From ideas to impact
Concordia jumped to the forefront of disseminating knowledge to the public when it introduced Spectrum, its open-access digital repository, in 2010. The resource unlocks access to decades of faculty and graduate-student research, including theses, dissertations, articles, conference papers and more, dating back to 1970.
Learn about some of the award-winning and thought-provoking PhD theses from each decade, all available on Spectrum.
1980 Leo W. Bertley, PhD 80: The Universal Negro Improvement Association of Montreal, 1917-1979, history; supervisor: Cameron Nish. Bertley’s thesis examined the significant role in promoting social, educational and cultural activities among Black Montrealers played by the Montreal division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
1993 Eric R. Gedajlovic, MBA 88, PhD 93: A cross-national study of corporate governance, strategy and firm performance, administration; supervisor: Jean B. McGuire. Gedajlovic used crosssectional data from 1,030 international firms over the 1985-90 fiscal years.
2002 Cynthia Imogen Hammond, MA 96, PhD 02: Wings, Gender and Architecture: Remembering Bath, England, humanities; supervisor: Janice Helland. Hammond, now a Concordia professor of art history, won the 2002 Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal. In her thesis, she uncovers women’s influence on Bath’s 19th-century architecture.
2011 Aidin Mehdipour, PhD 11: Advanced Carbon-Fiber Composite Materials for Shielding and Antenna Applications, electrical and computer engineering; supervisors: Christopher W. Trueman and Abdel R. Sebak. Mehdipour won the 2011 Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal and the 2012 Doctoral Prize in Engineering and Computer Science and Concordia University Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Prize in Engineering and Natural Sciences. His research investigates the electromagnetic properties of carbon composite as a lighter and stronger alternative to aluminum as a shield against electromagnetic radiation on modern aircraft.
2023 Gabrielle Mandl, BSc 17, PhD 23: On the Development of Praseodymium- Doped Radioluminescent Nanoparticles and Their Use in X-ray Mediated Photodynamic Therapy of Glioblastoma Cells, chemistry; supervisor: John Capobianco. Mandl won the 2024 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award for mathematics, physical sciences and engineering, and the 2024 IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemists. Her PhD research focused on designing radioluminescent nanoparticles for use in an emerging cancer treatment and demonstrated how, when combined with the molecule protoporphyrin IX, they could help destroy glioblastoma cells.