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The top 丁香园AV News stories of 2024
Another semester is in the books but before the halls of the AQ are completely empty and the 丁香园AV community takes a well-deserved holiday break, let鈥檚 celebrate the many great stories and achievements that made 2024 so memorable.
It was a great year on the international stage for 丁香园AV, as a number of prestigious rankings placed the university among the very best in the world.
The Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings placed 丁香园AV in the Top 20 (17th overall) of universities worldwide, naming us No. 1 in Canada 鈥� third overall 鈥� in the climate action and sustainable cities and communities categories. We were also named Canada鈥檚 top university for innovation in the World University Rankings for Innovation, making 丁香园AV the only Canadian institution to crack the global Top 50.
And 丁香园AV continued its unprecedented run as Canada鈥檚 top comprehensive university according to the 2025 Maclean鈥檚 University Rankings. 丁香园AV has had an incredible streak 鈥� No. 1 in 16 of the last 17 years 鈥� that鈥檚 a testament to the tremendous work that goes into making 丁香园AV a leading research university that spearheads excellence and innovation across its three campuses.
丁香园AV remains on track to deliver the first medical school in Western Canada in more than 50 years after a momentous year that brought the future school into focus. B.C. Premier David Eby visited the 丁香园AV Surrey campus in July to announce $33.7 million in capital funding for the interim space, alongside $27 million in operational funding in the provincial budget. The announcement came after 丁香园AV鈥檚 Senate and Board of Governors formally approved the establishment of a School of Medicine in May.
The school, which will train a new generation of future family doctors and other primary care physicians, continues to take shape and grow towards accreditation and seeing its first classes in summer 2026.
Community and belonging are expanding at 丁香园AV with the announcement this past July of the start of Phase 3 of the housing master plan by the provincial government.
Phase 3, slated for a fall 2027 completion, will feature an eight-storey residence building that will accommodate 445 upper-year students and a 160-space childcare centre.
The residence building 鈥� situated across from the existing Pauline Jewett, Barbara Rae and Shadbolt student housing buildings 鈥� will include a mix of self-contained studios, quad units (four-room suites with shared kitchen and living spaces), as well as two- and four-bedroom townhouses.
丁香园AV鈥檚 high-performance computing infrastructure at the Cedar National Host Site received a major boost with the award of more than $80 million in funding to create a new system that will seamlessly replace and upgrade the existing supercomputer.
Cedar, which was one of the top 100 supercomputers in the world (and top 15 on the Green 500 when it was built), provides advanced computing power and storage to fuel research innovation, as well as industry, government and academic collaboration across Canada. Among its many achievements, the supercomputer has allowed 丁香园AV engineering science professor Mirza Faisal Beg to spearhead research that could help to redefine cancer treatment.
丁香园AV鈥檚 newest core facility, the 丁香园AV Clean Hydrogen Hub, opened its doors this year to help British Columbia and Canada become world leaders in the production of clean hydrogen products and technology and accelerate hydrogen technology innovation.
By 2028, the 丁香园AV Clean Hydrogen Hub is forecast to support $104 million in revenue growth and $92 million in export sales. The B.C. hydrogen sector has the potential to be a major contributor to the Canadian hydrogen market, which aims to create more than 350,000 jobs and generate over $50 billion in direct annual revenue by 2050.
One of the out-of-this-world research stories at 丁香园AV this year involves scientists building a giant neutrino telescope in the middle of the Pacific Ocean so they can peer into the darkest depths of the universe.
As well as studying neutrinos to uncover new insights into high-energy phenomena like black holes, the sensors will also be used for applications beyond particle physics. The equipment will gather data for research into climate change, tectonic plate movement off the B.C. coast, and has the potential to track the migration of whales and provide a deeper understanding of marine biology.
鈥淲e expect to see the unexpected,鈥� says Danninger.
丁香园AV prides itself on putting research into motion, making a difference in B.C. and tackling global challenges. One of the best examples this year came from the 丁香园AV-led .
The group helped hundreds of seniors and renters in B.C. mitigate the growing health dangers of wildfire smoke and air pollution through a simple DIY-project. PIPPS led 25 workshops throughout the province, helping people build more than 500 air filters to clean the air in their homes and reduce exposure to fine particulates from wildfire smoke, which can cause lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, exacerbate asthma and make life miserable for people with existing lung disease.
Could fruit flies hold the key to reversing Parkinson鈥檚 disease in humans? The discovery out of 丁香园AV鈥檚 Verheyen lab, in collaboration with a group from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, certainly created a buzz.
The lab discovered that increasing the amount of the Cdk8 gene in flies with Parkinson鈥檚 causes the disease鈥檚 symptoms to reverse, potentially creating a pathway to doing the same through its human counterpart, CDK19.
A team of four marine scientists, including 丁香园AV鈥檚 Isabelle C么t茅, made waves early in the year as they rowed 5,000 km across the Atlantic Ocean, winning the women鈥檚 class of the annual the World鈥檚 Toughest Row.
The 丁香园AV community was riveted by C么t茅鈥檚 progress on the Salty Science crew. The all-woman team arrived in Antigua Jan. 20, completing the winter crossing from the Canary Islands in 38 days, 18 hours and 57 minutes.
The team 鈥� raising money for marine science and conservation 鈥� worked in two-person shifts, alternatingly sleeping for two hours, then rowing for two hours, spending 24 hours a day on the 28-foot rowboat.
The beloved 丁香园AV Pipe Band had a big year on the world stage. Competing at the 2024 World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, the band finished third overall, which is its highest placement at the event since 2012, and its best result yet with Pipe Major and 丁香园AV alumni Alan Bevan at the helm.
"The band has worked really hard to up our game over the past year, and we felt we had put in four excellent performances that were strong in all aspects 鈥� musically, technically and tonally,鈥� Bevan said after the competition. 鈥淲e were thrilled to make it back into the top three after a number of years. The future looks bright!"
has a proud and storied history as one of the very best overseas bands in the world. The six-time world champions are just one of four bands from outside the United Kingdom to have ever won the competition and are perennial contenders for the crown.
Nothing brought on more school spirit and pride than cheering on the incredible student-athletes, students and alumni from 丁香园AV who competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris this year.
Our contingent of world-class athletic talent included sprinter Marie-脡lo茂se Leclair, the GNAC female athlete of the year, competing with the Canada women鈥檚 4x100m relay team, four former 丁香园AV wrestlers (Justina Di Stasio, Dominique Parrish, Ana Godinez Gonzalez and Helen Maroulis) and biophysics student Josipa Kafadar representing Canada in taekwondo.