Contact & People

Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics
Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
University of British Columbia Okanagan
1177 Research Road
Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7
Canada

Email: cmps.okanagan@ubc.ca
Please direct all general inquires to the above email address and graduate related inquiries to cmps.gradassist@ubc.ca.

Find a Program Advisor

Find our people

Temesgen Mikael Abraha | PhD Student | Computer Science | temex@student.ubc.ca

Research Interests: Automated decline curve analysis for oil and gas wells; time-series forecasting using machine learning; data augmentation for well production data

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Designing and developing behavior change systems and persuasive technologies such as serious games and mobile/web applications; modelling the behaviour of online users in social networks and e-commerce systems; data science; social computing; ethics and trust in persuasive technologies.

Courses & Teaching: COSC 360 Web Programming. Winter, Term 2 2022/2023; DATA 540 Databases and Data Retrieval. Fall, Term 1 2022/2023; DATA 530 Computing Platforms for Data Science. Fall, Term 1 2022/2023; COSC 421 Network Science. Fall, Term 1 2022/2023; COSC 121 Computer Programming II. Winter, Term 2 2021/2022; COSC 419F/COSC 519F Social computing. Fall, Term 1 2021/2022.

David Ahlstrom | Visiting Associate Professor | Computer Science | dahlstro@mail.ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Clustering and classification via mixture models with applications to bioinformatics.

Courses & Teaching: Statistics; data science.

Afra Antara Anjum | MSc Student | Computer Science | afra99@student.ubc.ca

Research Interests: Advanced Machine Learning; Generative AI; Time-Series Forecasting; Data Analytics and Modelling; Computer Vision; Optimization

Cynthia Araujo | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | cynthia.araujo@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Safe and effective use of radiation for the treatment of cancer including external beam and brachytherapy technique development and verification; implementation of new technology in radiation therapy; use of imaging in treatment planning and treatment verification.

Deidre Batchelar | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | dbatchelar@bccancer.bc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Advanced Imaging in Brachytherapy; high precision radiotherapy.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Convex analysis and optimization, monotone operator theory, projection methods, and applications.

Courses & Teaching: Mathematics.

Nathan Becker | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics | nathan.becker@bccancer.bc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: image-guided RT, adaptive RT, quality control, and automation

Thor Bjarnason | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | thor.bjarnason@interiorhealth.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Quality control; radiation safety; patient dose reduction; image quality assessment in planar x-ray and CT.

Research Interests: Custom microwave techniques for measuring electromagnetic properties of materials; low-temperature conductivity and penetration depth of unconventional superconductors; complex permittivity of waste-activated sludge.

Courses & Teaching: Experimental physics; electronics; solid state physics; statistical mechanics.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computational statistics, with applications to fire science; statistical process control; statistical education. Most recently, I have been focusing on visualization methodology, using a class of techniques called Data Sharpening.

Courses & Teaching: Modelling and Simulation. Predictive Modelling. Data Visualization.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Combinatorial design theory and graph theory.

Courses & Teaching: Calculus; cryptography; applied abstract algebra

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Optimal risk management strategies in neuroscience; risk management in finance.

Courses & Teaching: Financial derivatives; linear algebra; calculus.

Marco Carlone | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | marco.carlone@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Simulation of linear accelerators; use of magnetic fields in radiotherapy; quality assurance in radiotherapy.

Ian Chambers | MSc Student | Mathematics | ianjc@student.ubc.ca

Yiwen Chen | PhD Student | Mathematics | yiwchen@student.ubc.ca

Research Interests: Derivative-free optimization; numerical optimization; discrete geometry

Ken Chidlow | Sessional Lecturer | Computer Science | ken.chidlow@ubc.ca | FIP 310

Research Interests: Arithmetic geometry; algebraic number theory; elliptic curves; diophantine equations.

Courses & Teaching: Linear algebra.

Matt Davison | Honourary Affiliate | Statistics | mdavison@uwo.ca

Research Interests: Energy finance; options pricing; portfolio optimization; Real options (with application inDefense and Medicine).

