ENAE432 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Robert Sanner ENAE432 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/25/2025	Great lecturer, very helpful in office hours. Lecture noted are complete and always posted. Homework was leniently graded, and he gives you the option to skip a few of them. Exams were brutal, but curved heavily, along with the class itself. My one gripe is that I feel he could've given a bit more direction for the final exam/project. I was unable to complete it even after doing very well in the rest of the course.(although I did start it very late)
Robert Sanner ENAE432 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/20/2025	Everyone I feel like is being very nice about how he is. I had him for both 202 and 432 and did not like him for either of those classes. I had 432 this semester and it was absolute torture. It is a difficult course to begin with, and he makes it harder. The TAs are better at explaining concepts than Sanner. While he does lecture during class, it will be very fast and so you can not take notes other than based on the posted lecture notes. There is no textbook for you to learn off of, his notes are the only resource. Furthermore, anytime you ask a question to him, he will be condescending about it, unless it is an "interesting question". The MEs take a similar course, and the teacher is better at teaching than Sanner can be about the same topics. Luckily, there is a good amount of curve on assignments and final average, otherwise it would be impossible to pass. I know this might come off as harsh compared to the others, but I can not stress it enough. But emotions aside, The exams are math heavy and so if you do not get it right away, you are not finishing within the time allotted. There are two exercises due every week at the beginning of class (2 questions each) that are easier and straightforward. The homework will have a lot of background information not really necessary for the question, such as history or use. The final project will take a lot of time, patience, and skill. He throws something you have never seen at you and then expects you to apply everything you have learned throughout the semester. The office hours would vary on usefulness, but to gain the most out of it you should have specific questions or seem like you spent time on the question or he will not be useful. The TAs are helpful which was a saving grace. My discussion was the only reason I understood some of the concepts. The homeworks can take hours, so the whole week it felt like I was only doing controls. This class needs to be listed as more credits for sure. I will say that he is a smart guy and knows what he is talking about, but having him for two different classes and having similar experiences, I do not like him as a professor. The lectures started off useful, but after a certain point, I felt like he was not doing a good job with the notes on the slides. The graphs on the lecture slides would not have good enough notes, so class was the only time to listen about it while he talked really fast. I walked into this course at the beginning of the semester hoping to start with a clean mind from 202 of how he is, but he just proved to me once again why I didn't like him as a professor. There will barely be any examples in class, while the homework would be 4 questions, each with multiple parts. Many times, question 2 would require you to do question 1 again with a different parameter. I absolutely dislike how aerospace requires most students to take him twice. He may be a smart guy, but he is not a good professor.
Robert Sanner ENAE432 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 10/30/2024	Although many people think Sanner is somewhat rude and pretty strict, it is the only way to truly learn control theory in my opinion. This class was by far the hardest class I've ever taken at UMD due to the extremely theoretical topics and methods covered. However, it is a very passable class if you put the work in. Now, this is easier said than done, as the lecture notes are again very theoretical and abstract, the homeworks require long derivations and critical thinking, and the exams consist of questions that test all facets of your understanding of the class. With all of this being said, Sanner and the TAs work overtime to make sure you understand the class as clearly as possible. During lectures, Sanner uses his own pre-written notes. These notes are some of the most descriptive and clear notes I've ever seen and Sanner goes into even more detail during lecture (hint hint, do not skip a lecture or you will be confused). He is open to answering "good" questions during class and is very good at making sure you understand his answer. For homeworks, they often consisted of 3-4 multi-part questions that, as I said before, were some of the most complex problems I've ever had to solve. These problems were designed to cover almost every single slide of lecture notes and test your understanding of the material. I'd say I spent most of my time each week on these homeworks just because of how much thinking that was required to solve them. However, I can confidently say that the TAs (I didn't go to Sanner's office hours so I can't speak on it) were the most impressive part about this class. We've all had a TA that seems like they are more confused than we are, right? Well that was the polar opposite with this class, as the TAs sometimes explained things better than Sanner would and were the main reason I still had some sanity by the end of the semester. They were more than willing to teach you (as opposed to give you the answer) and it worked every. single. time. I cannot stress enough how important office hours were for me in not just passing the class, but truly understanding control theory. Discussions were also a very big part in helping me understand the class, as we worked through past homework problems, exam problems, and examples the TA brought to class that day. The exams were also quite tough. Since there was a time constraint of 50 minutes, if