Student Achievements

An “honours” degree involves intense specialization in a single field or a combination of fields (see the Faculty of Science information, & UBC Calendar 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. 

Examples of previous projects include:

• Analyzing Environmental Assessments & The Environmental Politics Of The Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project
• Olivine In The Polaris Alaskan-Type Intrusion Of North-Central British Columbia: Implications For The Magmatic Evolution Of Primitive Arc Magmas And For Convergent Margin Ni-Cu-Pge Ore-Forming Systems
• Juvenile Salmon Prey Consumption And Bioenergetics: Comparing Discovery Islands-Johnstone Strait Corridor And Rivers Inlet Feeding
• Glacier-Volcano Interaction In The Katla Caldera: A Box Model Of Available Meltwater
• Copper Speciation In The Strait Of Georgia

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. To find abstracts and reports from this course, search by title at the UBC cIRcle repository.

Examples of previous projects include:

• Taking Flight : Collecting Baseline Data on Overwintering Bird Species Along the Arbutus Greenway
• Comparing Long-Term Effects of Two Herbicide Treatments for Controlling English Holly (Ilexaquifolium) in Pacific Spirit Regional Park
• Developing an advanced selection framework for film festivals
• Evaluating the Predictors of the Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasi) Spawn Population in False Creek in 2023
• Ecological literacy in Riley Park : Community accessible lesson plans for elementary school aged children

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. 

Examples of previous projects include:

• Jura Creek Risk Assessment and Mitigation Design sponsored by BGC Engineering
• Landslide Mitigation for CN Rail sponsored by Klohn Crippen Berger
• Metro Vancouver Coquitlam Main No.4 Tunnel Section sponsored by Hatch
• Buchanan Lake Groundwater Supply Feasibility Study sponsored by Piteau Associates
• Conceptual Closure Design of White Sullivan Pond Tailings Storage Facility sponsored by WSP

Geological engineering project competitions

Faculty of Applied Science Design & Innovation Day

Design and Innovation Day is an annual showcase in which UBC Engineering students present their projects through interactive exhibits and hands-on demonstrations. Engineering students undertake a year-long capstone, design or research project that offers innovative solutions to real-world problems. At the end of the course in mid-April, students present their design models to industry partners and potentially a working prototype as a solution to their problem. 

Geological Engineering students Katrijn Bjornson, Julia Costa, Luke Komisarski, and Matthew Liew won the 2024 (23W) Design and Innovation Day with their project, Landslide Mitigation for CN Rail, sponsored by Klohn Crippen Berger.

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. 

Examples of previous award-winning projects include:

• Landslide Mitigation for CN Rail
• Conceptual Closure Design For The White Sullivan Prospecting Mine Tailings Storage Facility
• Gucci Gold Pre-Feasibility Open Pit Slope Design
• Tailings Storage Facility Prefeasibility Study
• Abundante Open Pit Design

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. 

Examples of previous projects include:

• How many bald people would it take to combat global warming?
• The reality of C-sequestration by carbonation of mantle rocks
• Why is volcanism on Earth and Venus so different?
• What is the correlation between oil spill frequency and the long-term ecological consequences on coral reef systems?
• How will sea level rise affect Vancouver?
• Enigmatic features of Mars’ present-day climate

Highlighting individual past and present EOAS students