UBC Reports

June 2011

Students fuel sustainable solutions

Student leaders from  around the world are  travelling to UBC this month  to try to tackle the world’s  top energy problems

By Basil Waugh

Catherine Dauvergne (left) and Asha Kaushal (right) study how terrorism fears after 9/11 have impacted Canada’s refugee system. Martin Dee Photograph

Terrorism and Canada’s refugee system

Catherine Dauvergne says fears that Canada’s refugee system is a back door for terrorists are grossly exaggerated

By Basil Waugh

Shirin Eshghi (left) and Katherine Kalsbeek (right) of UBC Library peer over one of the vibrant Tokugawa maps. Martin Dee Photograph

Library digitizes rare Japanese maps

A new online cultural resource is a reflection of UBC’s strong ties and support for a devastated country

By Glenn Drexhage

A chair-sized “tipping bucket” (above) is part of a unique water treatment system that will help to make CIRS North America’s greenest building.

Tipping point: How CIRS will transform building water use

Strolling by UBC’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), most passers-by probably won’t be aware that there is a 90m well nearby that penetrates straight through rock and clay to the aquifer below.

By Lynn Warburton

Cindy Masaro will look at the reasons why women in older age groups are not practicing safe sex. Martin Dee Photograph

Dating and intimacy in the digital era

Are women’s dreams of finding  their own Prince William or  Mr. Darcy making them susceptible  to Internet Lotharios?

By Lorraine Chan

Prof. Hugo De Burgos was interested in how people talk about their illness.

Prof. documents  lead poisoning  in El Salvador

A woman looks at the camera and says, “Only death awaits us here.”

By Jody Jacob

Kim Lucas (left) and Keely Johnston (right) loved the hands-on learning in their third-year "Land, Food and Community" course. Martin Dee Photograph

Helping island farmers get to market

Artisan cheeses from Salt Spring Island and Hornby Island jams sell like hotcakes at farmers’ markets.

By Lorraine Chan

UBC Medical students Baljeet Brar (left) and Nancy Yao (right) are working with refugees upon their arrival to B.C. Martin Dee Photograph

Med students  serve refugees

New arrivals are helping UBC students understand patient needs

By Brian Lin

Tom Boyce and the team of GECKO Project researchers take their lab on the road, visting families across the Lower Mainland to learn how life experiences affect our DNA. Martin Dee Photograph

Turning your  genes on and off

Researchers of the GECKO Project lead the first study  of how life experiences shape who we are

By Heather Amos

Prince Charles (far left) with Rod Fujita (centre) of the Environmental Defense Fund in California, and UBC researcher Rashid Sumaila (right). Photograph courtesy of Rashid Sumaila.

Outtakes

Reflections on academic life. A close encounter with a prince

By Brian Lin