Spring 2027

Biofluidics

Introduction to the physics of biological fluid flow with an emphasis on the cardiovascular system including blood rheology, pulsatile flow, wave travel, and topics relevant to blood flow measurement and biomedical device design.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Alejandro Roldan3.8/5Colleen Witzenburg

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.70 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.64 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.57 GPA, 86.4% A/AB (n=22 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the physical properties of a fluid and the consequence of such properties on fluid flow; compare and contrast non-Newtonian models for blood rheology

  • State the conservation principles of mass, linear momentum, and energy for fluid flow

  • Analyze systems using the conservation equations

  • Identify the relevant parameters that govern a fluid system and use dimensional analysis to identify the fundamental variables that define flow

  • Describe the flow dynamic metrics in different physiological or pathological conditions

  • Identify the role of other professionals in biofluid mechanics

  • Foster skills to interact with clinical professionals

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

B M E 330,CBE 320,M E 363, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

BME/ME 505

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

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.25/5 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.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.70 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.64 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.57 GPA, 86.4% A/AB (n=22 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.73 GPA, 87.5% A/AB (n=24 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.64 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.57 GPA, 86.4% A/AB (n=22 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ALEJANDRO ROLDAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

COLLEEN WITZENBURG is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2023, 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.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 480

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

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.70 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.64 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.57 GPA, 86.4% A/AB (n=22 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Physics of biological fluid flow
  • Cardiovascular system
  • Blood rheology
  • Pulsatile flow
  • Wave travel
  • Blood flow measurement
  • Biomedical device design

Skills

  • Explain the physical properties of a fluid and the consequence of such properties on fluid flow; compare and contrast non-Newtonian models for blood rheology
  • State the conservation principles of mass, linear momentum, and energy for fluid flow
  • Analyze systems using the conservation equations
  • Identify the relevant parameters that govern a fluid system and use dimensional analysis to identify the fundamental variables that define flow
  • Describe the flow dynamic metrics in different physiological or pathological conditions
  • Identify the role of other professionals in biofluid mechanics
  • Foster skills to interact with clinical professionals

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

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

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
BME/ME 505 · Spring 2027

Biofluidics

Recorded 2026-10-14
BME/ME 505 · Spring 2027

Biofluidics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "offering_id": "1274:207:022195",
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    "title": "Biofluidics",
    "credits_min": 3,
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    "offering_id": "1274:612:022195",
    "course_id": "BME/ME 505",
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    "source_subject_id": "612",
    "title": "Biofluidics",
    "credits_min": 3,
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    "typically_offered": "Spring"
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]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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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 
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  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "b264e3a72a5f439632790ca49a5ba2ae757fb916deb9aceaa7f694ff797b85f3",
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}