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Mathematical ecology and insect dispersal.

Courses & Teaching: Applied mathematics; vector calculus; differential geometry; complex analysis.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computer Vision/Graphics; Machine/Deep Learning; Image/Video Processing; Pattern Recognition; Biometrics; Video Surveillance Systems

Courses & Teaching: Image Processing and Applications; Computer Graphics; Software Engineering; Web Programming

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Human-computer interaction, Immersive Analytics, Data Visualisation, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality

Sylvia Esterby | Associate Professor Emeritus | Statistics | sylvia.esterby@ubc.ca | 250.807.9536

Research Interests: Environmetrics and ecological statistics.

Mir Faizal | Adjunct Professor | Mathematics, Physics | mir.faizal@ubc.ca | SCI 103

Research Interests: Information theory and complexity; numerical analysis and dynamical systems; topological defects; quantum mechanics and its application to condensed matter systems; string theory; loop quantum gravity; astrophysics; cosmology; supersymmetry.

Pantea Fatemi | MSc Student | Computer Science | panteaft@student.ubc.ca | ASC 303

Research Interests: Road alignment optimization using spline approximation; mathematical; optimization.

Scott Fazackerley | Sessional Lecturer | Computer Science | scott.fazackerley@ubc.ca | SCI 393

Courses & Teaching: COSC 111, COSC 310, COSC 328

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Medical Imaging, MRI, Pulse Sequence Design, Image Processing, Translational Imaging

Courses & Teaching: Physics, Waves

Eric Foxall | Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track | Mathematics | efoxall@mail.ubc.ca | SCI 115

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Stochastic processes and mathematical biology

Alejandra Maria Fuentes | PhD Student | Medical Physics | ale.fuentes.1994@alumni.ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Algorithmic and computational problems in artificial intelligence and network science; applications in social media and computational biology; graph theory and probabilistic method.

Courses & Teaching: Algorithm design and analysis; artificial intelligence; discrete structures; network science.

Chunlei Ge | PhD Student | Statistics | chunlei.ge@ubc.ca

Paramjit Gill | Associate Professor Emeritus | Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics | paramjit.gill@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Sports analytics; statistical stylometry; social networks models.

Palak Goyal | Sessional Lecturer | Mathematics, Physics | palak.goyal@ubc.ca | SCI 393

Courses & Teaching: PHYS 112 and MATH 125

John Brandon Graham-Knight | PhD Student | Computer Science | brandongk@alumni.ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Combinatorics with a focus on graph coloring problems; discrete optimization with a focus on MIP/constraint programming solutions for the high-stakes testing industry.

Courses & Teaching: Pure math; applied math.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Mathematical optimization; nonconvex analysis; derivative-free optimization; bundle methods; applications in road design.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Human-computer interaction, mobile and wearable (e.g., smartwatches, smart glasses) user interfaces, augmented/virtual/mixed reality, information visualization, gesture interaction, computer vision, machine learning, navigation interfaces, input devices.

Courses & Teaching: Human-computer interaction, user interfaces, collaborative software development, scripting and reporting, data analytics.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Radiation oncology; radiation biophysics.

Courses & Teaching: Medical physics; biophysics.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Empirical Software Engineering; Code Intelligence; AI4SE; Code Representation Learning; Mining Software Repositories.

Courses & Teaching: Computer Science (Algorithm Design and Analysis, Computer Networks); Data Science (Data Wrangling, Data Visualization)

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Radio, optical, and computational astronomy. Interstellar gas, magnetic fields, and turbulence in and around the Milky Way. Photoionization and radiative transfer in interstellar gas. High velocity clouds. Cosmology and the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME).

Courses & Teaching: ASTR 110/111/112 (Astrophysics I/Astronomy I) ASTR 120/121/122 (Astrophysics II/Astronomy II) ASTR 210 (Physical Processes in the Universe) ASTR 321 (Stellar Astrophysics) ASTR 401/501 (Astrophysical Processes) PHYS 401 (Electrodynamics)

Michelle Hilts | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | mhilts@bccancer.bc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Brachytherapy for breast cancer; 3D radiation dosimetry.

