gurjap Grewal, Abeer Lamba, Caleigh MacDonald, Owen Perfect

Click the accordion below for a summary of recent UBC entries.

Competition Year CGS Competition Results Project Sponsor Student Names Report Titles
2022 First Golder Associates Christian
Valerio
Gucci Gold Pre-Feasibility Open
Pit Slope Design
Matthew
Weiss
Paul
Brezanoczy Edwards
2020 Second Golder Associates Ethan Alban Gucci Gold Project: Pre‐Feasibility Gucci Open Pit Design
Lucas Fabbri
Erica Forkheim
Maddy Hughes
2019 First BGC Engineering Mat Stephenson Tailings Storage Facility Prefeasibility Study
Stephen Marks
Shawn Matthies 
Jesse Zonneveld
2018 First Piteau Associates Margie Banda Abundante Open Pit Design
Dazy Gosal 
Adam Mickey
Casey Watamaniuk
2017 First Piteau Associates Erik Cernik  Feasibility Geotechnical Evaluation: Slope Design Criteria for the Phase II Bafour Open Pit Project
Lea Johnston 
Takako Miyochi
Eric (Suqi) Zhou
2016 First  Tetra Tech Roxanne Hasior Long Lake Tunnel & Surface Cut: Pre‐Feasibility Design & Comparison
Michael Kraitman
Jacob Nicklen
Jacob Nikl
2015 Second  Tetra Tech Gavin Black Long Lake Project: Tunnel Versus Rock Cut Design Option Analysis
Savanna Herman
Shammai Ugalino
Aron Zahradka
2014 First Piteau Associates Matthew Gray Unobtainium & Eludium Mining Ltd Inperfecto Project Pre‐Feasibility Level Slope Design
Carlin Horkoff
Jaimie Loughlin 
Robert Kaplen
2013 Second UBC Jenna Bowling Foundation and West Approach Embankment Design of the New Fraser River Crossing
Ryun Humenjuk
Crystal Lei
Adam Woods
Xiao Qin Yang

EOSC 212: Topics in the Earth and Planetary Sciences

Each year, students in EOSC 212 practice scientific thinking, information synthesis, and communication within the context of a variety of important and relevant topics related to earth, ocean, atmospheric, environmental or planetary science. Their capstone research project involves producing posters and presenting them in public, emulating a scientific convention.  Projects are started by posing a question emerging from some feature in a data set of their choice. Then critical thinking, basic data analysis and conceptual or quantitative models are applied to address their interesting and timely topic. Click below for titles of posters created in EOSC 212. 

  • How does earthquake magnitude and frequency help predict eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula?
  • What is the correlation between oil spill frequency and the long-term ecological consequences on coral reef systems?
  • How does climate change affect volcanic effects on climate?
  • How does a weakening in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation affect biological productivity in the southern hemisphere?
  • How do atmospheric rivers impact overall precipitation in the southern Sierra mountain range?
  • How has global warming impacted the melting of Himalayan glaciers since 1977?
  • How does earthquake depth affect earthquake frequency and magnitude?
  • How does chlamydomonas invalid affect snow albedo
  • What are effects of micro plastics on soil and plant health?
  • What caused the mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary?
  • Why is rainfall increasing in South America?
  • How is hypsographic demography affected by sea level rise?
  • Has climate change affected the streamflow of BC’s glaciated watersheds in the past 30 years?
  • How and to what extent did COVID-19 affect greenhouse gas emissions?
  • What drives tropical cyclones and what is the sensitivity of drivers to global warming?
  • Does “fracking” affect groundwater resources significantly?
  • How does ozone depletion affect Earth’s ecosystems?
  • Can atmospheric rivers affect the stability the Larsen Ice shelf
  • How has glacial retreat in central Asia affected slope stability?
  • How is the history of seafloor spreading and subduction expressed in the age distributions and chemistry of rocks?
  • How is the accelerating instability of Greenland ice affecting human settlements?
  • What is the spatial character of recent extreme melting events on Greenland?
  • How will sea level rise affect Vancouver?
  • Is climate change going to shred tourism in Vancouver?

Highlighting individual past and present EOAS students

Markus Thormeyer
Environmental Science


Adjoa
Geophysics


Pavin
Environmental Science, Minor International Relations


Emily V. Fischer
Atmospheric Sciences


Claire Floriet
Geology

Geological Engineering alumni profiles in Faculty of Applied Science's “Student & Alumni Stars
(Use the “Program/Discipline” dropdown to select Geological Engineering)

More inspiring profiles in Faculty of Science’s “Alumni Field Notes

EOAS alumni profiles in Faculty of Science’s “Gain career experience

See the EOAS Alumni page