ENEE381 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Edo Waks ENEE381 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/14/2024	For the most part 381 is easier and more interesting than 380. Waks is an engaging lecturer (something that's sort of hard to find in the ECE), and although he tends to do a lot of derivations, and leans more towards a physics perspective compared to an engineering perspective, he does his best to give real world applications. He had a "no phones in lecture" and he was sort of strict on that for about a month and then I think he stopped caring. HE DOES NOT POST ANY LECTURE NOTES which is fine because 1. He's primarily going off the textbook, which is a pretty good textbook 2. He's a pretty good lecturer, so you should go anyways. He does give out weekly quizzes in discussion, but it's just a matter of redoing a homework problem/part of a problem that was due the week before. He can be a bit tardy when it comes to announcing exam dates, office hours, etc. His grading seems pretty fair (I think he just hands the TA(s) a grading rubric and they follow it from there), and he's pretty comfortable when it comes to regrade requests. Exams are pretty fair, as long as you know what's going on in the homework then you'll be just fine. As of right now, I am unsure if there will be a curve (again, he doesn't do the best when it comes to announcements), but most of the class is doing pretty well so far. Should he teach 382 in the future, I think he'll be a pretty good pick.
Patrick O'Shea ENEE381 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/20/2023	Patrick O'Shea might be the single most approachable and pleasant professor in the ECE department. His teaching is HIGHLY effective and it includes relevant history, plus all the real life tie-ins and examples you can imagine. His exams are very fair with a few oddball questions here and there, but most questions are very similar to old exams. If you can take ENEE381 with Patrick O'Shea you absolutely should. Plus he did a pretty reasonable curve.
Wesley Lawson ENEE381 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2023	Probably the best person to take 381 with.
Edward Ott ENEE381 Anonymous 05/24/2022	Professor Ott's lectures are alright, as mentioned below. He is very dry, and simply goes over derivations for the current topic. He jumps around in the textbook some, which can be difficult to follow. However, his grading is fair and the exams are quite straightforward. If you go over his supplementary problems from homework and review quiz questions, the exams will be quite similar. He did give out a few supplementary notes that he wrote that are not included in the textbook, so be sure to focus on those. He likes to ask practical questions derived from these notes. Overall, he was an average professor. His lectures were not great, but you can tell he is a very intelligent and well-respected physicist. I'm not sure how the final course grades were distributed, but the course grading scale seemed pretty fair.
Patrick O'Shea ENEE381 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2021	Lectures are easy to follow. Not very much of 380 in this course. Homework are doable and due every two weeks. Quizzes after every homework assignments. Exams were straightforward and closely related to the homework and lecture material . Overall a great professor and straightforward course.
Patrick O'Shea ENEE381 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2021	I've found O'Shea to be a top-tier professor. While I think his lectures are a little dry, his homework (due every two weeks) is great at cementing concepts in your mind, and he usually responds to emails in a reasonable timeframe (i.e. within 24 hours). Rather than having two midterms, he gives a midterm and a term paper. Both the midterm and final were very fair exams in my opinion, and while I had to lean on the open-book nature of the exams due to other classes eating into my study time, it was still doable within the given timeframe. He provided review slides for both exams, which were pretty good, and the exam problems also tended to be similar to problems we'd already done in homework/discussion/lecture. I don't know how different things will be in-person, but if you devote time to going over all the problems you can, you should be good. For online exams, we had 8 problems, but we were graded on our best 7, which means you could skip one if you wanted. Also, while there is no curve, O'Shea is a pretty nice grader, which more than balances things out. As for the group term paper, I think it's a good concept, but it ended up meshing pretty poorly with my own schedule; regardless, since O'Shea is a nice grader, you can grind out the report and presentation slides without much issue, though I recommend taking any time you can to thoroughly explore your chosen subject and have fun. Oh, and be sure to review 380 before taking this course, as this course is a continuation of that. Having 380 fresh in your mind should at the very least help with the first bit of class, which was a review of 380 before moving on to new topics.
Thomas Antonsen ENEE381 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/01/2021	He's nice, but his lectures are very dry, and jam-packed with information/equations. On top of that, he goes lightning quick if no one asks questions to slow him down. That being said, he's a lenient grader (at least for 381). All in all, ENEE381 is pretty much PHYS260/270 on steroids.
