All BPI researchers are invited to participate in the BPI Research Day Poster Competition on May 2nd. This event serves as a celebration of their dedication and passion, providing an opportunity to showcase excellence on a larger stage. The aim is to inspire continuous refinement of communication skills, ensuring that the impact of research resonates effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
Eligibility
- Students and postdocs who work within or collaborate with BPI research groups can apply.
Topics
- Presentation topics should align with BPI research themes.
- Ensure that your presentation is not a broad overview of your research team; instead, concentrate on a specific research or applied research area where you are actively engaged. Highlight a significant outcome or work in progress, demonstrating its impact on society. The outcome doesn't have to be physical; it should, however, exhibit a tangible or conceptual contribution to the betterment of society.
Poster Presentation Guidelines
- Format: Print your poster in either 3’W x 4’H or 4'W x 3'H format. It's acceptable to reuse an existing poster if the dimensions are slightly different.
- Setup: Poster boards and thumb tacks will be provided. Please arrive by 9:45 AM, and mount your poster on the designated poster board by 10:00 AM.
- Presentation: Participants will be divided into two groups and will present during either Poster Session A or B.
- Stamp Rally: Pick up a stamp at the check-in and give a stamp to your visitors. When you are not presenting, you can visit other presenters to collect 15+ stamps and enter the prize draw.
Judges
- Judge Coordinators: Barb Conway, Michael Liu
- Industry Partners: Hooman Rezaei, Jim Wearing, Marcelo Mora, Yitzac Goldstein, Keith Gourlay, Yale Zhu, Iain Begg,
- UBC Faculty: Nigel Fisher, Haibo Feng, Joseph Dahmen, Kwang Ho Kim, Qingshi Tu, Tao Huan, Scott Renneckar, Feng Jiang
- UBC Staff: Fahimeh Panah, Kyra Laverdiere, Titichai Navessin, Daniela Vargas Figueroa, Ayako Takagi, Behzad Zakani
- UBC Researchers: Hana Mohammadi, Bill Cheng, Jianan Yin, Wenbo Chen, Saeedreza Zahabi, Jongjit Chalitangkoon, Penghui Zhu, Elaheh Ghasemi, Kudzanai Nyamayaro
- EDI.I Judges: Qingshi Tu, Ayako Takagi, Daniela Figueroa, Titichai Navessin, Behzad Zakani, Wenbo Chen
Judging Criteria
Best Poster Awards
- Content & Impact (25%)
- Relevance: Aligns with BPI’s scope and addresses well defined challenges
- Impact: Highlights potential benefits for science, society, environment, and/or industry
- Originality: Demonstrates innovative and novel approaches
- Clarity: Clearly states purpose, progress, and outcomes
- Design & Accessibility (25%)
- Accessibility: Effective display of science and technology, understandable to audiences both within and external to the specific research field
- Design Quality: Creativity and quality of poster layout and design that enhances the message
- Communication Skills (25%)
- Concept Explanation: Ability to clearly and effectively communicate complex concepts to both scientific and general audiences
- Body Language: Effective use of body language, including eye contact, vocal variety, and gestures
- Confidence and Enthusiasm: Knowledge of and enthusiasm about the research and its impacts
- Engagement & Professionalism (25%)
- Interaction: Ability to address judges' questions and engage in discussions
- Professionalism: Professional demeanor in hosting visitor
*Participants will be assessed based on the effectiveness of their communication, not on language fluency, to ensure a fair evaluation for everyone, regardless of their native language.
EDI.I Excellence Award
- Impact: Show your research's potential for significant contributions to advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigeneity
- Community Engagement: Demonstrate your strategies for meaningful community engagement in your research process, addressing inclusivity across gender, race, age, cultural backgrounds, Indigenous communities, or underrepresented groups
- Data Collection & Analysis: Highlight how your data collection mitigates biases, and your analysis and reporting processes take diversity factors into account
- Accessible Dissemination: Present your findings in formats accessible to all, using inclusive language and clearly explaining technical terms, while acknowledging contributions from diverse groups
Prizes
- Best Poster Awards : Three winners will each receive a $500 travel and education award (for conference or course registration) plus a $100 Visa gift card.