Cornelia Hoehr | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | choehr@triumf.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Medical isotopes; radiotherapy.

Research Interests: Condensed matter theory: geometrically frustrated magnetism (spin ice, spin liquid, dimer models); heavy fermion quantum criticality. Physics Education: online vs. in-person, gender and minority differences in standardized testing.

Courses & Teaching: First year physics; thermodynamics; statistical mechanics; environmental physics; particle physics; electromagnetism; quantum mechanics; solid state physics.

X. Joan Hu | Honourary Affiliate | Statistics | joanh@stat.sfu.ca

Research Interests: Event history data; longitudinal data with latent classes; marked point processes with a spatial correlation.

Courses & Teaching: STAT-285. Intermediate Probability and Statistics, Fall 2018 STAT-445/645. Applied Multivariate Analysis, Spring 2019 STAT-854. Biometrics, Spring 2019

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Learning analytics; computer science education; decision making under uncertainty; probabilistic user modeling; human-computer interaction cost models; experiment design and analysis.

Courses & Teaching: Digital citizenship; computer programming; principles of computer science; human computer interaction; software engineering.

Derek Hyde | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | dhyde2@bccancer.bc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Image-guided radiation therapy for high-precision treatments.

Research Interests: Human-computer interaction; information visualization; ubiquitous interfaces; visual analytics; immersive technologies; persuasive health; input devices.

Courses & Teaching: Human-computer interaction; research methodologies; user interface design; visual analytics; ubiquitous computing; immersive technologies.

Marium-E Jannat | MSc Student | Computer Science | jannat08@student.ubc.ca

Andrew Jirasek | Analytics in Medical Sciences (AiMs) Institute | andrew.jirasek@ubc.ca | 250.807.8812 | ASC 354

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Director, Analytics in Medical Sciences (AiMS) Institute. Medical physics; radiation oncology physics; Raman spectroscopy; 3D radiation dosimetry.

Courses & Teaching: Medical physics; quantum mechanics; data and image processing.

Research Interests: Mathematical Optimization - Developing fast, parallel solvers; Parallel programming; Interior point methods; Computational theorem proving;

Thomas Landecker | Adjunct Professor | Astrophysics | tlandeck@mail.ubc.ca

Research Interests: radio polarization, magnetic fields, interstellar medium, supernova remnants, antennas, radio astronomy instrumentation

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Active learning techniques for computer science; developing tools for learning, computational thinking and design thinking; application of HCI tools and techniques to improve teaching and learning.

Courses & Teaching: Programming; computer vision; HCI; project management; security.

Imrana Latif | Assistant to the Head | Computer Science, Data Science, Mathematics, Medical Physics, Physics, Statistics | ilatif@mail.ubc.ca | SCI 200

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Database systems and data analytics including data integration; analysis of large-scale scientific data sets and embedded databases for Internet of Things applications; software engineering and system development.

Courses & Teaching: Database systems and data analytics; software development.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computational mathematics, optimization and convex analysis; modeling; model road design to minimize construction costs under safety and environmental constraints; creating algorithms for computer-aided convex analysis; visualizing operators in 2D, 3D, and 4D.

Courses & Teaching: Optimization; data structures.

Marie-Pierre Milette | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | marie-pierre.milette@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Treatment planning optimization; treatment verification.

Christina Mjema | MSc Student | Computer Science | mjema@student.ubc.ca

Research Interests: Applied machine learning; Integration of explainable AI for enhanced transparency and reliability; risk mitigation in the oil and gas industry.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Software engineering; decision support systems (model driven and data driven); component-based software development; creative higher education.

Courses & Teaching: Computer fluency; computer creativity; programming; database systems; machine architecture; parallel computing.

Mostafa Mohamed, PhD | Lecturer | Computer Science | mostafa.mohamed@ubc.ca | SCI 200E

Research Interests: My interests span a broad range of areas including Software Development, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Automation, Embedded Systems, Data Science, the Internet of Things, Decision Support, Data Analytics, Big Data, Medical Image Processing, Parallel Processing, GPU Acceleration, and Cloud Computing. I am always eager to explore new fields and expand my horizons.

