this class is hands down one of the most genuinely interesting courses i've taken at ucla. i took this for HBS as a prerequisite but i truly really loved it. Professor McEvoy was an engaging lecturer with clear slides and i learned a lot about antibiotic resistance. Many of the readings seemed to overlap at times, but they were very important to participating in discussion and getting those points. In most cases, I would do half the readings and I got the gist of it (you don't need to read Island of Dr. Moreau sparknotes is fine). Professor Venkat was equally amazing!!! The heat & society unit was truly so fascinating and I actually really enjoyed the readings. It was such an interesting topic that I had never learned about before.

The class breakdown is mostly participation in discussion sections, 2 unit exams that were open note and available all day, and a final paper in the structure of a congressional hearing testimony. Since there were 2 weeks where discussion was cancelled bc of holidays, we had mini assignments that discussed the readings within 300 words. There were other options like a mini podcast or visual map but writing was easiest for me. Overall, this class was so cool and really solidified that I wanna be an HBS major!!

Took this class in winter '22 along with Dr. Venkat. Dr. McEvoy is great and I enjoyed all that she had to teach! The course is split into two topics: antibiotic resistance and heat and society. Super interesting stuff! Both are great lecturers and they make the class simple to follow for examinations and whatnot if you take thorough notes during lectures. There is a relatively light workload and make sure to participate in discussions because it's 20% of your grade. Lectures are also recorded. Great class!

I enjoyed the material of this class, but honestly, the exams were pretty tough due to the time limit they gave us. You have to take detailed notes in lectures as the exams tend to focus on the details at times. There are two exams: Unit 1 and Unit 2, and I would recommend studying for both of them.

Pay attention in lectures and you will be fine. The only heavy work for this class is the readings, and I usually hate reading, but if I managed it, you should be fine. I found the class genuinely interesting, so that helped get through the readings. The TAs are all usually very chill, and there's a weekly section work for 6 weeks, but it wasn't that hard to do. Overall, an enjoyable class!

Professor McEvoy is a fairly good professor. She's helpful and will meet with you for other things if necessary - she met with me for advising on a potential project I was going to take up. Though she didn't contribute very much, she still took her time and energy to meet with me. Most of the class was primarily structured with lectures (recorded and posted, attendance not required) and assignments (I believe we had 8 in total to pick from, each week you chose one - you could do repeats, just had to add up to 8). The exams were easy and straightforward - couldn't really get them wrong as long as you absorbed the content you learned, took notes, and reviewed them prior to the exam. Not too intensive on studying.

I don't necessarily feel like I learned much important information from this class.. I did take it during spring 2020 when a lot of final exams and projects were called off. Professor McEvoy taught the class with Professor C.M. Kelty - I think a lot of the information I learned were all covered by previous biology and environmental science courses, which is somewhat to be expected. The book that we had to read was somewhat interesting but also mildly boring at the same time (I think it's a department chosen thing though..). I wasn't particularly attracted to the department either after this course, just because the content was (personally) a little uninteresting. But, we did cover some interesting articles and information about topics like antibiotic resistance, which I definitely enjoyed.

Overall, the course was good for the purpose of fulfilling a GE, but it was by no means super intriguing or beneficial to me in any further extent.