Cardinal, Kristen  

Dr. Cardinal is amazing. She is a true role model for all of her students. She is extremely kind and open. The class was informative and fun, just as it should be. She definitely cares about her students and is willing to give advice on all things. I really enjoyed BMED 101, and I'm lucky to have met her.

K Card is OK. She presents the material clearly, but it's not particularly engaging, which it should be considering the subject matter. Overall the class and the attitude seemed to be "You'll need these things to get through college and get a job," which is fine, except I feel like I should have been happy I was learning things in my major. Puts too much emphasis on professionalism and not on love of what you do.

I learned that if I were to take up hunting, I should shoot deer, not bears, because a bear will hunt me back if I successfully wound it. Fascinating! I didnt know that the key to production and operations management was so brutally simple!

This class does not exist.

Treats her students like little children. Your grade is determined entirely by your attendance, busy work assignments, kissing her butt, and most importantly, how much she likes you.

The best thing about her is how passonate she is about the subjects she teaches. She is very approachable in office hours and always smiles at you and really makes you feel like NO question is a stupid question. She assigns homework that is basically a literature review of journal articles...which is what all us BMEDS may be doing in industry someday so this was very practical. Her lectures are very informative, she outlines what she will talk about, asks thought-provoking-questions, encourages group discussion, and could probably explain this stuff to my grandmother. Her tests are fair but challenging, her lab is conducted in a very timely and respectable mannor, and she treats each student like a professional.

Good prof; good lectures; relevant, complementary text (though you can easily get by without buying it); excellent labs. High expectations on the lab reports, which I like. However she is not upfront about her expectations... about WHAT exactly she wants on her labs and test answers. There are no "example" labs, yet by the time you get feedback you've already turned in two labs and an exam. She says "oh, the rubric is pretty clear about what I want" but know now that her expectations for a lab report are far higher than other BMED profs, T-Card included. She can also be somewhat vague on some of the exam Qs. Many trip up on providing the "right" kind of answer - not the knowledge behind the answer. For example, you'll lose a fair chunk for not writing down the initial equation (i.e. y=mx+b) before plugging in your numbers, despite the equation being given right on the test. How stupid is that. Those kids that score 100% on the midterm? They have the old exams - which I hear are word-for-word with the current exams. Again, damn stupid. Flaws aside, her classes (both Cardinals, in fact) are among the most useful courses a BMED student will take. It's alot of work and initial expectations WILL be unclear but try to enjoy it.

Really strict and insanely high standards on labs (even for the first ones). Even more pretentious than her husband. Take this class with Whitt for the love of god

Dr. Cardinal was very organized and thorough. Her lectures were very straightforward and engaging. There is a good amount of content and people do worse on the final than the midterm so make sure not to study last minute. Tests are extensive but fair. She expects a lot of detail on tests and hw to prove that you actually understand the readings. Lab was very hands-on. Lab reports are very tough and time-consuming. She has high expectations but gives great feedback. Office hours are very busy. The project is reasonable. Make sure to start early and not wait until last minute and you should get a decent grade. Also, pick a good lab group (because it’s also your project group). Tell Dr. Cardinal if there are issues early on so they can be resolved with as little frustration as possible.

I'll echo many of the points of the previous review. The lecture was straightforward and had a good amount of content. No textbook - mostly literature articles and the FDA website, which is what you'll be using in the future anyways. The midterm and final are all memorizing information from the lecture, hw, and occasional readings (all with specific DETAILS), and they're both worth a lot of your grade, but they are totally doable if you put in the time and effort. The lab was easily my favorite part of this class - you do an overview of many common biomaterials tests (contact angle, tensile) and some really awesome decellularization and histology. As noted previously, the lab reports are long (think 20+ pages), but I didn't think they're that hard and if you have a decent group it's not too bad. The lab reports are where you will spend the vast majority of time outside class. The project is annoying but not difficult if you read the rubric and do what it says.

Exactly what the two previous reviews said. Dr. Cardinal is an amazing professor, she is clear, straightforward, and extremely enthusiastic. That being said, she has very high expectations for all of her students on her tests and on lab reports, but it only makes you a better engineer. You can tell that she loves her job and helping students. If you catch her on a quarter she is teaching 420, you are very lucky. Can't say enough good about her.

She is an effective professor overall. Her teaching style is very clear. Tests are mostly fair. If a good portion of people mess up a question, she'll explain the answer in class. She does go out of her way to get people involved with her lectures, which is good or bad, depending on who you are. I felt it was unnecessary.

I have absolutely no idea why Dr. Cardinal's rating is so low. Her 420 class was by far the most valuable class I have taken so far as a BMED student. As for the comments about your grade being determined by attendance -- I do recall her taking attendance into account, but to say that your grade is determined by that is such a stretch. You shouldn't have anything to worry about if you just show up for the class... She is extremely approachable and helpful during office hours (although she is pretty damn busy - there is almost always a line outside). And yes, she is pretty demanding on her lab write-ups. But I don't understand why students continue to complain about this. I feel so much more capable of writing a professional document now because of her class. And c'mon, it's engineering, it's Cal Poly, you should expect to have some demands by your professors. And this isn't Dynamics or Fluids. Overall, great teacher. If you get a chance to work with her for your Senior Project, you will be super fortunate. She knows her stuff and is genuinely excited about the projects her students are doing. Also if I remember from ENGR 110, she graduated from Cal Poly with a 4.0 and was on the volleyball team. She's pretty badass.

Last class I am taking at Poly and first time with K Cardinal. She is by far the best professor I have had. She actually gives a shit about how her students are doing outside of class, even if you aren't the stereotypical engineering student. This class was pretty difficult just because its mostly memorization of a complex process that is the FDA. Not all that bad. If it was taught by anyone else I would say do not take it, but K Card is awesome.

There was very little content presented in this course. The textbook was outdated and a waste of money. The instructor's knowledge of cell culture was also outdated and uninformed. The lab portion of the course was a waste of resources.

Dr. Cardinal is everything you'd want in a professor: It's clear that Dr. Cardinal has a passion for the subject matter presented in 510 and for teaching students about it as well. She is always engaging and helpful in class and lab, and stays well after in office hours to ensure any and all questions are cleared up. She was always able to make the material relatable and interesting. For anyone interested in tissue engineering this is definitely the class and professor to take; she knows her stuff and wants to help you know it too.