Courses & Teaching: COSC 111 101 2023W2 Computer Programming I COSC 301 101 2023W1 Introduction to Data Analytics COSC 305 101 2023W2 Project Management DATA 301 101 2023W2 Introduction to Data Analytics DATA 534 101 2023W2 Web and Cloud Computing COSC 448A 106 2023W2 Directed Studies in Computer Science COSC 304 101 2023S1 Introduction to Databases COSC 322 001 2023S1 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence DATA 553 001 2023W1 Privacy, Security and Professional Ethics

Mohamed Mohamed | Adjunct Professor | Computer Science | mohamed.abdelpakey@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Artificial intelligence, specifically deep learning in the domains of images and videos, as well as machine learning, computer vision, statistical methods, and embedded systems.

Joshua Y. Mutus | Adjunct Professor | Physics | jmutus@ubc.ca

Krystyna Mylostna | Research Associate | Medical Physics | krystyna.mylostna@ubc.ca | FIP 370

Research Interests: Image processing across radio astronomy and brain MRI; deep learning for quality assurance and white matter analysis; studies on multiple sclerosis and perivascular spaces.

Courses & Teaching: Thermodynamics

Apurva Narayan | Affiliate Professor | Computer Science, Data Science | apurva.narayan@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Artificial intelligence/machine learning with emphasis on explainable AI/ML and quantum machine learning; data mining; data analytics, safety and security of cyber physical systems; software engineering; graph theoretic analysis of complex systems; decision making under uncertainty.

Courses & Teaching: Machine learning; Data structures; Data mining and analytics; Software engineering.

Murray Neuman | Associate Professor Emeritus | Physics | murray.neuman@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Discrimination and separation of microscopic particles by optical and electromechanical methods; time series analysis; applications include possible development of new medical diagnostic methods based on physical sorting of different kinds of biological cells.

Courses & Teaching: Classical and quantum mechanics; optics; fluids; environmental physics.

Michael J Noonan | Assistant Professor | Biology, Sustainability (IGS), Statistics | michael.noonan@ubc.ca | SCI 379

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Animal movement, conservation, encounter theory, evolutionary processes, macro-ecology, and statistical ecology.

Courses & Teaching: Evolutionary Ecology (Biol 417); Statistical Modelling for Biological Data (Biol 520C); Spatial Statistics (DATA 589)

Anna Ordog | Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Physics | anna.ordog@ubc.ca

Parinda Rahman | MSc Student | Computer Science | parinda1@student.ubc.ca

Research Interests: Persuasive Technologies; Human-Computer Interaction; Behavioural Anlaytics; Machine Learning; Data Analysis.

Rasika Rajapakshe | Adjunct Professor | Computer Science, Medical Physics | rasika.rajapakshe@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Medical imaging; deep learning in medical imaging; web and mobile technologies in health care; health and medical imaging informatics; cancer risk modeling; decision support systems in oncology.

Courses & Teaching: PHYS 336, COSC 335. Introduction to medical imaging; medical imaging informatics; deep learning in medical imaging.

Bradley Rey | Computer Science | bradley.rey@ubc.ca

Tim Robishaw | Adjunct Professor | Astrophysics | tim.robishaw@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Magnetic fields, interstellar medium, radio astronomy, spectropolarimetry, molecular clouds and masers.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: o Empirical Software Engineering o Mining Software Repositories o Social aspects of Software Engineering o EDI in Software Engineering o Bug prediction and detection o Software maintenance and evolution o Open Source Software o Large Language Models

Courses & Teaching: o COSC 210 Software Construction (Winter 2023/2024), o COSC 310 Software Engineering (Winter 2023/2024), o DATA 531 Programming for Data Science (Fall 2023/2024), (Fall 2022/2023) o DATA 532 Algorithms and Data Structure (Fall 2023/2024), (Fall 2022/2023) o COSC 499 Capstone Software Engineering Project (Fall-Winter 2022/2023), (Fall-Winter 2021/2022)

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computer vision; video and image processing; intelligent cameras; biomedical applications; new algorithms for emerging industrial applications and software design of video surveillance systems.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Change point analysis; saddle point approximation; inverse moment approximation; k-sample inference, and cluster analysis.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Information geometry, topological data analysis, queueing theory and applications in telecommunication systems, random walks in quarter plane and applications in probability modeling.

