Juliet Lu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forest Resources Management and the School for Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. She is a political ecologist focused on the implications of China’s growing investments in land and other resources in Southeast Asia and beyond. Dr. Lu’s research examines conflicts and governance issues around resource extraction and intensive land use. She focuses on transnational land investments, namely Chinese rubber plantations in Laos, the promotion of monoculture plantations at the expense of more biodiverse systems, and the rise of private sector sustainable governance initiatives worldwide.
Dr. Cristiano Loss is an Associate Professor of Sustainable Structural Systems in the Department of Wood Science at the University of British Columbia. He also serves as the Associate Chair of the Wood Building Design and Construction cluster, an initiative established in 2005 by the Government of British Columbia with the mandate to implement a world-class interdisciplinary research and education program in BC and beyond.
Dr. Loss is internationally recognized for his contributions at the interface of structural engineering, timber engineering, and hybrid structural systems. His research has advanced the development of high-performance timber and steel–timber composite systems, innovative structural connectors, and displacement-based seismic design approaches for modern mass timber and hybrid buildings.
He collaborates extensively with government agencies, industry partners, and interdisciplinary research networks in Canada and abroad. At UBC, he leads the Sustainable Engineered Structural Solutions Laboratory (SESS Lab), where he trains graduate students and works with academic and research partners to develop innovative solutions that advance sustainable and resilient building technologies.
Research Interests
Mass timber technologies
Hybrid timber–steel systems
Composite timber-based structures
Low-carbon prefabricated construction methods
Smart building technologies
Advanced structural testing
AI-driven structural design and modelling
Seismic design and displacement-based methodologies
Sustainable structural engineering
Performance-based design
Research Summary
Dr. Loss’s research focuses on developing next-generation, carbon-neutral structural systems and performance-based design approaches for multi-story buildings. His work bridges three main areas: (i) high-performance structural systems, (ii) advanced modeling and experimental testing methods, and (iii) parametric design and AI-driven manufacturing. A central theme of his research is hybrid steel-timber systems—including high-performance shear walls, composite floors, and large-grid structures—that enable efficient prefabrication, rapid assembly, and enhanced serviceability. Through experimental and computational studies, he develops design methodologies that support broader adoption of mass timber and hybrid systems in both residential and non-residential construction. By leading large interdisciplinary grants and international collaborations, Dr. Loss contributes to the development of design frameworks that reduce carbon emissions, enhance structural resilience, and advance construction industry innovation through new materials, connection technologies, and construction processes.
Teaching
Dr. Loss teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in wood mechanics, timber structural design, and hybrid structural systems, including WOOD 282, CIVL 439, and CIVL 516. He also developed and instructs UBC’s Hybrid Timber Construction Micro-Certificate, which provides professional training on design strategies for hybrid timber systems across a range of building types.
His teaching emphasizes active learning, paired with a flipped-classroom model, where students engage deeply with technical content through applied exercises, project-based work, and interaction with industry case studies. His teaching practice is informed by continual pedagogical training through UBC’s Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology.
Dr. Minghao Li leads an internationally recognized research program in structural timber engineering, with a focus on the structural performance, seismic resilience, and sustainability of mass timber and timber–hybrid buildings. His work advances the scientific foundations and design methodologies that enable mid- and high-rise timber structures to achieve reliable, code-compliant, and damage-controlled performance in high seismic regions.
Through integrated experimental testing, advanced numerical modelling, and standards development, Dr. Li’s research has contributed directly to the modernization of timber design provisions. Findings from his group have been incorporated into national design standards and implemented in mid-rise and high-rise timber building projects, bridging the gap between research innovation and professional practice.
Dr. Li plays an active leadership role in national and international standards and scientific communities. He serves on Canadian Standards Association committees CSA O86 (Engineering Design in Wood) and CSA O122 (Structural Glued-Laminated Timber), represents Canada on ISO/TC165 (Timber Structures), and contributes to the global timber research community through the World Conference on Timber Engineering. He is an Editorial Board Member of the Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering and has served as Guest Editor for special issues of Engineering Structures and Structures (Elsevier).
Research Areas
Value-added innovation using reclaimed and under-utilized wood
Capacity-based seismic design of mass timber structures
High-performance timber connections and lateral load-resisting systems
Performance-based and displacement-based seismic design
Dr. Neil Leveridge is a distinguished Communication Strategist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Wood Science, Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship at UBC. With an extensive background in academia, he has previously held lecturer positions at Vantage College, UBC, National Taiwan Normal University, and Da Yeh University, Taiwan. Dr. Leveridge is currently dedicated to indigenizing his courses and revolutionizing assessment and communication practices for forestry practitioners, with a focus on decolonization.