Julius Goldhar ENEE381 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/26/2020	Not the best professor teaching wise but he is amazing person. He respects you and will help you out during office hours. If you can't make it, he will accommodate at another time convenient for you. The homeworks are harder than the exams. The exams though are relatively straightforward and he doesn't throw in tricks in the problems. Review the lecture slides and the homework assignements and you will be fine. He also holds a review before each exam so make sure you attend them since the exams questions are somewhat based on the concepts he emphasizes. He also posts practice exams and problems which can help in exam prep. If you are willing to put in the work I would recommend taking him
Julius Goldhar ENEE381 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/13/2019	He doesn’t teach well in class. Going to class is useless. His class is basically a self-teaching class. Plus the problems on the exams are confusing. Avoid this Professor at all costs.
Ping-Tong Ho ENEE381 Expecting a B Anonymous 10/02/2018	Even though his class wasn't hard (exams and homeworks are all based on stuff you've seen in class - there are no surprises), I only gave him 3 stars since he is noticeably unapproachable in office hours. He is the only professor I've ever had who is either vague or condescending if you ask him for help on homework or understanding posted solutions. The TA and your classmates are far better resources for help than the professor himself.
Leonard Taylor ENEE381 Anonymous 05/20/2016	Pros: - First three exams are graded pretty easily, and the homeworks and quizzes basically count as extra credit onto your exam grades - Homeworks can be long, but the solutions are around, I'm sure someone in your class will find them within the first few weeks of school - Pretty easy to get an A or a B in a class that would otherwise be quite difficult Cons: - Chances are, you'll learn nothing from Dr. Taylor. Hes a horrible professor - If you can't find the homework solutions, doing the homeworks is next to impossible - Dr. Taylor grades the final exams himself, and he grades very strictly. Expect 20-30 points lower on your final than on your first 3 midterms Overall, I'd try and avoid Taylor if you can. I'd only recommend him if you really don't care about transmission line theory or antennas, which is basically what 381 is about, and want an easy A.
Victor Granatstein ENEE381 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2013	He prepares slides and reads them during lectures. If you miss a lecture, you can download his slides from ELMS and go over them at home. His HW's are all from the Cheng's textbook. During lectures, he explains proofs and derivations but he also shows how to solve simple problems and talks about the significance of theorems and equations. Do not hesitate to ask questions during his lectures, he is very good at answering them straight to the point (he will not mock you, like some profs do). There are 2 exams in the class: one midterm and a final. Go to the ieee testbank to check out his past exams, they will help you. He solves 2 sample midterms and 2 sample final exams in class before those exams. His exams include an essay question about applications of theorems. For example, on the final, there was a question asking to write about the gain of an antenna. I think he is a good professor, and I recommend taking enee381 with him.
Leonard Taylor ENEE381 Anonymous 01/14/2013	Even though he says grades are based on points, he actually curves. My class went into final with half the class having a good chance at A, and he graded the final EXTREMELY strict (~30% average below previous tests) which bumped ALOT of people from A to B, and a good amount from B to C. Anyways, : Pros: -Class follows book very closely -Book is very good for tests -Tests are easy if you understand everything in the book -He tries to make class entertaining with jokes (some are actually good) Cons: -Lectures are pointless. I only went to get quiz points but brought my book and studied. This worked well, as his lectures are often off-topic. -Book has a handful of mistakes
Julius Goldhar ENEE381 Anonymous 01/28/2011	Goldhar's lectures are pretty bad. He's very disorganized and make a lot of mistakes and doesn't explain stuff too well. However, his homework problems are good and they're usually interesting to do. He gives matlab assignments which I thought was good because it's important to know how to use matlab. He is pretty good in office hours also. It's definitely important to have a good TA. Goldhar gives very reasonable tests though. They test you on relevant concepts and they're not pointlessly difficult. Definitely an easily passable class, but he's not that great of a teacher.
Julius Goldhar ENEE381 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/28/2010	Goldhar constantly makes mistakes. everything he tells you is false. It is impossible to take notes on his lectures. If you do, you will not learn the material correctly. He posts slides (which he doesn't use in lecture) that are mostly correct, but not always. He gives out a lot of A's, but you dont learn anything. My understanding of the class is that a big part of what you are supposed to get out of it is how to use/read smith charts which Goldhar did not get to till half way through the semester. I would advise putting this class off till some other time if Goldhar is your only option. He is a nice guy at least... The book for the class is.. ok..
Danilo Romero ENEE381 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/05/2009	This professor does not teach, but gives you slides with all the equations you'll need. You probably will get an B or C b/c he practically gives you all the formulas for the test. His distribution is 100-90 A, 89-70 B, and 69-55 or 50 C.

