Spring 2027

Biological Systems Engineering Design Practicum I

BSE 508 covers the engineering design process from problem identification to cost estimating, culminating in design project proposals for real-world biological systems engineering problems.

offering recorded2 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Kody Habeck1.9/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Kody Habeck

Kody did not give answers immediately and made students search for them, a demand one student saw as useful for engineering.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Develop design requirements for biological systems engineering design problems.

  • Conduct technical reviews of engineering problems.

  • Develop alternative solutions to biological systems engineering problems.

  • Provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives as part of a team.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
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F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Declared in Biological Systems Engineering BS

  • Declared in Biological Systems Engineering BS
BSE 508 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
  • Declared in Biological Systems Engineering BS

Professors

Spring 2027

Kody Habeck

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 1.39/5 from 72 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.

For this course: 1.4/5 raw quality · 4.4/5 difficulty · 42 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Kody Habeck

Kody Habeck was described as rough around the edges, but one student noted that he made them search for answers rather than giving them immediately, which ultimately made them a better engineer.

Other students reported a toxic learning environment and cited specific issues with Habeck's professionalism. One reviewer stated he admitted in class that he did not care about student feedback, while another criticized his spelling during lectures.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.93 GPA, 96.7% A/AB (n=30 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.74 GPA, 92.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.84 GPA, 96.2% A/AB (n=52 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Jessica Drewry

Historical feedback for Jessica Drewry was limited and negative; one student described a bad attitude, while another rated the difficulty as five and expressed relief at the course ending. These comments reflect past student experiences with that instructor.

JESSICA DREWRY is recorded teaching in Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KODY HABECK is recorded teaching in 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.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 600

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 · Kody Habeck

Past students gave mixed reports of Kody Habeck: one found his indirect teaching useful, while another called his behavior inappropriate.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.93 GPA, 96.7% A/AB (n=30 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.74 GPA, 92.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.84 GPA, 96.2% A/AB (n=52 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Kody Habeck

Kody did not give answers immediately and made students search for them, a demand one student saw as useful for engineering.

Past student reviews · Kody Habeck

One student said Kody created a toxic learning environment both during class and outside of class.

Topics

  • Problem identification, information retrieval, and specification writing
  • Development and analysis of alternative solutions and selection methodology
  • Product safety, standardization, scheduling, and cost estimating
  • Real-world design project proposals

Skills

  • Developing design project proposals and requirements for biological systems engineering problems
  • Developing and analyzing alternative solutions using selection methodologies
  • Applying product safety, standardization, scheduling, and cost estimating principles
  • Providing leadership and collaborating within teams to establish goals and plan tasks

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.

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Selected offering source records
BSE 508 · Spring 2027

Biological Systems Engineering Design Practicum I

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": "1274:112:023572",
    "course_id": "BSE 508",
    "course_uid": "course_f868e1163e5a15efc1f4735c",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "023572",
    "source_subject_id": "112",
    "title": "Biological Systems Engineering Design Practicum I",
    "credits_min": 2,
    "credits_max": 2,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "880500dd77e0d0f30e69935c34affe2cf7713e3a021cca22829954db2f81bb89",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}