- EDI.I Excellence Award : One winner will receive a $500 travel and education award plus a $100 Visa gift card.
- People's Choice Award : One audience favorite from each session (two in total) will receive a $100 Visa gift card.
Timeline
- 09:45 AM - 10:00 AM Poster Setup
- 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Coffee & Mingle
- 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM Welcome & BPI Update
- 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Poster Session - Group A
- 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM Networking lunch
- 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM Poster Session - Group B (Lunch continues)
- 01:30 PM - 02:00 PM Keynote Presentations
- 02:00 PM - 02:10 PM Award Ceremony & Closing
- 02:10 PM - 02:30 PM Cleanup
Poster List
- Posters are listed in the order of poster numbers. Please remember your poster number for mounting your poster on the corresponding poster board.
- Group A presents from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM and Group B from 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
- All presenters will be evaluated for the Best Poster Award
- Posters marked with an asterisk (*) are also evaluated for the EDI.I Excellence Award.
Group A |
| A-1 Maddie Shen, Master's Student - From Bark to a Natural, Durable, High-Performance Cladding Product |
| A-2* Gio Ferson Bautista, PhD Student - Association of Alginates With Western Redcedar Proanthocyanidins for Colloidal Stabilization |
| A-3 Alexandra Rousseau, PhD Student - Electrochemical TEMPO-Mediated Oxidation of Cellulose Nanocrystals |
| A-4 Qingyuan Bian, PhD Student - Engineering High-Performance Fibers from Tandem Repeat Globular Proteins |
| A-5 Farhad Ahmadijokani, Postdoc - Renewable Materials as Substrates for UiO-66-NH₂ Metal-Organic Frameworks |
| A-6 Emilie Payment, Master's Student - Connecting the Atmospheric Ice Nucleating Activity of Lignin to Its Physicochemical Properties to Better Predict Biomass Burning Organic Aerosols’ Cloud Formation |
| A-7* Amanda Ackroyd, PhD Student - Confinement of Cellulose Nanocrystals With Dual Anchoring Conditions |
| A-8 Andras Szeitz, PhD Student - Developing a Volatilome Detection Platform for Functional Metagenomic Screening |
| A-9* Mahyar Panahi, PhD Student - Liquid Printing in Nanochitin Suspensions: Interfacial Nanoparticle Assembly Toward Volumetric Elements, Organic Electronics and Core–Shell Filaments |
| A-10 Nannaphat Sukkasam, Postdoc - Integrated High-Throughput Screening via an In-House Automated Lighting System and Scalable Bioreactor Cultivation for Sustainable Carbon Capture and Bioproduct Production via Cyanobacteria and Microalgae |
| A-11* Nicholas Lin, Postdoc - Acoustic Insulation Properties of Mycelium Biocomposites |
| A-12* Elena Erfanian, Postdoc - Fabrication and Characterization of Charred Wood-Enhanced PLA Filaments for FDM 3D Printing |
| A-13* Cassidy Ball, Master's Student - Identifying and Characterizing Bacteriophages to Control Bacterial Blight in Relation to Highbush Blueberry Plants |
| A-14* Tianyi Jin, Master's Student - Development of Multifunctional Washing Solutions for Reducing Pesticide Residuals and Postharvest Losses in Fresh Produce |
| A-15 Peijin Jiang, Master's Student - SolarScope: A Computer Vision and Material Flow Analysis Model for Urban Mining of Distributed Solar Panels Using Satellite Imagery |
| A-16 Qi Hua, Postdoc - Superior Lignin From Bioprocessing of Biomass for Functional 3D Printing Filaments |
| A-17 Megan Wolf, PhD Student - Characterization of a Cytochrome P450 That Catalyzes the O-Demethylation of Lignin-Derived Benzoates |
| A-18 Maria Lauren, Undergrad Student - Biocompatible DES-Assisted One-Pot Mechanochemical Conversion of Biomass |