Edo Waks
ENEE381

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/14/2024

For the most part 381 is easier and more interesting than 380. Waks is an engaging lecturer (something that's sort of hard to find in the ECE), and although he tends to do a lot of derivations, and leans more towards a physics perspective compared to an engineering perspective, he does his best to give real world applications. He had a "no phones in lecture" and he was sort of strict on that for about a month and then I think he stopped caring. HE DOES NOT POST ANY LECTURE NOTES which is fine because 1. He's primarily going off the textbook, which is a pretty good textbook 2. He's a pretty good lecturer, so you should go anyways. He does give out weekly quizzes in discussion, but it's just a matter of redoing a homework problem/part of a problem that was due the week before. He can be a bit tardy when it comes to announcing exam dates, office hours, etc. His grading seems pretty fair (I think he just hands the TA(s) a grading rubric and they follow it from there), and he's pretty comfortable when it comes to regrade requests. Exams are pretty fair, as long as you know what's going on in the homework then you'll be just fine. As of right now, I am unsure if there will be a curve (again, he doesn't do the best when it comes to announcements), but most of the class is doing pretty well so far. Should he teach 382 in the future, I think he'll be a pretty good pick.

Patrick O'Shea
ENEE381

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/20/2023

Patrick O'Shea might be the single most approachable and pleasant professor in the ECE department. His teaching is HIGHLY effective and it includes relevant history, plus all the real life tie-ins and examples you can imagine. His exams are very fair with a few oddball questions here and there, but most questions are very similar to old exams. If you can take ENEE381 with Patrick O'Shea you absolutely should. Plus he did a pretty reasonable curve.

Wesley Lawson
ENEE381

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/17/2023

Probably the best person to take 381 with.

Edward Ott
ENEE381

Anonymous
05/24/2022

Professor Ott's lectures are alright, as mentioned below. He is very dry, and simply goes over derivations for the current topic. He jumps around in the textbook some, which can be difficult to follow. However, his grading is fair and the exams are quite straightforward. If you go over his supplementary problems from homework and review quiz questions, the exams will be quite similar. He did give out a few supplementary notes that he wrote that are not included in the textbook, so be sure to focus on those. He likes to ask practical questions derived from these notes. Overall, he was an average professor. His lectures were not great, but you can tell he is a very intelligent and well-respected physicist. I'm not sure how the final course grades were distributed, but the course grading scale seemed pretty fair.

Patrick O'Shea
ENEE381

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/22/2021

Lectures are easy to follow. Not very much of 380 in this course. Homework are doable and due every two weeks. Quizzes after every homework assignments. Exams were straightforward and closely related to the homework and lecture material . Overall a great professor and straightforward course.

Patrick O'Shea
ENEE381

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/19/2021

I've found O'Shea to be a top-tier professor. While I think his lectures are a little dry, his homework (due every two weeks) is great at cementing concepts in your mind, and he usually responds to emails in a reasonable timeframe (i.e. within 24 hours). Rather than having two midterms, he gives a midterm and a term paper. Both the midterm and final were very fair exams in my opinion, and while I had to lean on the open-book nature of the exams due to other classes eating into my study time, it was still doable within the given timeframe. He provided review slides for both exams, which were pretty good, and the exam problems also tended to be similar to problems we'd already done in homework/discussion/lecture. I don't know how different things will be in-person, but if you devote time to going over all the problems you can, you should be good. For online exams, we had 8 problems, but we were graded on our best 7, which means you could skip one if you wanted. Also, while there is no curve, O'Shea is a pretty nice grader, which more than balances things out. As for the group term paper, I think it's a good concept, but it ended up meshing pretty poorly with my own schedule; regardless, since O'Shea is a nice grader, you can grind out the report and presentation slides without much issue, though I recommend taking any time you can to thoroughly explore your chosen subject and have fun. Oh, and be sure to review 380 before taking this course, as this course is a continuation of that. Having 380 fresh in your mind should at the very least help with the first bit of class, which was a review of 380 before moving on to new topics.

