Spring 2027

Biomechanics

Introduction to biomechanics covering the mechanical behavior of biological tissues, including bone, muscle, and soft connective tissues, their structure, function, and mechanical properties.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Aarushi Bhargava

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Joseph Towles, Christa Wille

Homework was challenging and time-consuming, while lab reports required heavy Matlab work that could take hours if you were not fluent.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Apply mechanical equilibrium analyses to compute forces acting on tissues, organs and structures within the human body

  • Examine mechanical stress and deformation associated with the loading of biological tissues

  • Analyze, interpret and present data collected during experiments in biomechanics

  • Describe the relevance of mechanics for investigating biological systems at scales ranging from cellular to the whole body

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(E M A 303 or M E 306), or member of Engineering Guest Students

    • EMA 303
    • M E 306
    • member of Engineering Guest Students
    take one
BME 315 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • EMA 303
    • M E 306
    • member of Engineering Guest Students

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.50 GPA, 74.1% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.42 GPA, 70.3% A/AB (n=37 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

AARUSHI BHARGAVA is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ALEXANDER MCGHEE is recorded teaching in Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CHRISTA WILLE is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DARRYL THELEN is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JOSEPH TOWLES is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018. 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 / 400
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 160
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 160

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

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Christa Wille

Past students described Dr. Wille as passionate and supportive, making biomechanics engaging and the difficult material feel more manageable.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.50 GPA, 74.1% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.49 GPA, 71.3% A/AB (n=87 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.42 GPA, 70.3% A/AB (n=37 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Joseph Towles, Christa Wille

Homework was challenging and time-consuming, while lab reports required heavy Matlab work that could take hours if you were not fluent.

Past student reviews · Joseph Towles

Joseph Towles’ office hours were highly effective, as he used varied explanations to help students grasp tricky concepts and guide their thought processes.

Topics

  • Structure and function of biological tissues
  • Mechanical properties of biological tissues
  • Analysis of bone, muscle, and soft connective tissues
  • Mechanical stress and deformation under load

Skills

  • Apply mechanical equilibrium analyses to compute forces acting on tissues, organs, and structures.
  • Examine mechanical stress and deformation associated with tissue loading.
  • Analyze, interpret, and present experimental biomechanics data.
  • Describe the relevance of mechanics for investigating biological systems from cellular to whole-body scales.

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
BME 315 · Spring 2027

Biomechanics

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": "1274:207:021232",
    "course_id": "BME 315",
    "course_uid": "course_5f39a96edc9ca90d8f1ec190",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021232",
    "source_subject_id": "207",
    "title": "Biomechanics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
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": "ae0a552b414ab0380ba4426b1172d5d248cf23f59c69784c8ed59f896a6dd401",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}