Our instructors

Shahriyar Motahari

Shahriyar Motahari is a PhD student in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UBC, specializing in developing innovative technologies for the removal of emerging contaminants from water. Shahriyar also has a background in tutoring high school students, reflecting his passion for teaching and mentorship.

Soroush Nasseri

Dr. S. Soroush Nasseri is a biomedical engineer and researcher at the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering. Soroush's research focused on developing tools for the application of 3-D cell cultures for development and discovery of novel drugs.

Justin Newell

Justin Newell, art historian and artist, has lectured extensively on Western Painting, Sculpture and Architecture from 1300-1963, the Bible in Western Art, and the Greek Myths in Art. His lectures have been offered at UBC and local colleges, as well as aboard Elite Cruise Ships, where he is recognized as one of their top special interest speakers. He also conducts art history tours to Venice, Florence, Rome, Paris, London, and other art centres of the world, weaving his knowledge of history, art, political events, and famous sights into his presentations.

Lucia Nogacz

Lucia Helena Kouten Nogacz, MA, has close to 30 years’ experience teaching Portuguese language, literature and writing to learners of all ages in Brazil and Canada.

After earning her master’s degree in Portuguese language and literature, Lucia worked as a teacher and pedagogic programs coordinator at elementary and high schools in Brazil. She was also a pedagogic director at a preschool in Curitiba where she developed bilingual Portuguese-English projects.

In Canada, Lucia has worked as a language instructor at Berlitz Canada since 2010, and is accredited in Practical Teaching Techniques in speaking, listening, reading and writing from the same institution. She has taught several levels of Brazilian Portuguese classes to various ages and has prepared students for the Portuguese Language Proficiency Test (CELPE-BRAS). Lucia also has experience revising, translating and proofreading books and scholarly materials from Spanish and English to Portuguese.

Lucia was born in Curitiba, Brazil, and moved to Vancouver more than a decade ago. She reads books of a variety of genres daily, and has a passion for learning about Portuguese and English literature and languages.

Ryan Ollis

Rodolfo Ortiz

Joel Ostblom

Joel Ostblom, PhD, is a post-doctoral teaching fellow in the Master of Data Science program at UBC. Joel discovered his passion for data science and reproducibility while completing graduate work in developing quantitative image analysis pipelines for stem cell and biology research.

He has co-created or has been the lead developer of several courses and workshops at UBC and the University of Toronto. Joel regularly contributes to open source projects and data science learning resources to promote data literacy and share his enthusiasm for programmatic data analysis. Learn more about Joel.

Maria Palomares

Maria Lourdes "Deng" Palomares, PhD, is Senior Scientist and Manager of the Sea Around Us research initiative. With a background in computer science and aquatic data sciences, she has held leadership roles in global research institutions, including as a postdoctoral fellow at the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management and a database scientist for the FishBase project.

Dr. Palomares’ work focuses on biodiversity information systems and marine resource management. She has contributed extensively to global fisheries research and serves on editorial boards for marine science publications.

Maria Lourdes Palomares

Maria Lourdes "Deng" Palomares, PhD, is Senior Scientist and Manager of the Sea Around Us research initiative. With a background in computer science and aquatic data sciences, she has held leadership roles in global research institutions, including as a postdoctoral fellow at the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management and a database scientist for the FishBase project.

Dr. Palomares’ work focuses on biodiversity information systems and marine resource management. She has contributed extensively to global fisheries research and serves on editorial boards for marine science publications.

Sagar Pannu