[RyanC]

Overview:

This course is designed to introduce students of electrical and biomedical engineering into concepts and practices of the biological world. You will be dealing with many differnt concepts spanning many disciplines consisting but not limited to: biology, physics, materials chemistry, math, electrical, and ethics.

Course Structure:

3 lectures and one tutorial a week

Course website easy to use and should be updated regularly; professor communicates regularly through emailing list tied to your mcmaster email.

Past midterms, exams, and presentations on website.

Lectures:

Each lecture is fairly straight-forward and build upon the previous one up until a new topic. Content difficulty increases as depth into a particular topic increases. Tutorial questions are much much harder than the actual lecture content, so attending these is mandatory to do well on the midterm and final.

Lectures will take place in a small room, and is intimate and relaxed enough to ask questions or discuss topics. Lectures are power point and chalkboard writing.

Tutorials:

Always math-based. Concepts based on physics, some chemistry, and math seen in other courses.
TA is fairly good at explaining but solutions to tutorials are not posted, so attendance is mandatory.

Course Material:

Textbook -highly optional (bought it; may be delayed comming in at Titles; not worth buying)
Website
Additional resources provided by professor
Office hours

Examination:

Presentation: You choose a presentation topic within the major themes of the course and find something that theme you like, research it a bit, tell the professor if its acceptable, research the topic, and present in front of the class. Professor is very lenient in grading as long as the presentation is well-researched and you can answer questions about your presentation competently.

Midterm test: Half multiple choice, half written answer. Written answers are a mixture of mathematical, ethical, or providing explanation of a concept. Open book (laptop, textbook, notes).

Examination: Same as midterm only more content and length is much longer. Closed book. Equation sheet provided.

Overall Impression:

Very interesting course to take, but a lot of the topics gone over are done so so superficially that you hardly have any time to get into anything worthwhile, although the content still provides a nice starting point for subsequent courses. No prerequisites, but assumed knowledge is of physics, trionometry, random chemistry, and maths.

Concepts aren't too hard to grasp, and it gives a nice break from all the ECE stuff we do. Some topics tie in nicely with anatomy as well. Bruce is a great prof and seems to enjoy teaching, even though some of the topics become dry at times. Very approachable and easy-going.