I loved taking this cluster with Rensel. She taught it with Panofsky and Lee during my quarter and they're all great in my opinion. I took the first two quarters in person, which was very entertaining and informative. The information is very interesting and applicable to exams. If you go to class, exams are a breeze with a quick review. The class is somewhat tedious with assignments, but are most definitely manageable. They are not difficult or time-consuming. Just a lot that I often forgot about. If you keep on top of these, you'll definitely get an A. Rensel was incredibly accommodating and personable. Before classes were remote, the professors all held lunch office hours to encourage students to stop and drop by. Would definitely recommend this cluster to freshman who are interested in biotech.

Hands down one of, if not, THE best professor I've had for fall quarter here in UCLA. Her lectures are very very digestible and easy to comprehend, her slides are very concise but complete with all the important points you need to understand from each topic. She is also very engaging in her lectures making it very easy to pay attention for the whole duration of it. She is always willing and open to questions in lectures and/or office hours. + a bonus is that her topics in the cluster were very interesting to look at! Definitely recommend this professor.

This class was taught by both Dr. Rensel and Dr. Garrison. I enjoyed both Professors and the workload was pretty demanding with the amount of readings fluctuating as every week passed. The midterm was multiple choice and had some free response questions, however, if you keep up with the lectures and slides/learning objectives, it shouldn't be too difficult. I would recommend completing the reading guides before lecture as it eases the material that is covered and even correlates into the learning objectives. We do have a research paper that is due by Week 10 and it's around the 1300-1400 word mark with scholarly articles only. I really enjoyed discussion sections and found the TAs to be extremely helpful (Shoutout Laurence!) You get a freebie absence and discussions don't begin until the second week. The final was strictly multiple choice and due to the ongoing protests in LA, our Professors switched it to an online setting AND even made it open-note! This characterized both Professors to be extremely helpful and accommodating and I couldn't be more appreciative to have taken this class this Spring.

I thoroughly recommend this Cluster course. Professor Rensel is very knowledgeable and kind; the format of the class is very conducive to a student's life, combining weekly assignments with larger projects. The material of the Cluster is fascinating, dealing with topics from STEM that relate directly to society, a marriage that is very engaging and was novel to me.