Courses & Teaching: Recent teaching: Algebraic Number Theory, Abstract Algebra I & II, Stochastic Processes, Queueing Theory, Calculus (all levels), Topology, Algebraic Topology, Topological Data Analysis, Applied Probability, and many Directed Studies in different areas in Math.

Ladan Tazik | Data Science | ladan.tazik@ubc.ca

Tony Teke | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | tteke2@bccancer.bc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Monte Carlo modeling; 4 Pi treatment planning optimization and verification; 4D dose calculation; SBRT/SRS; quality assurance tests for trajectory treatments.

Research Interests: Nonparametric statistics, distance metric learning, clustering, change-point analysis; Applications to wildfire science, behavioural finance and climate finance.

Courses & Teaching: Advanced regression. Environmetrics.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Algebraic topology; calculus of functors and its applications to embeddings including knots and links; manifold calculus; homotopy theory; graph complexes

Courses & Teaching: Calculus; Matrix Algebra

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Mathematical biology and spatial ecology; mathematical models of ecological systems; the development and analysis of mathematical and computational models; cyclic predator-prey populations.

Courses & Teaching: Mathematical biology; partial differential equations; ordinary differential equations; numerical analysis.

Research Interests: General relativity; black holes; cosmology; string theory.

Courses & Teaching: Electromagnetic field theory; quantum mechanics; general relativity.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Mixture models; supervised and unsupervised learning; computational statistics and biostatistics.

Courses & Teaching: Statistics, data science.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Variational analysis; convex analysis; optimization; classical analysis; optimization applications in signal processing; statistics; communications.

Courses & Teaching: Optimization; analysis; calculus.

Mitchell Wiebe | MSc Student | Medical Physics | mitchell.wiebe@alumni.ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Combinatorics; discrete geometry; realization spaces of polytopes and matroids; interaction of problems in combinatorics with applied algebraic geometry and optimization; equiangular lines and combinatorial problems arising from applications to digital communications.

Eric Wright | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | Eric.Wright@bccancer.bc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Image-Guided RT; surface-guided RT; motion management in RT; quality control.

Jie Wu | Postdoctoral Research Follow | jie.jw.wu@ubc.ca

Yiwen Xu | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | yxu94@mail.ubc.ca

Research Interests: My research focus is on image processing for automation and cancer patient prognostic prediction with time series, image-based deep learning.

Courses & Teaching: Introduction to Medical Physics, Introduction to Medical Imaging and Imaging Informatics

Research Interests: Heterogeneous catalysis; functional surfaces; nano science; photocatalysis; air and water treatment.

Courses & Teaching: PHYS, DATA, STAT

Qiduan Yang | Associate Professor Emeritus | Mathematics | qiduan.yang@ubc.ca | 250.807.9540

Research Interests: Representations of symmetric and alternating groups; galois groups of polynomials; algebraic number theory.

Courses & Teaching: Calculus; linear algebra; abstract algebra.

Xinmin Yang | Honourary Affiliate | Mathematics | xmyang@cqnu.edu.cn

Research Interests: Convex analysis; optimization; variational analysis.

Courses & Teaching: Convex analysis; vector optimization; multiobjective optimization.

Congsong Zhang | PhD Student | Computer Science | congsong@mail.ubc.ca

Courses & Teaching: COSC 122-001

Yiqiang Zhao | Honourary Affiliate | Mathematics | yiqiang.zhao@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Block-structured Markov processes and matrix-analytic methods; censoring technique and factorizations; mean-field interaction modelling in networks; quasi-stationary behaviour; tail asymptotics and kernel methods.

Courses & Teaching: Advanced queues; queuing networks.

About Us

Contact & People

Find our people