| A-19* Jinsheng Gou, Visiting Associate Professor - Sustainable Packaging Foam for a Greener Future |
| A-20 Xiaopeng Peng, Visiting Associate Professor - Genetic Improvement of Wood Properties and Paper Qualities Modified by GM-Nanocellulose |
| A-21* Praven Kamalanathan, Master's Student - Hybridization of Metal-Organic Frameworks in Cellulosic Foams |
| A-22 Kevin Oesef, PhD Student - Enhancing Cellulose Nanofibril Compatibility with Epoxy Resins through a Water-Based Surface Hydrophobization Strategy |
| A-23* Adel Jalaee, PhD Student - Valorization of Sawdust for Advanced Applications |
Group B |
| B-1* Maria Andrea Ortiz Medrano, PhD Student - Optimizing Inorganic Oxides and Biopolymer Composite Films for Battery Applications |
| B-2* Cecilia Cancellara, PhD Student - Tannic Acid-Coated Cellulose Nanocrystals: Surface Chemistry and its Role in Dispersibility and Adsorption |
| B-3* Lukas Bauman, Postdoc - Waste to Wells |
| B-4 Yota Neagari, Visiting Researcher - Electro-Switchable Cellulose Nanocrystal Films for Functional Optical Applications |
| B-5* Faye Hajiali, Postdoc - Advancing Adsorbent Discovery for Carbon Capture through Machine Learning |
| B-6 Huayu Liu, PhD Student - Green and Sustainable Wet Spinning of Cellulose Fibers |
| B-7 Adam Wu, Postdoc - High Moisture Barrier Using Hydrophobic Lignin-Based Structured Coatings |
| B-8 Zirui Tang, Master's Student - Developing Automated Methods for Life Cycle Inventory Modeling and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Generation |
| B-9 Chaochao Tian, PhD Student - A Deep Eutectic Solvent With Bifunctional Acid Sites Treatment to Upgrade a Bamboo Kraft Pulp Into a Cellulose-Acetate Grade Dissolving Pulp |
| B-10* Kalen Dofher, PhD Student - Trans Methylation-Dependent Transformation of Sodalinema yuhuli Using Broad Host Range Cyanobacterial Plasmids |
| B-11 Cynthia Truong, Undergrad Student - All-Cellulose Composite – A Promising Alternative to Plastic |
| B-12 Zhixin Huang, Master's Student - Functionalized Lignin Derivatives as Melt-Spinnable Precursors for Carbon Fiber Production Without Stabilization |
| B-13* Danish Hakim, Undergrad Student - Cellulose for Sight: Bacterial Cellulose for Artificial Stromas |
| B-14 Alexandre Babin, PhD Student - Microwave-Assisted Catalytic Pyrolysis of Biomass in a Pilot Fluidized Bed Reactor |
| B-15 Camryn Collette, Master's Student - Enhancing Performance and Evaluating Biodegradability of Bamboo-Based Molded Pulp Food Packaging |
| B-16* Anderson Veiga, PhD Student - Restoring Cellulose-Like Characteristics to Iron Oxide-Labelled Pulp Fibers Through Surface Crystallization of Cello-Oligosaccharides |
| B-17 Daniel Barker-Rothschild, PhD Student - Developing High-Performance Lignin-Based Carbon: From Traditional to Emerging Approaches |
| B-18 Lucas Andrew, PhD Student - Nanoengineered by Nature: Supercapacitor Electrode Materials From Self-Assembled Cellulose Nanocrystal Aerogels |
| B-19 Julia Desbiens, Master's Student - Waste to Wonders: Characterization of Komagataeibacter spp. for Directed Waste Feedstock Valorization and Biomaterial Production |
| B-20* Marianelly Esquivel Alfaro, PhD Student - From Waste to Healing: Developing Hybrid Biomaterials From Pineapple and Shrimp Byproducts |
| B-21* Dana Montoya, Undergrad Student - Appearance and Material Properties of Mycelium Biocomposites are Influenced by Lignocellulosic Substrate |
| B-22* Tina Raeisi Gahrooee, PhD Student - Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)-Reinforced Chitosan-Nanochitin: Robust Adsorbent for Copper Removal |
| B-23 Elizabeth Dobrzanski, PhD Student - Flame Resistance of Wood Foams via a Sacrificial Oxidized Tannic Acid Coating |
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at contact.bpi@ubc.ca. Thank you.
