Faculty of Science

About Faculty of Science

The Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is a major academic division located on the university's Point Grey campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1964 as a distinct faculty following the reorganization of the Faculty of Arts and Science, the institution provides undergraduate and graduate degree programs in various scientific disciplines. As an integral component of UBC, the Faculty operates within the public university system of British Columbia and aligns its academic standards with the quality assurance frameworks established by the provincial Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. The faculty serves a large student population through Bachelor of Science (BSc), Master of Science (MSc), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree pathways.

Academic offerings within the Faculty of Science are organized across nine primary departments and several specialized institutes. These departments include Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Mathematics, Microbiology and Immunology, Physics and Astronomy, Statistics, Zoology, and the Botany department. Through these divisions, the faculty delivers specialized coursework and interdisciplinary majors, such as Environmental Sciences, Data Science, Biophysics, and Integrated Sciences. The academic structure allows students to pursue specialized research streams, combined majors, or double majors that cross traditional scientific boundaries, providing structured foundational education in quantitative analysis, experimental laboratory methods, and theoretical science.

The campus facilities supporting the Faculty of Science encompass specialized research laboratories, lecture halls, computer labs, and collaborative study spaces distributed across multiple buildings on the Vancouver campus. Key infrastructure includes the Earth Sciences Building, the Chemistry Complex, the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, and the Beaty Biodiversity Centre, which houses the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and extensive biological research collections. Students and researchers also utilize facilities such as the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences and the TRIUMF national particle accelerator centre, located on the south campus, which provides access to subatomic physics research infrastructure through institutional partnerships.

Research initiatives within the faculty cover foundational and applied sciences, supported by research funding from Canadian federal granting agencies, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and various provincial and private sector partnerships. Academic strengths encompass quantum materials, biodiversity and ecology, climate science, data science and artificial intelligence, structural biology, and theoretical mathematics. Faculty members and affiliated researchers contribute to peer-reviewed scientific literature, maintain long-term observational data sets, and participate in international scientific collaborations addressing environmental, computational, and physical science challenges.

In addition to traditional classroom instruction and laboratory training, the Faculty of Science offers structured experiential learning options, including a Science Co-operative Education program. The Co-op program integrates paid work terms with full-time employers in technology, government, healthcare, and industrial sectors into the academic curriculum, extending the degree timeline to provide practical industry experience. The faculty also supports undergraduate research opportunities through supervised directed studies projects, summer research awards, and specialized laboratory placements, enabling students to participate in ongoing empirical studies prior to completing their undergraduate degrees.