you didn't immediately know how to solve a problem, it was better off to skip it and start another one. Fortunately, after doing the homeworks as well as the practice exam provided by Sanner, most of my studying was just reviewing concepts I was still shaky on and rarely was I trying to teach myself entire topics the night before the exam. In short, they were very hard, but also very fair. Instead of a final exam, Sanner assigns a final project that truly encapsulates the entire semester, requiring you to turn back to page 1 of your notes. I actually thought the project was very interesting, as it was not only a test of everything you learned over the semester, but also how to apply it for real world systems. Again, very time consuming, but very doable. In short, this class is very hard. Luckily, Sanner knows this and it is obvious that he set up an environment that allows his students to succeed if they take advantage of the resources. If you carefully work through homework problems, go to lectures, discussion, and office hours, and just generally work hard, you will do well. It is an extremely rewarding class and I couldn't imagine any other professor trying to teach control theory.
Robert Sanner ENAE432 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 09/07/2024	This was easily the hardest class I've taken in my academic career, but it was hard for the right reasons. Dr. Sanner is an extremely good lecturer. If you just put down your notes, and just pay attention to what he says and shows, you will understand the intuition and purpose for what we are learning, even if you don't get everything (aim to get 60-70% of a lecture which is a pretty average expectation). Putting in the work after class by going through the lecture notes step-by-step is how things will start making sense. The initial learning curve is extremely steep because you need to review differential equations, linear algebra, and complex algebra to even start doing the first few homeworks (and by the way, the homeworks are brutal but absolutely doable if you keep reviewing the lecture notes). At the end of this, you'll master the material. Success in the class is absolutely dependent on how much you absorb and master the content in the first half of the course (everything covered on the first midterm). Then, you will have developed enough intuition that the second half will feel manageable and rewarding. GO TO SANNER'S OFFICE HOURS. Think hard about the homework, try and absorb the lecture notes again and again, and talk about things in office hours. I promise you it will be very helpful and Dr. Sanner won't bite as long as you put in the work BEFORE coming to office hours. It all sounds like a lot. It is. The class feels like it should be 9 credits instead of 3 because it's seriously all-consuming. Get through this class and your academic maturity will skyrocket. Also... strongly consider getting an IPad or something similar for doing the homework. Good luck and take care of yourself.
Robert Sanner ENAE432 Expecting a B- Anonymous 06/26/2023	His lectures are practically useless as all he does is read off his presentation slides that he shared before class which is nice if you don't want to have to go to class but bad otherwise. Additionally, he always sounds mad when someone asks a question during class removing what could be the last reason to actually come to class, especially since they are in the morning. His lecture notes can be pretty confusing and sometimes incomplete which is a pain since there is no textbook to cross reference them with. Due to all this, I spent the entire semester terrified that I was going to fail this course but somehow managed to pull out a decent grade, largely thanks to the TAs who were truly working overtime to answer questions and help with homework. Unfortunately he was the only professor teaching this course last semester and I'm pretty sure that a constant so good luck and go to the TAs office hours.
Robert Sanner ENAE432 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/10/2012	This is a class that will make you work for your grade and Dr. Sanner knows it. He is very good about clearly describing the course in the syllabus and he has been teaching this class for several years and has gotten very good at it. He may be the best professor in the Aerospace department.
Robert Sanner ENAE432 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/22/2010	A lot of people will say that Sanner is an a$$ and has a huge ego, and I agree, that's how he comes across in a classroom setting. But he does that because he's not going to put up with students $hit. In class he is extremely straightforward and will write down everything you need to know. I can read through my notes and it's almost like being in class because he's extremely meticulous about his details and writes exactly the way he talks. I went to Sanner a few times to discuss the final project he gives and he was way nicer than he would seem. As long as you try, and show him that you've attempted to understand what he wants you to do, he's extremely nice and helpful. I sat with him a few times and showed him what I had done and how I had attempted to solve the problem and the logic behind it, and he was very very helpful. Go in expecting to be told what to do and expecting answers without putting in the work and obviously he's not going to be that kind. As much as I despised his class during the semester (I'm not so hot at controls/programming) I really liked the class in retrospect and I have a lot of respect for Sanner. The guy is a genius
Robert Sanner ENAE432 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/16/2008	Most people need help with homeworks, so form study groups. Dr. Sanner is rather condescending if you seek homework help from him. His lectures are sometimes entertaining, and he gives lots of notes, but the notes are often not enough information to do homework. He moves through material quickly. He does curve though. I had a lot of 50%s on homeworks and 70%s on quizzes, but as long as you try, you should pass.

