Professor: Mathiowitz Course format: Lecture w/Lab Number of respondents: 8 Total Enrollment: 10 Class Composition: Froshs: 0 Sophs: 0 Jrs: 2 Srs: 6 Concs: 5 Non-Concs: 2 Don't Know: 1

Instructor Average: 2.00 Course Average: 1.94

"Polymer Science for Biomaterials" is an interdisciplinary course taught in the biology department and is aimed at students concentrating in biology and related areas who are interested in a unique area of biotechnology. Although there are no required prerequisites, a semester of organic chemistry is strongly recommended. Students note that other background in chemistry, molecular biology or even physics and engineering can also be useful.

Students had varied opinions of Professor Mathiowitz. Most described her as enthusiastic about the subject material and good at conveying it clearly, making use of both overhead slides and packets summarizing lecture notes. She was also praised for scheduling exams in collaboration with students, allowing them to collectively choose the best date. However, a few others found her lecturing somewhat dry and wished that she would depart from the use of overheads and better differentiate the most important concepts.

Course work included weekly quizzes, one exam, one paper, and an oral presentation. Students devoted moderate effort to the class, due in part to the quizzes, but very few cited the class as particularly challenging. To most, it was demanding but not excessively so. The textbook for the course changed during the semester, as the professor was experimenting with class input to each text. Students devoted between zero and ten hours per week to the course, with an average of about five.

This course is designed for those looking to explore a relatively narrow field in great depth, but as it is a field that touches upon many other disciplines, the class should be interesting to those with an interest in many areas of science. Although one respondent was an aspiring tissue engineer, other students chose the class based on only a passing interest in the subject. Because it is not extremely challenging, but is nonetheless fulfilling and intensive, it is an ideal elective course for science concentrators in almost any area.

"Polymer Science for Biomaterials" is an intriguing introduction to polymer chemistry and is useful to anyone studying science, medicine or a combination of the two.

View BI/0109 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.