Andrew Swafford

Even though Swafford has high expectations of his students to be independent and handle a heavy lab workload, it turns out to be an extremely rewarding experience for confidence and skills growth in a lab setting. Swafford is super cool, maybe a little intimidating, but a great professor and super kind.

Professor Swafford was incredibly committed to making sure we understood the 'why' behind the content that we were learning -- often connecting what we were learning to real-life examples and genetics programs. Whether it was learning how to use BLAST or analyzing and critiquing specific genetic studies, his flexible deadlines and oral exams shifted the focus from grades to the bigger picture. The group work, problem sets and oral exams made cell bio and genetics not a stressful course. It was evident that his passion as a professor is the reason why he teaches.

Professor Swafford was incredibly committed to making sure we understood the 'why' behind the content that we were learning -- often connecting what we were learning to real-life examples and genetics programs. Whether it was learning how to use BLAST or analyzing and critiquing specific genetic studies, his flexible deadlines and or …Read more

I took this with Professor Combelles. The class is so easy but I didn't get a lot out of it. She doesn't teach traditionally which I found annoying and hard to be engaged. She has a worksheet and we slowly go through it filling in the blanks. Also the exams are graded based on a reflection you write not accuracy.