The Vancouver Summer Program with UBC Science provides students with the opportunity to study at a top international research university and experience local Vancouver culture.
What you might expect/course format
Courses with UBC Science include in-class and lab portions taught by UBC faculty members, graduate students, and guest lecturers. Courses also include short field trips and other engaging learning opportunities. Students can expect team-based learning activities and assignments.
Check out VSP Integrated Sciences’ page here!
July 2024 Course Packages
April 25, 2024: This course package has been canceled for VSP 2024. If you have applied to this course package, you should have received an email with the instructions to proceed with your application. If you have any questions about the cancellation, please email vsp.applications@ubc.ca.
Symmetry
The mathematic definition of symmetry is that an object is invariant to various transformations; including reflection, rotation, or scaling. Mathematical symmetry may be observed with respect to spatial relationships, through geometric transformations and other kinds of functional transformations, with respect to the passage of time, as an aspect of abstract objects, theoretic models, music, and language. Symmetry in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious proportion and balance. In this course we investigate symmetry and asymmetry in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, and in the arts, specifically architecture, fine art, and music.
The Size of Things
This multi-disciplinary course on scaling will use the unifying theme of size to examine a wide range of physical and biological systems. In each case we will see that “size matters”. This will be shown true in the most basic sense, that of spatial size, shape, area and volume. In a more general sense this truism holds in that the geometry, kinematics, and dynamics of phenomena are largely determined by the relative size of underlying factors and processes. We will identify a set of general scaling laws that reflect these facts, and learn a set of conceptual, graphical, and mathematical tools for working with them. Both the laws and the tools transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries within science and beyond science.
Prerequisites: No prerequisites
For more information
For VSP Integrated Sciences-specific questions, email Mary Anne Lyons at lyons@science.ubc.ca.
