Alumni Profiles
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Building kids’ STEM confidence starts at home, alum says
“There’s this perception that kids that are good at maths and science are nerdy or uncool,” says alum Ramita Anand. “But I try to help kids understand that all life is science and that failure is part of learning. Hypotheses may have gone wrong—so you thought this friendship was a good one, but… read more
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Alum pushing for truly global fisheries science
When Dr. Myriam Khalfallah arrived in Vancouver from Tunisia in 2013, she had just earned a bachelor’s degree as an agronomic engineer specializing in fisheries and environment at the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT), the University of Carthage. She visited UBC in hopes of… read more
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Alum Nishal Kumar wastes no days
Nishal Kumar ran into a problem in the summer of 2017. He was tackling North Vancouver’s three-kilometre, leg-burning Grouse Grind mountain trail a few times a week—but noticed if he’d had just a couple of drinks containing alcohol the night before, he didn’t feel in top… read more
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Biophysics alum welcomes the volunteer chain reaction
For alum Aminollah (Amin) Sabzevari, science has led to a career in law—which eventually wound its way back to the Point Grey campus. As an undergraduate, Sabzevari (BSc Honours, 2008) studied biophysics. But as he drew closer to graduation, a general interest in health became more… read more
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Chemistry alum gets a positive reaction to debut novel
Dr. Emily Seo compares publishing her first book to earning a PhD degree—you start off with research, learn as much as you can, then keep moving forward until you hit a block and have to solve a puzzle. She’s been successful at both ventures, graduating from UBC Chemistry with her… read more
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Award-winning alumna on making volunteering sustainable
As 2022 drew to a close, Rishika Selvakumar (BSc 2022) was awarded the B.C. Medal of Good Citizenship in recognition of her dedication and selfless service to her community—which includes UBC. When Selvakumar entered UBC Science in 2019 she continued the mental health advocacy volunteer… read more
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A disaster researcher’s career path is lined with rocks
Mika McKinnon loves rocks. It’s a trait she seems to have passed on to her toddler who likes to pick up rocks and give them to strangers as a way of making friends. Rocks line what McKinnon calls her “nonlinear career path”—including what could have been a bumpy… read more
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Fisheries alumna hooked on salmon research
Salmon lead a life of mystery on the open ocean—the years between leaving their birth rivers and returning to spawn. Most of the 10 to 20 per cent of smolts that make it to the ocean will not survive, but scientists don’t know what’s killing them. "It’s kind of a black… read more
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UBC grad student is helping underrepresented youth get into STEM
Shawna Narayan (BSc ‘18) is the founder of Empower the Future, a non-profit that helps marginalized youth overcome post-secondary challenges. Empower the Future recently won Surrey's Civic Distinction Award. She discusses how her own experiences shaped her efforts to reach out to inner-city… read more
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Eye of the storm: Atmospheric chemist talks fieldwork and diversity in STEM
Dr. Emily V. Fischer (BSc ‘02) got hooked on atmospheric science early. Now she teaches at Colorado State University.Can you tell us a bit about your research?I study non-traditional sources of air pollution, such as wildfires, oil and gas development, and agriculture. In 2018 I led a big field… read more