Professor: Lysaght Course format: Lecture w/section Number of respondents: 25 Total Enrollment: 29 Class Composition: Froshs: 4 Sophs: 4 Jrs: 5 Srs: 14 Concs: 3 Non-Concs: 20 Don't Know: 2

Instructor Average: 1.29 Course Average: 1.51

"Biotechnology Management" is unique because it's not a traditional biology course. This interdisciplinary course examines the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical product industries from business, legal, political, and ethical points of view. No prerequisites are required.

Professor Lysaght was very well-liked. His teaching style was effective because he was organized and used slides and handouts during lectures that made it very easy for everyone to follow along and to take notes. He was a good lecturer and students were extremely impressed by his extensive level of knowledge. Several students commented about how "smart" Professor Lysaght was, joking that if there was such a thing, he may have been "too smart." Participation was always welcomed, and overall, students were highly satisfied with their classroom experience.

The workload for this class was very manageable. The average weekly commitment was three to four hours outside of class. The class requirements consisted of a moderate amount of weekly reading from a variety of books and articles that students described as worthwhile.

In addition, there were four exams and two oral presentations. The exams were not too difficult, but many students expressed frustration that many questions seemed to be random and also trivial. They suggested that in the future, Professor Lysaght should make sure that all exam questions focus on the most pertinent information. The two oral presentations were good learning experiences. Students greatly appreciated that the first presentation was videotaped, and that afterwards Professor Lysaught offered them one-one-one help to review and critique the tape of their performance.

Everyone enjoyed their experience with this class, and had fun. They were happy to learn a great deal about a very interesting subject that usually isn't explored in more traditional biology classes. Students were happy that by learning about the complex relationship between the worlds of science and business, they gained a lot of useful knowledge that could be helpful in the future. Overall, "Biotechnology Management" is a very unique course taught by an excellent professor. It's worth a try for anyone who's interested in the "non-biological" side of biology.

View BI/0008 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.