Reviews for BSCI415

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David Straney BSCI415 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/27/2023	He's a great guy, the patron saint of the microbio building. The course is only challenging if you lack the organizational skills to make notes on your experiments; you don't even have to have successful results to do well on the reports so long as you give a detailed analysis of what results you have and provide an example analysis on one or two cases where you would otherwise provide an analysis of your data. He's rather flexible on due dates until the end of the semester (usually an additional week of penalty-free time after the listed due date for homeworks), but I wouldn't push it. He's also greatly understanding if you aren't particularly good at one of the subsets of the project or if the results don't work (I lack the motor control to successfully work with the worms) and he doesn't penalize you for it. As long as you put in the effort for each of the assignments and throughout the year on your projects, it's an assured A. I would highly recommend it if you need to fill out your lab requirement.
David Straney BSCI415 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2013	Dr. Straney is the best professor ever. I cannot say it enough. He really wants his students to do well and is so incredibly patient. This course is composed of 4 lab reports, 6 homework assignments, one midterm quiz, and a final quiz. You do interesting experiments throughout the semester. There are four main experiments you carry through over the course of the semester. It is very interesting to actually apply what you learn in textbooks and lectures. I loved this course. Dr. Straney does not have "deadlines" but "target dates". He's so understanding. Please don't take advantage of it. He puts in so much time for us and is patient enough to answer all of your questions...even if another student already asked. He genuinely wants you to do well and I believe this is how teaching should be. I definitely learned so much out of this course, especially when putting those lab reports together. If you can take this class, please do. And he's also an amazing BSCI22 professor. He holds weekly review sessions, provides old exams and is there for you if you need help.
David Straney BSCI415 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/09/2011	Dr. Straney may be the sweetest person to ever grace College Park's bio department. This class is super interesting and very laid back, I enjoyed attending. Dr. Straney just wants everyone to get an A and if you are confused he will help you until you understand even if that means staying late. If you do the work on time you will do well in this class.
David Straney BSCI415 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/21/2011	Before I start, let me assert that Dr. Straney is one of the best professors at Maryland!! Anyone that says otherwise must have some sort of grudge against him... I started out taking BSCI 207 and most of the classes I had taken since then were mostly rehashed versions of previous material - I started to find that the classes became very boring. I never really paid attention in my classes after a while and would just cram for exams and do just fine. That's all fine and good - I was getting through everything that I needed to get though - but I totally stopped enjoying biology. The environment that Dr. Straney created in the lab gave me faith in biology again. It wasn't just about memorizing things, doing busywork, and worrying how others do (e.g. curves in organic labs). He cares so much about having students learn the material - and he is able to teach very effectively. If you have any questions at all, you can call, email, or see him before/after class and he is always willing to help. He also understands that sometimes people's semesters are loaded and it may be difficult to get everything done on time and be satisfied with it - he will let you turn things in by what he calls an "approximate date." His quizzes and exams are very, very reasonable - read the rationale for doing the labs and why we do things the way we do before the semester quizzes and make sure to understand your lab reports before the final exam - and everything will go smoothly. He is a big proponent of "big ideas" over minute-you-will-never-need-it-again details. He tests understanding of material. I really, really enjoyed the class and put in (and enjoyed putting in) some effort. I learned a lot and appreciated being able to do so in a fairly relaxed environment. If you're in a class with him right now, don't take him for granted. You should really appreciate what he brings to the classroom.
David Straney BSCI415 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/29/2010	This was a great course. I'm now in grad school, and this course taught me things that are really useful in my courses now. Dr. Straney is also the nicest person ever, and he really cares about students understanding and having enthusiasm about what they are learning. I definately recommend taking this course if you are thinking about going to Grad school for Cell/Molecular Biology!!!!
David Straney BSCI415 Expecting an A Anonymous Terp 04/16/2009	Dr. Straney is solid. Teachers don't get much better than him. He's excited, enthusiastic, willing to help, not afraid to slow down and explain something again, and just plain nice. This class is the epitome of what college classes should be like. There aren't a lot of students. The teacher is passionate. There's a lot of one on one interaction with the professor. Nearly everybody gets A's, but those are actually earned A's. This class is in no way a fluff class - there's a lot of work. But the work is doable and enjoyable. It's the complete opposite of the typical cookie-cutting lab class here at Maryland. Throughout the semester, we worked on four extended projects, which means we jumped around. You do a mutagenesis experiment (on both C. elegans and Arabidopsis), a molecular mapping experiment, a plant transformation experiment, and a DNA sequencing experiment. The DNA one was great - we isolated a highly variable region of our own CYP2D6 gene (it produces the protein that metabolizes nearly a third of the drugs we take) with PCR, sent it off to a lab, and analyzed the sequence results using different software programs. We found out if we had multiple copies, a defective copy, etc. and what that meant. Seriously, if you have the chance to take this course, you won't be disappointed.
David Straney BSCI415 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2008	I cannot say enough about Dr. Straney. He is hands down the best professor in the science department and he makes this class one of the best. If you are remotely interested in genetics take this class! He makes it relatively easy and you actually do hands on things that work (compared to most science classes here at maryland). In addition, he is extremely nice and wants everyone to learn and succeed not just in his class but in life. He is very approachable and was always willing to help. The course had a lot of work on occasion, but it wasnt very difficult and he grades very easy.