Spring 2027

Diversity, Ecology and Evolution of Microorganisms

Covers phylogenetic diversity, ecology, and evolution of microbes using active learning methods to deepen microbiology understanding.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Charlie Mo3.7/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Charlie Mo

The course was heavily focused on memorization with very few assignments beyond review quizzes. Exams consisted of short-answer and essay questions along with one or two multiple-choice items, requiring retention of many random concepts.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Define the foundational principles of phylogenetics.

  • Compare the major phyla within bacteria, archaea and eukaryotic microbes.

  • Recognize general properties of viruses and the issues with their phylogenetic classification.

  • Define ecology, its domains and distinguish it from other closely related fields.

  • Develop a deeper understanding of methods available to characterize microbial communities.

  • Explain Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection and the four postulates of natural selection.

  • Describe the concept of adaptation and how over the history of science this concept has changed.

  • Identify the major events in the history of microbial life.

  • Develop an evolutionary understanding of the 3 domains of life.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

MICROBIO 303 or graduate/professional standing

MICROBIO 450

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: 3.67/5 from 3 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 · Charlie Mo

Charlie Mo’s course was described as content-heavy and memorization-intensive, with lectures that were clear but sometimes unengaging. Students noted that exams were largely short-answer or essay-based, despite initial claims of multiple-choice, and required recalling many specific concepts for high grades. Workload included minimal assignments beyond review quizzes, while lectures were recorded for online access.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.61 GPA, 81.0% A/AB (n=42 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.52 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=60 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.34 GPA, 60.7% A/AB (n=61 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CHARLIE MO 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 001Classroom Instruction0 / 700

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 · Charlie Mo

Dr. Mo explained dense material slowly and clearly, though one student noted he could improve on difficult concepts. Students described him as a nice and understanding instructor who helped manage the heavy content load.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.61 GPA, 81.0% A/AB (n=42 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.52 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=60 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.34 GPA, 60.7% A/AB (n=61 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Charlie Mo

The course was heavily focused on memorization with very few assignments beyond review quizzes. Exams consisted of short-answer and essay questions along with one or two multiple-choice items, requiring retention of many random concepts.

Past student reviews · Charlie Mo

Lectures were recorded and available online, allowing students to review material at their own pace. However, some students found the lectures unengaging and noted that the content could often be learned directly from the slides.

Topics

  • Phylogenetic diversity, ecology, and evolution of microbes.
  • Major phyla within bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotic microbes.
  • General properties of viruses and phylogenetic classification issues.
  • Methods to characterize microbial communities.
  • Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection and its four postulates.
  • Evolutionary understanding of the 3 domains of life.

Skills

  • Defining foundational principles of phylogenetics.
  • Comparing major phyla within bacteria, archaea and eukaryotic microbes.
  • Recognizing virus properties and phylogenetic classification issues.
  • Defining ecology and distinguishing it from related fields.
  • Understanding methods to characterize microbial communities.
  • Explaining Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection and its postulates.
  • Describing adaptation and its historical conceptual changes.
  • Identifying major events in the history of microbial life.

Grades

Historical instructor

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 · 0.17 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

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
MICROBIO 450 · Spring 2027

Diversity, Ecology and Evolution of Microorganisms

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": "1274:192:022998",
    "course_id": "MICROBIO 450",
    "course_uid": "course_c3911c411ad7f6f275a5568d",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "022998",
    "source_subject_id": "192",
    "title": "Diversity, Ecology and Evolution of Microorganisms",
    "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
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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 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "764c529bdb4af3a4adc222b66cd27302dd112b2f2acf967b79e3909dd517e47f",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}