Spring 2027

Introduction to Air Quality

This course introduces air quality by linking chemistry, meteorology, engineering, policy, and public health to pollutant impacts and regulation.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 David Bittrich

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Tracey Holloway

Students noted that the class was definitely difficult and that they had to work hard to achieve a passing grade.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Build basic understanding of atmospheric pollutants affecting health, visibility, ecosystems, climate, and the ozone hold.

  • Develop skills in analyzing air pollution data and related information, with a focus on evaluating and presenting original research on an air pollution episode of choice.

  • Consider a single issue – air quality – from multiple disciplinary perspectives, including atmospheric science, engineering, policy, economics, and chemistry.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
ATMOCN/ENVIRST 355

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.43 GPA, 72.2% A/AB (n=36 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DAVID BITTRICH is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TRACEY HOLLOWAY is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 800
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 800

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Tracey Holloway

Past students described the Air Quality course as a challenging experience that required significant effort to pass, but they also reported learning a great deal from the material.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.41 GPA, 55.6% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.57 GPA, 78.8% A/AB (n=52 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.43 GPA, 72.2% A/AB (n=36 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Tracey Holloway

Students noted that the class was definitely difficult and that they had to work hard to achieve a passing grade.

Past student reviews · Tracey Holloway

Students found the historical instructor to be professional, supportive, and invested in student success, noting that she answered emails promptly.

Topics

  • Reactive outdoor pollutants, including gas- and particle-phase chemicals that affect human health.
  • Environmental impacts and regulatory control of pollutants in the United States and internationally.
  • Indoor air quality and comparisons between non-reactive pollutants such as carbon dioxide and reactive pollutants.

Skills

  • Analyze air pollution data and evaluate or present original research on an air pollution episode.
  • Evaluate air quality through interdisciplinary perspectives such as atmospheric science, engineering, policy, economics, and chemistry.
  • Explain how atmospheric pollutants affect health, visibility, ecosystems, climate, and the ozone layer.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ATMOCN/ENVIRST 355 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Air Quality

Recorded 2026-10-14
ATMOCN/ENVIRST 355 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Air Quality

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:360:025331",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/ENVIRST 355",
    "course_uid": "course_fd5fca1595288ddb46c25680",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "025331",
    "source_subject_id": "360",
    "title": "Introduction to Air Quality",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:640:025331",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/ENVIRST 355",
    "course_uid": "course_fd5fca1595288ddb46c25680",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "025331",
    "source_subject_id": "640",
    "title": "Introduction to Air Quality",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "c38252650ce83bb897ab312f4eefd6b8c6197b94906f6433c045dad8a7d15197",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}