As an active contributor to the field, Neil holds the esteemed position of President of BC Teachers of English as Additional Languages (BC TEAL). Demonstrating his leadership, he recently chaired the BC TEAL 2023 conference, which attracted over 500 delegates and was proudly hosted by the Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship, UBC.
Vincent’s primary interests lie in the secondary/value-added areas within the Wood Products program. With a strong foundation in both theoretical knowledge and practical experience, Vincent specializes in wood product processing, advanced computer-aided drawing, computer-aided machining, and CNC manufacturing. His teaching philosophy centres around the belief that theoretical knowledge should be supplemented with hands-on experience, ensuring that students gain a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. Vincent is particularly interested in advanced wood processing and machining, an area that offers significant cost and production benefits to the secondary wood industry through its advanced technology.
Spatial analyses models and methods to provide information up to larger spatial scales or down to local scales
Imputation methods (nearest neighbour, model-based, etc.) for integrating multivariate and multi-source forest inventory information at one time and over time
Developing methods to link growth and yield models with forest inventory data for forest level analyses
Estimation of regeneration following partial cutting using overstory and ecological information using model-based and distribution-free methods
Developing measures of structural diversity, including indices that combine spatial, species, and size heterogeneity
Spatial analyses of tree spatial patterns over time using parameter prediction within a mixed-effects modelling framework
Tree taper, volume, crown length, and leaf area models using nonlinear mixed-effects models
Estimating tree internal decay using tobit, distribution-free, and other estimators
Modelling changes in tree taper and shape over time
Spatio-temporal analyses of plants and animals
Meta-analysis of field experimental data for impacts of spacing and other silvicultural prescriptions
Meta-analysis of published information for genetic impacts on growth at the stand-level
Teaching:
I teach courses in forest biometrics and forest measurements including: introductory and advanced forest measurements; information and data for forest management and conservation; advanced modelling using mixed-effects linear, nonlinear, and generalized linear models; applied multivariate analyses; and experimental design and analysis using a model-based approach. I have developed workshops on most of these topics, including one-day workshops on tree and stand measurements to obtain a estimate of volume, biomass, and carbon per ha for a small area.
Awards
Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship Killam Teaching Award 2004 Nominated for Graduate Students Mentoring Award 2004 Faculty of Graduate Studies Killam Teaching Award 2011
As an Educational Leadership faculty member, I have a large portfolio of undergraduate teaching responsibilities as well as advanced projects to improve teaching across UBC. I have provided training workshops to partner organizations and post-secondary institutions in four different countries, in addition to my work with UBC’s Centre for Teaching and Learning Technology (CTLT).
In pedagogy research, I have focused on best practices in experiential learning, including the assessment of ‘novelty space’ and the use of reflective writing as a means for assessment of affective domain learning objectives.
My past research has examined the effects of logging in high elevation and low elevation forests on carabid beetle communities and species. I am particularly interested in how ecological pressures can shift the investment of resources in insects. Reproductive and somatic changes may be tangible long before declines in population sizes are noted, driving species to change life history patterns.
I am also interested in the pedagogical inquiry into affective domain learning of students engaged in experiential learning. My involvement with the CONS 451 field school has demonstrated the diversity and depth of learning that is possible in experiential learning, but there remains some disagreement in pedagogical literature as to the benefits of experiential learning across the spectrum of learning environments.
This year, I launched a new field school, CONS 453, which examines the impact of conservation and forest resources management on the livelihoods of people and the vast biodiversity of India. In this 6 credit course, students are given two weeks of pre-trip instruction before they spend three weeks abroad in India.
We travel to both North and South India to meet with forestry practitioners, researchers, and local people to learn about the complexities of conservation and forest management.
Projects
BC Invertebrates at Risk Recovery Team
I am currently engaged in small projects in collaboration with the BC Invertebrates at Risk Recovery Team, working on the enumeration of newly-discovered Taylor’s Checkerspot butterflies and Oregon Forestsnail populations in British Columbia.
My main research interests are in the development of fundamental knowledge on the performance of solid sawn timber, wood-based composites, and engineered wood systems. The aim is to qualify performance and apply the developed basic knowledge to improve the utilization of structural wood products by addressing issues relevant to the forest products industries in the field of timber engineering and wood-based composites mechanics.
