Very kind and cares about students. Very difficult material but, so he makes the effort to hand write some of the material and organize it in a way that helps students.

Dr. Pennella's lectures were always very interesting. Outside of class he was also very friendly and showed he cared about the students.

Hands down my favorite prof I have ever had! He cares about his students and wants them to do well. If you ever need help, he will do his best to help you and will meet with you as much as you need. He is also very nice and welcoming to students.

Compare to the other three instructor who taught the previous 3 sections, Dr. Pennella need some improvement in giving a clear/organized lecture. The content isn't that hard and the exam isn't a intelligence challenge at all, but his instruction made knowledge slightly more confusing.

Dr. Pennella's section was the hardest of the three but he really does care about students learning. He takes the time to write on the slides with you during lecture and frequently reviews the material.

Dr. Pennella's lectures are probably some of the best that I have ever had in a STEM class. The way that he physically interacts with the slides by writing on them, while he is giving lectures, really helps to further comprehension. Really clear guidelines as to how to succeed. Very accessible. Great overall!

The lectures are pretty good! They can get a bit too dense at times, but the worksheets are helpful with that. He's also active on Piazza, and gives EXTREMELY clear explanations there. Great professor overall :)

Professor Pennella's lectures are very clear in what he expects you to know for exams and lays out the material that you should know at the beginning of the lecture notes. He responds to emails and is always willing to help outside of classroom hours. Use office hours!!! Very helpful.

While Professor Pennella may be a bit monotone, his lectures are delivered well and it is clear he is very knowledgable about the subject. He is very willing to meet with you outside of class if you have questions or just want to chat. The exams in this class are extremely fair and only based on the content discussed in lectures.

Homework is around 30 minutes per week, material is interesting, and exams cover what is taught during lecture. Prof. Pennella can be a bit monotone at times but clearly demonstrates his expertise in the field by conveying information in a clear, concise manner. Will readily answer questions during and after class.

Awesome professor! Very willing to answer questions! Very challenging topics, but he does a great job explaining!

As course coordinator, Dr. Pennella was responsive and helpful in addressing any issues that arose. As for his section of the course, it was by far the easiest. His exam was extremely straight forward based on the topics emphasized in lecture. Not sure why people are upset with his voice, it was honestly very soothing and volume was not an issue.

Pennella is the course coordinator and clearly cares about the content, but he really struggles with conveying that interest in the virtual format since his voice is monotone. His section of the course is also really dense, and requires a LOT of time to really understand the material well enough to succeed on the multiple-choice exam.

Dr. Pennella wants his students to pass the class. He is willing to help in whatever way he can, so definitely go to office hours! He designs his exams so that they are pretty easy to pass as long as you go to lecture and understand the material. The class had multiple choice exams with an emphasis on exam grades.

Alright NGL this prof sucks. Took forever or didn't even bother to respond to emails even though that was the only way to contact him. Didn't enter grades or tell us important information until days after he said he would. Definitely would NOT take a class with him again. Made the class miserable.

I see bad reviews and I see bias. Hes not perfect with lecture tone or organization BUT he gives the most help out of the 4. I like that he cares, I like that he jams down the material, and I like how much effort he puts into making aHARD course work. I commend Dr Penella andrecommend this class if hes involved. His section is hard, just study

By the time you get to Prof Pennella's section the content starts ramping up. It was never really clear throughout the unit when enzymes/products had to be memorized, and how much detail we needed to learn about the pathways. Otherwise he is very knowledgable and a solid teacher.

I honestly don't know where these bad reviews are coming from; it might be students who don't put much effort into school. Dr. Pennella is always accessible outside of class and does a great job explaining everything. His section is the most material-heavy, but he lets you know what to study for the exam. He's very straightforward, even on exams.

he is good

The summer course is in a blended format: online lectures & in-person, daily problem sets (attendance not mandatory, but I'd recommend). As course coordinator, Mario is present for all 4 units. He is incredibly helpful in class & actively works to improve his lectures. He cares about his students' learning & won't hesitate to give his time for you.

very rude when you ask him about anything

He was rude whenever asked a question, and then would give an irrelevant and copy-paste response. He went way too fast, expected us to know the basic information already and only lectured details. Didint make deadlines clear. Overall the class is about as hard as should be expected for any biochem course, but he was super frustrating.

He's a decent lecturer, but his section of Biochem501 is known for being the hardest section. He has said that he is aware of this and is making his section easier by cutting out certain parts. I thought this section was definitely harder than the first two sections but not extremely harder.

While I thought Mario's portion of the class was the most difficult/least enjoyable, I think it'd be tough for any teacher to go through as much information as he was required to. Mario's teaching ability was fine, but if I could rate the Biochem department's ability to evenly spread out class material over 4 units, I'd give them a 0 or a 1.

He expects you to memorize everything he says in lecture, even if its only said once. In previous units we were told we didn't need to memorize enzymes and he immediately says "remember those enzymes you memorized from Krebs cycle". I would give this man a 0 if it was possible and I hope I never have to take another one of his classes

he's great