Spring 2027

Introduction to Biological and Medical Microsystems

Introduction to MEMS applied to biology and medicine, covering device methodology, biological integration, and micro-structuring of biological materials.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 7

Past student reviews · Justin Williams

Students found the class conceptually demanding, but grading was fair; attending class and following study advice was sufficient for good grades, with no textbook required.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify prominent materials and their properties commonly used in fabrication of biomedical microdevices

  • Analyze and implement microfabrication techniques for patterning, lithography, etching and deposition

  • Understand and design fabrication processes with appropriate fabrication tools for biomedical microdevices

  • Describe the principles underlying the interface between biological samples and different microdevices

  • Analyze, demonstrate, and communicate recent scientific literature in the field of biomedical microdevices

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

B M E 310 and (ZOOLOGY/​BIOLOGY 101 and 102,ZOOLOGY/​BIOLOGY/​BOTANY 151,ZOOLOGY 153, or BIOCORE 383), graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

BME 550

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

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JUSTIN WILLIAMS is recorded teaching in Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016. 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

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Justin Williams

Justin Williams taught this demanding course with engaging mini-labs and group discussions, making the material interesting and fun to learn.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.96 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Fall 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=38 letter grades); Fall 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=40 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Justin Williams

Students found the class conceptually demanding, but grading was fair; attending class and following study advice was sufficient for good grades, with no textbook required.

Past student reviews · Justin Williams

Lecture slides consisted almost entirely of pictures, so students who skipped class reported feeling lost without the in-person context.

Topics

  • Methodology of traditional MEMS devices.
  • Incorporating MEMS devices with biological systems.
  • Methods for micro-structuring biological materials.
  • Microfabrication techniques: patterning, lithography, etching, and deposition.

Skills

  • Identifying materials and properties for biomedical microdevice fabrication.
  • Analyzing and implementing microfabrication techniques including patterning, lithography, etching, and deposition.
  • Designing fabrication processes using appropriate tools for biomedical microdevices.
  • Describing principles of the interface between biological samples and microdevices.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— 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 Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · 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

1316 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.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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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
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "3300d50ca4ca21a247add18455c77cce965e5faa1d51dc5411c2f846e653e8cc",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}