Specific interests include:
Modeling the interacting influence of wood fiber geometry and orientations on the physical and strength properties of wood based composites through the applications of stochastic theory, engineering mechanics, finite element methods, and robot-based forming systems.
Use of fiber reinforcement to enhance the performance of wood products.
Modeling and testing of timber components and structures subject to seismic and other loadings.
Development of random field model to study the within member variation of strength properties in lumber.
Establishing in-grade based test data to evaluate mechanical properties of wood products.
Development of advance grading techniques to improve strength predictions of lumber.
Reliability-based evaluation of performance.
Projects
Strategic Network on Innovative Wood Products and Building Systems
NSERC
Reliability of Timber Structure Under Seismic Loading
NSERC
Performance of structural composite lumber
Various Companies
Size effect adjustment factor of glulam
NRCAN Value to Wood
Development of Technology for Cross Laminate Timber Building Systems
FII program
Study of production of laminae and performance of laminated structural products from BC coastal hemlock
FII program
Structural Performance of Japanese Post and Beam Shear Wall Systems
CanadaWood
Awards
L.J. Markwardt Wood Engineering Award, Forest Products Society – for distinguished contribution to the knowledge of wood as an engineering material and to the enhancement of the efficient utilization of this renewable resource 1999 Japan Science and Technology Agency (STA) Research Fellowship, Government of Japan Science and Technology Agency 2001
Linking soil science research with teaching along with community involvement to create educational environment where students can actively engage in ‘real-world’ problems
Combining soil science concepts and the impact of humans on soil properties and processes in crop, grassland, and forest ecosystems
Exploring the role of soil in addressing some of the existential global sustainability challenges we are facing
Projects
Improving on-farm woody habitat management in the lower Fraser River Delta Completed March, 2013 – April, 2015
BC Agricultural Research & Development Corporation
Terrestrial Research on Ecosystems and World-wide Education & Broadcast Current January, 2011 – December, 2016
Demonstrating Long-term Improvements in Soil Productivity on Delta Farmland Current March, 2015 – March, 2020
BC Investment Agriculture Foundation
Improving on-farm drainage management to reduce the impacts of climate change in Delta, BC Completed August, 2015 – August, 2017
BC Farm Adaptation Innovator Program
Long-term impacts of biosolids application on soil quality and vegetation at the OK Ranch, Jesmond, BC Completed April, 2016 – March, 2017
Metro Vancouver
Soil productivity as impacted by grassland set-asides Current January, 2016 – February, 2020
MITCAS
Digging In: An Educational Tool Promoting Science Citizenship for the Introduction to Soil Science Course Completed April, 2016 – March, 2017
TLEF
Awards
UBC Open Education Resource Champion 2019
BCcampus Award for Excellence in Open Education 2018
3M National Teaching Fellow of the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) 2016
Outstanding Associate Editor of Natural Sciences Education journal by the American Society of Agronomy – Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America 2016
Platinum AVA Digital Award, Information Experience for SOILx project 2015
Platinum MARCOM Award for SOILx project 2014
Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE) Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Integration of Technology 2014
Quarry Life Award (3rd place) 2014
Mentoring Award by the Association for Women Soil Scientists, Soil Science Society of America 2013
Soil Science for Society Award by the Canadian Society of Soil Science 2012
CNIE Award of Merit, Graphic Design 2012
CNIE Award of Excellence in the Innovation, Web Design category 2011
CNIE Award of Merit in the Media Festival 2009
Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada (AMTEC) Award of Merit 2007
Canadian Association for Distance Education (CADE) Award for Excellence in Partnership and Collaboration 2007
North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Teaching Award of Merit 2006
My research and teaching interests revolve around sustainable business management practices and issues and providing solutions to complex problems related to sustainable development, forestry, wood products and the emerging conservation economy.
Current research interests include:
forest-dependent communities in transition
international development and poverty alleviation
forest governance
community forests and decentralization
value-added strategies
forest certification and corporate social responsibility
forest sector sustainability and competitiveness
marketing, management and consumer behaviour
NOTE: I am currently not accepting new graduate students or postdoctoral fellows.
Projects
Enhancing Effectiveness of Community Forest Enterprises SSHRC Insight Grant
Exploring Climate Action Pathways towards a Broader, Deeper Social Mandate for a Net-Zero Carbon Economy MITACS Elevate Grant
Charting New Pathways to Achieving Recognitional Justice in Urban Greening SSHRC Insight Grant (Co-Investigator)
