| Information | Review |
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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 |
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Catherine Spirito
FIRE198 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2024 |
Dr.Spirito is not only a great professor/lab coordinator, but she's also a very kind and understanding person. Her entire lab and class for FIRE (molecular diagnostics) is clearly set out and she provides you with enough time to complete each assignment. She also is not a harsh grader, basically giving all students an A as long as they submit all the work, and is very lenient with extensions. The PRMs for this course are also great and very personable, and are always available to help. If you have the option to take this course with Dr.Spirito please do you won't regret it. |
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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! |
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Catherine Spirito
FIRE198 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/22/2021 |
Great professor and really understanding and caring for her students. The MD stream can be challenging but she makes sure to give students enough resources to really understand the research we are pursuing. |
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Catherine Spirito
FIRE120 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/11/2020 |
Really nice and a good instructor! |