University of British Columbia

This course examines the history of imperial and colonial archaeology in the nineteenth and twentieth century, and the ways in which archaeological extraction often went hand-in-hand with the European and North American imperial or colonial ventures. It covers the artefacts that arrived in museums as a result of these ventures and what that says about our current “encyclopedic” style of museum that purports to share knowledge of the world yet is also a testament to western intervention in Indigenous societies at home and in other parts of the world. 

This course examines physical principles involved in biological systems at the microscopic and molecular scales. It covers diffusion, low Reynolds number dynamics, the physicist's view of biomolecular structure, models of molecular motors and membranes.

This course examines the vast world of visualizing the city and ways of representing the built environment, including how to both interpret and use visualizations to read the city.

This course examines ancient and historic societies in the North American Arctic and Greenland, with emphasis on Pre-Dorset and Dorset (Paleo-Inuit), ancestral Inuit (Thule), and historic Inuit peoples. It covers the region’s culture history, how diverse societies emerged in challenging environments, and the analytical challenges specific to northern archaeological research. It also considers emerging research directions in Arctic studies, including advancements in community-based participatory research, archaeological engagement with Inuit ways of knowing, ancient DNA and isotope analyses, climate change research, and the management of at-risk sites.

This course examines power series methods (ordinary and regular singular points, Bessel's equation); boundary value problems and separation of variables (Fourier series and other orthogonal series), applications to the vibrating string, heat flow, potentials.

This course examines the rapid transformation of cities by information technology and socio-economic innovation; growth in citizen-generated data and the internet of things; and emerging theory, methods, and frameworks for understanding Smart Cities.

This course examines the implications of a finite biosphere and the complexities inherent in environmental decision-making.

This course examines the principles and applications of quantum mechanics, wave mechanics, the Schroedinger equation, expectation values, Hermitian operators, commuting observables, one-dimensional systems, harmonic oscillators, angular momentum, three-dimensional systems.

This course examines tombs from the Neolithic period to the Yuan dynasty with a focus on the period between the 2nd and the 14th century to examine their artistic, religious, and social significance.

This course examines the effects of urbanization and global environmental change on the geographies of cities across the world, with specific focus on urban environmental justice and inequality.