The best aspects of this course included the interactive class lectures and approachable professor. The worst aspects of the course included the dense readings and textbook, by which students were expected to learn the majority of the material. The homework and reading quizzes were extremely difficult for students especial y because many of the readings were ineffective and a lot of the material wasn’t covered in class. The course would improve if the professor lectured more and did practice examples in order to ensure students understand the more difficult content. Prospective students should know that previous knowledge of MATLAB is helpful and what they learn in this course will be almost completely based on what they teach themselves through the readings.

Students thought that the best aspects of this course included the interesting materials and the professor, who was helpful and good at explaining detailed concepts. Students really liked learning about how materials went together, and liked the breadth of materials covered. Many students found that the course was difficult, as the modules were complex, the workload was heavy and the exams were intense. Students had trouble dealing with some of the 3D concepts and models, and thought that too many materials were covered over the semester. Students suggested slowing the lecture down with more examples of how to solve problem sets during class. Students also wanted more correlation between the homework, lectures, and exams. Prospective students should be aware that this course has a heavy workload and is full of challenging materials. Students should have a firm grasp of MATLAB, thermodynamics, chemistry, and be comfortable working with 3D models.

Students enjoyed the way this course covered a wide range of topics making it a useful introduction to materials science. They also appreciated the interactive teaching style of the instructor. Students believed the least favorable aspect of the class was the problem sets which students found overly difficult. Students also thought that many of the readings were not useful in explaining concepts. Some students thought the class could be improved with additional examples being demonstrated in class. Students thought it was valuable for others thinking about taking this class to know that the course was challenging with a substantial amount of reading.