Alumni Digest

Where the work begins

The article reports five takeaways from an alumni UBC MEDTalks session on lifelong brain health. The experts frame dementia risk as influenced by more than genetics, with midlife behaviour and the surrounding environment both relevant.

In the field

Social connection is one of the themes. The piece also points to modifiable factors and the idea that beneficial changes are not limited to one age bracket. These are educational points from a public discussion, not a personal diagnosis or treatment plan.

What follows

For an alumni audience, the connection is direct: staying mentally well is not only an individual project. It can involve relationships, habits, care and the communities that make those habits possible.

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As he prepares to graduate, Abdullah Naseer Ud Din reflects on how the community, intramural sports, and a donor supported-award shaped his sense of belonging at UBC Okanagan.

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Whether life handed them a challenge or an opportunity, these UBC grads pivoted and persevered.

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Four graduates make up the inaugural cohort of UBC Okanagan’s Bachelor of St’át’imc Language Fluency. The degree was built with community partners and follows earlier Interior Salish language programs at UBCO.

In the field

The source reports fewer than 50 fluent speakers in the northern St’át’imc area, making the cohort’s work part of a much larger effort to keep language in use. Graduates described applying what they learned in early-childhood education, at home and in continued study.

What follows

The story’s most durable image is not a credential alone. It is a circle of learners who supported one another across distance, then returned that learning to families and communities.

Where the work begins

Four graduates make up the inaugural cohort of UBC Okanagan’s Bachelor of St’át’imc Language Fluency. The degree was built with community partners and follows earlier Interior Salish language programs at UBCO.

In the field

The source reports fewer than 50 fluent speakers in the northern St’át’imc area, making the cohort’s work part of a much larger effort to keep language in use. Graduates described applying what they learned in early-childhood education, at home and in continued study.

What follows

The story’s most durable image is not a credential alone. It is a circle of learners who supported one another across distance, then returned that learning to families and communities.

Where the work begins

Winner of the 2026 alumni UBC Short Fiction Contest.

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More than a competition, this initiative celebrated the breadth and diversity of UBC graduates.

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Two UBC alumni career coaches turn post-graduation uncertainty into practical next steps.

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A practical career map for the weeks after graduation.

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The thrills and spills of the Science Week Tricycle Race.

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Novel modular construction using AI and robots can raise a 15-storey building in under a week.

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A UBC Okanagan researcher offers evidence-based ways to notice and respond to harmful patterns.

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For Pamely Keung, the test is whether steamed oat milk holds its foam over espresso without separating. As director of research and development at Earth’s Own, the double UBC alum works at the point where formulation, manufacturing and consumer experience meet.

In the field

The article describes years of trials to balance nutrition, taste, structure and reliable production. It also places that work in a wider university–industry relationship: research becomes useful when it can survive contact with a real process and a real customer.

What follows

The latte is the visible endpoint. Behind it are experiments, constraints and a chain of decisions that most drinkers never see.

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Research spanning a decade of wildfires reveals how eroding trust and Meta's Canadian news ban have changed where people turn for information during emergencies.

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UBC researchers find how diving insect larvae survive pressure that should collapse their air sacs.

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Newly identified minerals connect UBC researchers to the Earth’s interior.

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A landmark partnership between the Wet’suwet’en First Nation and UBC is pioneering a made-in-B.C. solution to the global plastic crisis, turning local forestry waste into biodegradable foam packaging.

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The final instalment of UBC Magazine’s Readers Write career series asks alumni to look backward without treating the past as a plan. Their stories include sport, design, food, science and other interests that reappeared after apparently unrelated work.

In the field

One contributor moved from competitive skiing through film production, sales and business development before finding a way back to sport. The value of the account is not a universal formula for career change; it is permission to notice which skills travelled with the detour.

What follows

A career can be nonlinear without being incoherent. Hindsight supplies the connective tissue, but the next move still has to be chosen in the present.

Where the work begins

UBC researchers are investigating and advocating for better housing outcomes across the country, including the development of some policy-ready tools that are helping governments respond to the affordability crisis with precision.

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An Allard Law student brings a UBC route to Jeopardy!’s Tournament of Champions.

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UBC co-op turns paid work terms into a bridge between coursework and BC’s innovation economy.

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Communities are shaping their public spaces into social places.

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And how a widening wealth gap is damaging democracy.

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A UBC creative-writing professor’s novel wins Canada Reads 2026.

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How donors helped UBC Softball compete against top programs in the United States—culminating in a milestone appearance at the NAIA World Series.

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Margo Jacobson’s sons created an award to celebrate their mother’s birthday and honour her career as an educator.

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Jordan MacKenzie’s team has created a bio-based alternative to single-use plastic.

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From the Pit Pub to the red carpet.

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How boulevard gardens can cultivate community.

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There’s no getting around it—you just have to get over it.

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Meet one of the minds behind Inspired Word Café, an Okanagan literary society that caters to the margins.

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Dictators must exit the stage.

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At UBC, Canadian Studies brings together diverse voices to explore identity, spark dialogue, and help shape the country’s future.

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The agar-based coating could help cut spoilage, food waste and reliance on refrigeration

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UBC alum Kim-Sa Ngo shares the urban delights and communal vibe of Denmark’s charming capital.

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CanopyFit brings heat, equity and physical barriers into the same question: where can a new tree do the most good?

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Cassidy Chen takes a UBC path into the image-making world.

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The pandemic has spawned a sewing surge and a chance to rediscover the practical arts.

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Which bird was nearly the UBC sports teams mascot before the name “Thunderbirds” was chosen?

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The pelt, held by the Smithsonian since 1859, is returning to the region connected to its history. Woolly dogs were bred by Salish and Makah peoples for hair used in weaving blankets, robes and clothing; the animals disappeared by the end of the nineteenth century.

In the field

The loan runs from September 2026 to August 2027. The source emphasizes that the object’s return is being shaped by community request and knowledge, including time for Elders, knowledge keepers and weavers before exhibition.

What follows

That sequence matters. A museum loan is not simply a transfer of an object. It can also be a chance to reconnect material, memory, territory and living practice.

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There may be no such thing, but Vancouver has shown the world an admirable model.

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It’s nothing new, says historian of media, and we can learn from the past.

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A detached house has long been the dream of homeownership, but community-oriented living is gaining traction.

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Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon reflects on transit and building a more connected region.

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There's a first time for everything. How much do you know about UBC's "firsts"?

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Targeted for completion in 2029, the accessible building will enhance Learning Exchange programs.

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UBC becomes legible in the small scenes people carry home.

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The first job is rarely the whole map.

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