Robert Sanner
ENAE432

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/25/2025

Great lecturer, very helpful in office hours. Lecture noted are complete and always posted. Homework was leniently graded, and he gives you the option to skip a few of them. Exams were brutal, but curved heavily, along with the class itself. My one gripe is that I feel he could've given a bit more direction for the final exam/project. I was unable to complete it even after doing very well in the rest of the course.(although I did start it very late)

Robert Sanner
ENAE432

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/20/2025

Everyone I feel like is being very nice about how he is. I had him for both 202 and 432 and did not like him for either of those classes. I had 432 this semester and it was absolute torture. It is a difficult course to begin with, and he makes it harder. The TAs are better at explaining concepts than Sanner. While he does lecture during class, it will be very fast and so you can not take notes other than based on the posted lecture notes. There is no textbook for you to learn off of, his notes are the only resource. Furthermore, anytime you ask a question to him, he will be condescending about it, unless it is an "interesting question". The MEs take a similar course, and the teacher is better at teaching than Sanner can be about the same topics. Luckily, there is a good amount of curve on assignments and final average, otherwise it would be impossible to pass. I know this might come off as harsh compared to the others, but I can not stress it enough. But emotions aside, The exams are math heavy and so if you do not get it right away, you are not finishing within the time allotted. There are two exercises due every week at the beginning of class (2 questions each) that are easier and straightforward. The homework will have a lot of background information not really necessary for the question, such as history or use. The final project will take a lot of time, patience, and skill. He throws something you have never seen at you and then expects you to apply everything you have learned throughout the semester. The office hours would vary on usefulness, but to gain the most out of it you should have specific questions or seem like you spent time on the question or he will not be useful. The TAs are helpful which was a saving grace. My discussion was the only reason I understood some of the concepts. The homeworks can take hours, so the whole week it felt like I was only doing controls. This class needs to be listed as more credits for sure. I will say that he is a smart guy and knows what he is talking about, but having him for two different classes and having similar experiences, I do not like him as a professor. The lectures started off useful, but after a certain point, I felt like he was not doing a good job with the notes on the slides. The graphs on the lecture slides would not have good enough notes, so class was the only time to listen about it while he talked really fast. I walked into this course at the beginning of the semester hoping to start with a clean mind from 202 of how he is, but he just proved to me once again why I didn't like him as a professor. There will barely be any examples in class, while the homework would be 4 questions, each with multiple parts. Many times, question 2 would require you to do question 1 again with a different parameter. I absolutely dislike how aerospace requires most students to take him twice. He may be a smart guy, but he is not a good professor.

Robert Sanner
ENAE432

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
10/30/2024

Although many people think Sanner is somewhat rude and pretty strict, it is the only way to truly learn control theory in my opinion. This class was by far the hardest class I've ever taken at UMD due to the extremely theoretical topics and methods covered. However, it is a very passable class if you put the work in. Now, this is easier said than done, as the lecture notes are again very theoretical and abstract, the homeworks require long derivations and critical thinking, and the exams consist of questions that test all facets of your understanding of the class. With all of this being said, Sanner and the TAs work overtime to make sure you understand the class as clearly as possible. During lectures, Sanner uses his own pre-written notes. These notes are some of the most descriptive and clear notes I've ever seen and Sanner goes into even more detail during lecture (hint hint, do not skip a lecture or you will be confused). He is open to answering "good" questions during class and is very good at making sure you understand his answer. For homeworks, they often consisted of 3-4 multi-part questions that, as I said before, were some of the most complex problems I've ever had to solve. These problems were designed to cover almost every single slide of lecture notes and test your understanding of the material. I'd say I spent most of my time each week on these homeworks just because of how much thinking that was required to solve them. However, I can confidently say that the TAs (I didn't go to Sanner's office hours so I can't speak on it) were the most impressive part about this class. We've all had a TA that seems like they are more confused than we are, right? Well that was the polar opposite with this class, as the TAs sometimes explained things better than Sanner would and were the main reason I still had some sanity by the end of the semester. They were more than willing to teach you (as opposed to give you the answer) and it worked every. single. time. I cannot stress enough how important office hours were for me in not just passing the class, but truly understanding control theory. Discussions were also a very big part in helping me understand the class, as we worked through past homework problems, exam problems, and examples the TA brought to class that day. The exams were also quite tough. Since there was a time constraint of 50 minutes, if you didn't immediately know how to solve a problem, it was better off to skip it and start another one. Fortunately, after doing the homeworks as well as the practice exam provided by Sanner, most of my studying was just reviewing concepts I was still shaky on and rarely was I trying to teach myself entire topics the night before the exam. In short, they were very hard, but also very fair. Instead of a final exam, Sanner assigns a final project that truly encapsulates the entire semester, requiring you to turn back to page 1 of your notes. I actually thought the project was very interesting, as it was not only a test of everything you learned over the semester, but also how to apply it for real world systems. Again, very time consuming, but very doable. In short, this class is very hard. Luckily, Sanner knows this and it is obvious that he set up an environment that allows his students to succeed if they take advantage of the resources. If you carefully work through homework problems, go to lectures, discussion, and office hours, and just generally work hard, you will do well. It is an extremely rewarding class and I couldn't imagine any other professor trying to teach control theory.

