Spring 2027

Biological Interactions with Materials

Covers biological systems governing biomaterial applications, current materials for biomedical use, analytical techniques for evaluation, and major medical applications where biomaterials are important.

offering recorded3 credits

Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Tracy Puccinelli3.7/5 Randolph Ashton3.3/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Randolph Ashton

Expect heavy workloads, including 50-page readings and reading quizzes before lectures. Exams make up the majority of the grade and cover all slide content.

What you’ll be able to do

Integrate biology, material science, and engineering
Apply this integrated knowledge in the design of materials for specific biomedical applications
Develop critical experimental design and data assessment related to biological responses to materials
Show conversance of the clinical utility and limitations of materials for biomedical applications
Demonstrate practical understanding of biomaterial-based laboratory safety and techniques

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗

average GPA
letter grades

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(ZOOLOGY/BIOLOGY 101 and 102,ZOOLOGY/BIOLOGY/BOTANY 151,ZOOLOGY 153, or BIOCORE 383) and (CHEM 341 or 343), or graduate/professional standing

- - take one
  - - CHEM 341
    - CHEM 343
    take one
  take all
- graduate/professional standing
take one

BME 430 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
- All of
  - Any of
  - Any of
    - CHEM 341
    - CHEM 343
- graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Tracy Puccinelli

Adjusted rating

RMP difficulty

captured reviews

About this rating

Raw average: 3.84/5 from 19 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.33 GPA, 58.7% A/AB (n=126 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.27 GPA, 54.1% A/AB (n=122 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.20 GPA, 50.4% A/AB (n=137 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Randolph Ashton

Adjusted rating

RMP difficulty

captured reviews

About this rating

Raw average: 1.75/5 from 4 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Randolph Ashton

Dr. Randolph Ashton required students to memorize 50-page readings and dense slide content, with three exams making up most of the grade. Students found the pace quick and the material challenging.

Some students felt Dr. Ashton did not clarify difficult concepts, while others noted he was passionate about biomaterials despite dry lectures.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

RANDOLPH ASHTON is recorded teaching in Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TRACY PUCCINELLI is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. 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.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity	Waitlist
LEC 001	Classroom Instruction	0 / 139	0

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 · Randolph Ashton

Dr. Ashton taught this course with passion for biomaterials, though students found the delivery of dense information could be dry and fast-paced.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.33 GPA, 58.7% A/AB (n=126 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.27 GPA, 54.1% A/AB (n=122 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.20 GPA, 50.4% A/AB (n=137 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Randolph Ashton

Expect heavy workloads, including 50-page readings and reading quizzes before lectures. Exams make up the majority of the grade and cover all slide content.

Past student reviews · Randolph Ashton

One student recommended taking the class later in undergrad, noting that slides contained dense text that was difficult to keep up with early on.

Topics

Biological systems governing biomaterial applications.
Materials currently utilized for various biomedical applications.
Analytical techniques pertinent to biomaterial evaluation.
Major medical applications in which biomaterials play an important role.

Skills

Designing materials for specific biomedical applications using integrated biology, material science, and engineering knowledge.
Developing critical experimental design and data assessment related to biological responses to materials.
Applying practical understanding of biomaterial-based laboratory safety and techniques.

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.11 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Conflicting source distributions

Excluded from calculated GPA.

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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
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    "course_id": "BME 430",
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    "term_id": "1124",
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      "COLE DRIFKA",
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  },
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    "run_id": "legacy-0cb4d29a588ec7f11c7e00b7cf5dc3a0d23d0349",
    "semester": "1266",
    "observed_at": "2026-01-22 01:00:26.555427+00:00",
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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 430 · Spring 2027

Biological Interactions with Materials

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": "1274:207:021325",
    "course_id": "BME 430",
    "course_uid": "course_aa3646d4c8240c9a870f5a3a",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "021325",
    "source_subject_id": "207",
    "title": "Biological Interactions with Materials",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]

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

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": "a57b4f80b956e6fb0fcb29ccfd036749b9c956f59a5c76308dc3bcc18fb00311",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}

Biological Interactions with Materials

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Tracy Puccinelli

Randolph Ashton

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to UW–Madison

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

Where this course fits relative to