BIOE461 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Catherine Spirito BIOE461 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/18/2024	Dr.Spirito is legitimately the best. She is incredibly flexible, fair, and is a very nice grader. Class is basically setup with simple modules to complete, unlimited attempts on the quizzes, and most work graded on completion. Very interesting articles and very engaging content. Class setup: Structured around completing a iGEM style project, where you come up with a plan to develop the 'meat and potatoes' of a medical/agricultural/biological issue in the world. Assignments basically walk you through how to complete the project thoroughly and as long as you make a valid honest attempt at the work, then you will get a 95+ on the assignments and on the bulk of the class grade. Suggestions: set up a time weekly to go over as a group who does what sections of the assignments (will be in teams of 3-4) and allow your team members a few days to complete the work (I did this typically on sundays to help my group plan out their work load), and ask questions! Dr.Spirito basically helped us with our technical lab portion of our project since none of us felt confident knowing what specific lab practices to do. TLDR; very nice and flexible prof, great for GPA boosts and for a look into the R&D process. 10/10 would recommend
Catherine Spirito BIOE461 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/07/2023	Best professor EVER. Hands down. Took a 400-level BIOE foundational elective and turned it into an engaging, learn-something-new-everyday kind of class. It started to feel less like a class and more like a workshop, constantly keeping you awake but in a good way -- Dr. Spirito truly cares about her students and puts in more than enough effort to help us keep up with the course content. The overall structure of the class is fairly simple -- you should not have any issues with homework or quizzes, and it primarily revolves around this massive project that we all present at the end of the semester. You'll have mini-assignments regarding this project from the beginning of the semester all the way up to your presentation, so there's no way you can really "fall behind". However, I'd say that the kicker is really getting together with your teammates and making the project as cohesive as possible. This is something that gets emphasized during the middle of the semester, where everyone's got 2-3 midterms a week, so I'd highly recommend communicating with your teammates as early as you can. The only downside I have to say is that there's a lot of groupwork during class. Like. A lot. A lot of collaborative thinking and stuff like that. I don't mind working with others, but when you're facing the brunt of the semester, sometimes all you want to do is just clock in and clock out of a lecture due to a lack of energy. However, do not let that deter you from this class, as the groupwork is super easy and simple, and both the class and Dr. Spirito are overall fun!
Edward Eisenstein BIOE461 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/16/2022	He's a nice professor, but his lectures are unbelievably boring. The assignments are far and few between, but lack any concrete instruction. A large part of the grade is based on a group project, where he does not give any guidance. Any questions we asked him were immediately shot down with the same response "Our idea was too high level" without specification into why. The TAs were no help either, as they did not know how to do most of the assignments. A class that was meant to be an easy A and interesting discourse turned out to be more work than expected. This class is designed to be online. I received nothing from the lectures and had to learn most of the information outside of class.
Edward Eisenstein BIOE461 Expecting an A blue_footed_booby 05/15/2021	Online teaching definitely threw a big wrench in the amount of value I gained from this course, but I still learned a lot about things my other bioe classes barely mention! Dr. Eisenstein is a super nice and understanding professor who clearly only wants the best for students. This class may be overloaded with information, but even if you only learn a fourth of it, you will still find it rewarding and eye-opening.

Catherine Spirito
BIOE461

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/18/2024

Dr.Spirito is legitimately the best. She is incredibly flexible, fair, and is a very nice grader. Class is basically setup with simple modules to complete, unlimited attempts on the quizzes, and most work graded on completion. Very interesting articles and very engaging content. Class setup: Structured around completing a iGEM style project, where you come up with a plan to develop the 'meat and potatoes' of a medical/agricultural/biological issue in the world. Assignments basically walk you through how to complete the project thoroughly and as long as you make a valid honest attempt at the work, then you will get a 95+ on the assignments and on the bulk of the class grade. Suggestions: set up a time weekly to go over as a group who does what sections of the assignments (will be in teams of 3-4) and allow your team members a few days to complete the work (I did this typically on sundays to help my group plan out their work load), and ask questions! Dr.Spirito basically helped us with our technical lab portion of our project since none of us felt confident knowing what specific lab practices to do. TLDR; very nice and flexible prof, great for GPA boosts and for a look into the R&D process. 10/10 would recommend

Catherine Spirito
BIOE461

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/07/2023

Best professor EVER. Hands down. Took a 400-level BIOE foundational elective and turned it into an engaging, learn-something-new-everyday kind of class. It started to feel less like a class and more like a workshop, constantly keeping you awake but in a good way -- Dr. Spirito truly cares about her students and puts in more than enough effort to help us keep up with the course content. The overall structure of the class is fairly simple -- you should not have any issues with homework or quizzes, and it primarily revolves around this massive project that we all present at the end of the semester. You'll have mini-assignments regarding this project from the beginning of the semester all the way up to your presentation, so there's no way you can really "fall behind". However, I'd say that the kicker is really getting together with your teammates and making the project as *cohesive* as possible. This is something that gets emphasized during the middle of the semester, where everyone's got 2-3 midterms a week, so I'd highly recommend communicating with your teammates as early as you can. The only downside I have to say is that there's a *lot* of groupwork during class. Like. A lot. A lot of collaborative thinking and stuff like that. I don't mind working with others, but when you're facing the brunt of the semester, sometimes all you want to do is just clock in and clock out of a lecture due to a lack of energy. However, do not let that deter you from this class, as the groupwork is super easy and simple, and both the class and Dr. Spirito are overall fun!

Edward Eisenstein
BIOE461

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/16/2022

He's a nice professor, but his lectures are unbelievably boring. The assignments are far and few between, but lack any concrete instruction. A large part of the grade is based on a group project, where he does not give any guidance. Any questions we asked him were immediately shot down with the same response "Our idea was too high level" without specification into why. The TAs were no help either, as they did not know how to do most of the assignments. A class that was meant to be an easy A and interesting discourse turned out to be more work than expected. This class is designed to be online. I received nothing from the lectures and had to learn most of the information outside of class.

Edward Eisenstein
BIOE461

Expecting an A
blue_footed_booby
05/15/2021

Online teaching definitely threw a big wrench in the amount of value I gained from this course, but I still learned a lot about things my other bioe classes barely mention! Dr. Eisenstein is a super nice and understanding professor who clearly only wants the best for students. This class may be overloaded with information, but even if you only learn a fourth of it, you will still find it rewarding and eye-opening.

Reviews for BIOE461