ENAE283 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Benjamin Silbaugh ENAE283 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/15/2024	Ive had him for 283, 362 and most recently 324. Pros: He curves grades and the homework in his class is usually the deciding factor in your final grade, as they account for a large portion of the final grade and are usually similar problems to those on his exams. He is also a genuinely caring guy that will let you submit homework a little late given a good reason (and he usually doesn't make you prove that reason, do with that what you will). Finally Ive heard that he is extremely helpful in office hours, and is really committed to seeing you learn. Cons: He loves, and I mean LOVES deriving the necessary equations from scratch. This is nice for large classes, as you are able to take a load off and concentrate in spurts when he boxes a final equation or states that something will be useful for the upcoming exam. In smaller classes however you have a lot more pressure on focusing on the teacher and staying off your phone, so this aspect of his lectures isn't the best. He is also pretty disorganized from what I can tell, but that is a combination of him being a newish professor and the school giving him seemingly 800 classes to teach per semester. He is truly the Aerospace department equivalent of a utility man (for all my baseball fans out there). He takes awhile grading homework and exams but that never really bothered me much, so to each their own. Final Synopsis: I would take him again only because I know my strengths. I feel that I learn best on my own reading notes and not through the professor themselves. If you are similar I would highly recommend taking his courses, but if you know you need to learn in lectures then maybe he isn't for you. If you are in Aero you will probably have to take his course at some point, so if you are the second kind of student visit his office hours as much as possible, as in a one on one setting he is very helpful.
Benjamin Silbaugh ENAE283 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/23/2023	Im not sure if it was his fault or the course chair’s, but I found this class honestly the most poorly organized class Ive taken. Exams graded very late, homeworks graded late, and Final grade far past deadline. Furthermore, there was a complete disconnect between the exam material and what was taught in lecture and homeworks. Lectures consisted solely of derivations without context(which may be useful in a higher level course, but was never tested in 283) with a complete lack of exams and applications. Only reason I’m not giving a zero is that he was friendly and helpful in office hours, and at least curved exams pretty heavily. He seems to care, and I wouldnt be opposed to taking him for a different class.
Benjamin Silbaugh ENAE283 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/10/2023	Really passionate about the material and cares about his students but can be a little disorganized and focus more on the conceptual and derivation side of things instead of doing examples.
Benjamin Silbaugh ENAE283 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/01/2023	He does spend a lot of time deriving equations but I find it’s a good way to better understand the material and the textbook has plenty of practice problems worked out. You can definitely tell he’s interested in teaching and the material, which makes his lectures more entertaining.
Mary Bowden ENAE283 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/27/2023	Bowden's teaching style is great/easy to understand, and the PowerPoint slides are typically posted on ELMS which is super helpful to me. The exams/homework assignments are identical regardless of who you take the class with.
Benjamin Silbaugh ENAE283 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/14/2023	Does not go over examples in class, went through one example this entire year when the class begged for it. Doesn't go over everything that will be on the exam which you are expected to know it from the text book. Classes are extremely boring with spending 50 minutes deriving equations and the rest of class going on tangents about random plane facts that aren't relevant to the course. Office hours are terrible as when you ask a question he will talk for 10 minutes and say everything except the answer to the question you asked. Practice exams aren't like the actual exam at all.
Benjamin Silbaugh ENAE283 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/14/2023	I do not recommend what so ever. He took 4 weeks to grade exams, we don't do ANY practice problems in lecture and instead lectures are all over the place. I learned from reading the textbook and praying. The lack of practice problems is a huge struggle.
Benjamin Silbaugh ENAE283 Expecting a C- Anonymous 11/13/2023	Hate this guy. His lectures are so all over the place. Im switching majors because of this guy. i cant ever focus in lecture. I cant tell what I need to know in lecture or what is not necessary. He rambles for the first 20 minutes on important topics but doesnt write anything down for us to copy. Maybe its because hes new idk. L prof
Mary Bowden ENAE283 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/24/2023	Dr. Bowden is hands down one of the best professors in the Aerospace department. She explains complicated concepts with ease and is a great communicator and lecturer. Beyond that, she is a wonderfully kind and caring person; she is understanding if you need an extension on an assignment or even an exam, and genuinely wants you to succeed. Her office hours are super helpful, and she does put on social events from time to time, like movie nights, that are also fun. She offers a ton of extra credit opportunities so take advantage of as many of them as you can. Exams do take a minute to be graded, but in all, you will wish you could have Dr. Bowden teach all of your Aerospace classes.
Benjamin Silbaugh ENAE283 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/20/2023	Super friendly guy and very passionate. Lectures were thoughtful but could be disorganized, however i believe this is because he is new to teaching and he will hopefully work it out with time. Sometimes he was too passionate about air and forgot that half of us don't want to build planes, so he skipped a lot of space content that is normally in the curriculum :(
Mary Bowden ENAE283 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/28/2023	Amazing lecturer, very kind and helpful, understanding and wants her students to succeed.
Mary Bowden ENAE283 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/23/2021	Dr. Bowden was a very effective lecturer and made extremely fair exams that were much like the homework and practice exams. The exams definitely require a bit more preparation due to the vast number of concepts on them, but while additional preparation is necessary it isn't a ridiculous amount like you find studying for MATH 241 or 246. Overall, Dr. Bowden's class is fun and easy, and my only gripe is that exams took an inordinate period to finish grading, being about a month in both cases.
Mary Bowden ENAE283 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/17/2021	I had Dr. Bowden for ENES220 and ENAE283 for Fall 2020. She is easily one of the nicest and caring professors I have ever had. She truly cares about her students and wants them to do well. HW's are reasonable and Exams are not do bad but you definitely need to prepare for them. She gives ample opportunities for extra credit. Only thing I have a slight issue with is how long she takes to grade exams but she does teach quite a few other classes I believe. One other thing I had an issue with is she can sort of fall behind in lecture and rush with the material before an exam. Anyway, I would highly recommend taking her for any class she teaches!
Mary Bowden ENAE283 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/05/2021	Bowden is an amazing lecturer and did a fantastic job teaching this introductory ENAE course. Her lectures contain all of the formulas and concepts necessary to do the homework. Also don't be afraid to read the book its amazing and can clear up any concepts or formulas you don't understand. Exams are straightforward and similar to the practice exams she posts. Also there is a lot of extra credit which can earn you a 3-4% boost to your grade. Overall this course isn't too difficult and if I had studied a bit more before exams I could of gotten an A.
Andrew Becnel ENAE283 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2020	Had him for 283 summer 2020, so the class was completely online. He gave synchronous lectures with a couple exceptions for prerecorded ones, but all were recorded. Assignments were fair and was pretty generous (in my opinion) for partial credit on exams. Quizzes were mostly conceptual concepts and HW was more similar to exam questions. Overall would recommend.
Andrew Becnel ENAE283 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/12/2018	Good and fair. Somewhat boring.

Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE283

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/15/2024

Ive had him for 283, 362 and most recently 324. Pros: He curves grades and the homework in his class is usually the deciding factor in your final grade, as they account for a large portion of the final grade and are usually similar problems to those on his exams. He is also a genuinely caring guy that will let you submit homework a little late given a good reason (and he usually doesn't make you prove that reason, do with that what you will). Finally Ive heard that he is extremely helpful in office hours, and is really committed to seeing you learn. Cons: He loves, and I mean LOVES deriving the necessary equations from scratch. This is nice for large classes, as you are able to take a load off and concentrate in spurts when he boxes a final equation or states that something will be useful for the upcoming exam. In smaller classes however you have a lot more pressure on focusing on the teacher and staying off your phone, so this aspect of his lectures isn't the best. He is also pretty disorganized from what I can tell, but that is a combination of him being a newish professor and the school giving him seemingly 800 classes to teach per semester. He is truly the Aerospace department equivalent of a utility man (for all my baseball fans out there). He takes awhile grading homework and exams but that never really bothered me much, so to each their own. Final Synopsis: I would take him again only because I know my strengths. I feel that I learn best on my own reading notes and not through the professor themselves. If you are similar I would highly recommend taking his courses, but if you know you need to learn in lectures then maybe he isn't for you. If you are in Aero you will probably have to take his course at some point, so if you are the second kind of student visit his office hours as much as possible, as in a one on one setting he is very helpful.

Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE283

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/23/2023

Im not sure if it was his fault or the course chair’s, but I found this class honestly the most poorly organized class Ive taken. Exams graded very late, homeworks graded late, and Final grade far past deadline. Furthermore, there was a complete disconnect between the exam material and what was taught in lecture and homeworks. Lectures consisted solely of derivations without context(which may be useful in a higher level course, but was never tested in 283) with a complete lack of exams and applications. Only reason I’m not giving a zero is that he was friendly and helpful in office hours, and at least curved exams pretty heavily. He seems to care, and I wouldnt be opposed to taking him for a different class.

Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE283

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/10/2023

Really passionate about the material and cares about his students but can be a little disorganized and focus more on the conceptual and derivation side of things instead of doing examples.

Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE283

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/01/2023

He does spend a lot of time deriving equations but I find it’s a good way to better understand the material and the textbook has plenty of practice problems worked out. You can definitely tell he’s interested in teaching and the material, which makes his lectures more entertaining.

Mary Bowden
ENAE283

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/27/2023

Bowden's teaching style is great/easy to understand, and the PowerPoint slides are typically posted on ELMS which is super helpful to me. The exams/homework assignments are identical regardless of who you take the class with.

Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE283

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/14/2023

Does not go over examples in class, went through one example this entire year when the class begged for it. Doesn't go over everything that will be on the exam which you are expected to know it from the text book. Classes are extremely boring with spending 50 minutes deriving equations and the rest of class going on tangents about random plane facts that aren't relevant to the course. Office hours are terrible as when you ask a question he will talk for 10 minutes and say everything except the answer to the question you asked. Practice exams aren't like the actual exam at all.

Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE283

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/14/2023

I do not recommend what so ever. He took 4 weeks to grade exams, we don't do ANY practice problems in lecture and instead lectures are all over the place. I learned from reading the textbook and praying. The lack of practice problems is a huge struggle.

Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE283

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
11/13/2023

Hate this guy. His lectures are so all over the place. Im switching majors because of this guy. i cant ever focus in lecture. I cant tell what I need to know in lecture or what is not necessary. He rambles for the first 20 minutes on important topics but doesnt write anything down for us to copy. Maybe its because hes new idk. L prof

Mary Bowden
ENAE283

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/24/2023

Dr. Bowden is hands down one of the best professors in the Aerospace department. She explains complicated concepts with ease and is a great communicator and lecturer. Beyond that, she is a wonderfully kind and caring person; she is understanding if you need an extension on an assignment or even an exam, and genuinely wants you to succeed. Her office hours are super helpful, and she does put on social events from time to time, like movie nights, that are also fun. She offers a ton of extra credit opportunities so take advantage of as many of them as you can. Exams do take a minute to be graded, but in all, you will wish you could have Dr. Bowden teach all of your Aerospace classes.

Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE283

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/20/2023

Super friendly guy and very passionate. Lectures were thoughtful but could be disorganized, however i believe this is because he is new to teaching and he will hopefully work it out with time. Sometimes he was too passionate about air and forgot that half of us don't want to build planes, so he skipped a lot of space content that is normally in the curriculum :(

Mary Bowden
ENAE283

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/28/2023

Amazing lecturer, very kind and helpful, understanding and wants her students to succeed.

Mary Bowden
ENAE283

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/23/2021

Dr. Bowden was a very effective lecturer and made extremely fair exams that were much like the homework and practice exams. The exams definitely require a bit more preparation due to the vast number of concepts on them, but while additional preparation is necessary it isn't a ridiculous amount like you find studying for MATH 241 or 246. Overall, Dr. Bowden's class is fun and easy, and my only gripe is that exams took an inordinate period to finish grading, being about a month in both cases.

Mary Bowden
ENAE283

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/17/2021

I had Dr. Bowden for ENES220 and ENAE283 for Fall 2020. She is easily one of the nicest and caring professors I have ever had. She truly cares about her students and wants them to do well. HW's are reasonable and Exams are not do bad but you definitely need to prepare for them. She gives ample opportunities for extra credit. Only thing I have a slight issue with is how long she takes to grade exams but she does teach quite a few other classes I believe. One other thing I had an issue with is she can sort of fall behind in lecture and rush with the material before an exam. Anyway, I would highly recommend taking her for any class she teaches!

Mary Bowden
ENAE283

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/05/2021

Bowden is an amazing lecturer and did a fantastic job teaching this introductory ENAE course. Her lectures contain all of the formulas and concepts necessary to do the homework. Also don't be afraid to read the book its amazing and can clear up any concepts or formulas you don't understand. Exams are straightforward and similar to the practice exams she posts. Also there is a lot of extra credit which can earn you a 3-4% boost to your grade. Overall this course isn't too difficult and if I had studied a bit more before exams I could of gotten an A.

Andrew Becnel
ENAE283

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/17/2020

Had him for 283 summer 2020, so the class was completely online. He gave synchronous lectures with a couple exceptions for prerecorded ones, but all were recorded. Assignments were fair and was pretty generous (in my opinion) for partial credit on exams. Quizzes were mostly conceptual concepts and HW was more similar to exam questions. Overall would recommend.

Andrew Becnel
ENAE283

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/12/2018

Good and fair. Somewhat boring.

Reviews for ENAE283