Robert Sanner
ENAE432

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
09/07/2024

This was easily the hardest class I've taken in my academic career, but it was hard for the right reasons. Dr. Sanner is an extremely good lecturer. If you just put down your notes, and just pay attention to what he says and shows, you will understand the intuition and purpose for what we are learning, even if you don't get everything (aim to get 60-70% of a lecture which is a pretty average expectation). Putting in the work after class by going through the lecture notes step-by-step is how things will start making sense. The initial learning curve is extremely steep because you need to review differential equations, linear algebra, and complex algebra to even start doing the first few homeworks (and by the way, the homeworks are brutal but absolutely doable if you keep reviewing the lecture notes). At the end of this, you'll master the material. Success in the class is absolutely dependent on how much you absorb and master the content in the first half of the course (everything covered on the first midterm). Then, you will have developed enough intuition that the second half will feel manageable and rewarding. GO TO SANNER'S OFFICE HOURS. Think hard about the homework, try and absorb the lecture notes again and again, and talk about things in office hours. I promise you it will be very helpful and Dr. Sanner won't bite as long as you put in the work BEFORE coming to office hours. It all sounds like a lot. It is. The class feels like it should be 9 credits instead of 3 because it's seriously all-consuming. Get through this class and your academic maturity will skyrocket. Also... strongly consider getting an IPad or something similar for doing the homework. Good luck and take care of yourself.

Robert Sanner
ENAE432

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
06/26/2023

His lectures are practically useless as all he does is read off his presentation slides that he shared before class which is nice if you don't want to have to go to class but bad otherwise. Additionally, he always sounds mad when someone asks a question during class removing what could be the last reason to actually come to class, especially since they are in the morning. His lecture notes can be pretty confusing and sometimes incomplete which is a pain since there is no textbook to cross reference them with. Due to all this, I spent the entire semester terrified that I was going to fail this course but somehow managed to pull out a decent grade, largely thanks to the TAs who were truly working overtime to answer questions and help with homework. Unfortunately he was the only professor teaching this course last semester and I'm pretty sure that a constant so good luck and go to the TAs office hours.

Robert Sanner
ENAE432

Expecting an A
Anonymous
07/10/2012

This is a class that will make you work for your grade and Dr. Sanner knows it. He is very good about clearly describing the course in the syllabus and he has been teaching this class for several years and has gotten very good at it. He may be the best professor in the Aerospace department.

Robert Sanner
ENAE432

Expecting an A
Anonymous
07/22/2010

A lot of people will say that Sanner is an a$$ and has a huge ego, and I agree, that's how he comes across in a classroom setting. But he does that because he's not going to put up with students $hit. In class he is extremely straightforward and will write down everything you need to know. I can read through my notes and it's almost like being in class because he's extremely meticulous about his details and writes exactly the way he talks. I went to Sanner a few times to discuss the final project he gives and he was way nicer than he would seem. As long as you try, and show him that you've attempted to understand what he wants you to do, he's extremely nice and helpful. I sat with him a few times and showed him what I had done and how I had attempted to solve the problem and the logic behind it, and he was very very helpful. Go in expecting to be told what to do and expecting answers without putting in the work and obviously he's not going to be that kind. As much as I despised his class during the semester (I'm not so hot at controls/programming) I really liked the class in retrospect and I have a lot of respect for Sanner. The guy is a genius

Robert Sanner
ENAE432

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/16/2008

Most people need help with homeworks, so form study groups. Dr. Sanner is rather condescending if you seek homework help from him. His lectures are sometimes entertaining, and he gives lots of notes, but the notes are often not enough information to do homework. He moves through material quickly. He does curve though. I had a lot of 50%s on homeworks and 70%s on quizzes, but as long as you try, you should pass.

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