The best aspects of this course included the informative lectures, well-designed homework assignments, and expert guest lecturers. One student felt the lecture notes in the second half of class were difficult to fol ow. Other students felt the homework was “busy work” or excessively tedious. Suggestions included incorporating videos to illustrate attitude concepts, providing more application examples, and providing less proofs. Prospective students should know MATLAB and are encouraged to do the extra credit work.

This course took an analytical teach-by-example approach to the subject matter. The instructor explained things clearly and often used handouts to supplement his lectures. But the course didn’t cover nonlinear elastic material and at times lectures were confusing. In addition, the instructor made many mistakes on homework assignments, resulting in students having to figure out what the issue was. Suggestions for improvement include: shorter exams that can be completed, a new instructor, better course organization, and more handouts. Prospective students need a solid mathematics background.

Students enjoyed the opportunity to research topics of interest, have exposure to a number of interesting materials, and gain a better understanding of how the power grid works. Many students noted that the professor was very passionate about the material and teaching the class. Some students felt that the instructor was unapproachable and that expectations for the final project were not very clear. Suggestions for improvement included allowing students to review final topics before submitting a proposal and assigning weekly articles relevant to course topics. Prospective students should be engineering majors interested in energy and have a working knowledge of circuits.