Thomas Antonsen
ENEE381

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/01/2021

He's nice, but his lectures are very dry, and jam-packed with information/equations. On top of that, he goes lightning quick if no one asks questions to slow him down. That being said, he's a lenient grader (at least for 381). All in all, ENEE381 is pretty much PHYS260/270 on steroids.

Julius Goldhar
ENEE381

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/26/2020

Not the best professor teaching wise but he is amazing person. He respects you and will help you out during office hours. If you can't make it, he will accommodate at another time convenient for you. The homeworks are harder than the exams. The exams though are relatively straightforward and he doesn't throw in tricks in the problems. Review the lecture slides and the homework assignements and you will be fine. He also holds a review before each exam so make sure you attend them since the exams questions are somewhat based on the concepts he emphasizes. He also posts practice exams and problems which can help in exam prep. If you are willing to put in the work I would recommend taking him

Julius Goldhar
ENEE381

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/13/2019

He doesn’t teach well in class. Going to class is useless. His class is basically a self-teaching class. Plus the problems on the exams are confusing. Avoid this Professor at all costs.

Ping-Tong Ho
ENEE381

Expecting a B
Anonymous
10/02/2018

Even though his class wasn't hard (exams and homeworks are all based on stuff you've seen in class - there are no surprises), I only gave him 3 stars since he is noticeably unapproachable in office hours. He is the only professor I've ever had who is either vague or condescending if you ask him for help on homework or understanding posted solutions. The TA and your classmates are far better resources for help than the professor himself.

Leonard Taylor
ENEE381

Anonymous
05/20/2016

Pros: - First three exams are graded pretty easily, and the homeworks and quizzes basically count as extra credit onto your exam grades - Homeworks can be long, but the solutions are around, I'm sure someone in your class will find them within the first few weeks of school - Pretty easy to get an A or a B in a class that would otherwise be quite difficult Cons: - Chances are, you'll learn nothing from Dr. Taylor. Hes a horrible professor - If you can't find the homework solutions, doing the homeworks is next to impossible - Dr. Taylor grades the final exams himself, and he grades very strictly. Expect 20-30 points lower on your final than on your first 3 midterms Overall, I'd try and avoid Taylor if you can. I'd only recommend him if you really don't care about transmission line theory or antennas, which is basically what 381 is about, and want an easy A.

Victor Granatstein
ENEE381

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2013

He prepares slides and reads them during lectures. If you miss a lecture, you can download his slides from ELMS and go over them at home. His HW's are all from the Cheng's textbook. During lectures, he explains proofs and derivations but he also shows how to solve simple problems and talks about the significance of theorems and equations. Do not hesitate to ask questions during his lectures, he is very good at answering them straight to the point (he will not mock you, like some profs do). There are 2 exams in the class: one midterm and a final. Go to the ieee testbank to check out his past exams, they will help you. He solves 2 sample midterms and 2 sample final exams in class before those exams. His exams include an essay question about applications of theorems. For example, on the final, there was a question asking to write about the gain of an antenna. I think he is a good professor, and I recommend taking enee381 with him.

Leonard Taylor
ENEE381

Anonymous
01/14/2013

Even though he says grades are based on points, he actually curves. My class went into final with half the class having a good chance at A, and he graded the final EXTREMELY strict (~30% average below previous tests) which bumped ALOT of people from A to B, and a good amount from B to C. Anyways, : Pros: -Class follows book very closely -Book is very good for tests -Tests are easy if you understand everything in the book -He tries to make class entertaining with jokes (some are actually good) Cons: -Lectures are pointless. I only went to get quiz points but brought my book and studied. This worked well, as his lectures are often off-topic. -Book has a handful of mistakes

Julius Goldhar
ENEE381

Anonymous
01/28/2011

Goldhar's lectures are pretty bad. He's very disorganized and make a lot of mistakes and doesn't explain stuff too well. However, his homework problems are good and they're usually interesting to do. He gives matlab assignments which I thought was good because it's important to know how to use matlab. He is pretty good in office hours also. It's definitely important to have a good TA. Goldhar gives very reasonable tests though. They test you on relevant concepts and they're not pointlessly difficult. Definitely an easily passable class, but he's not that great of a teacher.

Julius Goldhar
ENEE381

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/28/2010

Goldhar constantly makes mistakes. everything he tells you is false. It is impossible to take notes on his lectures. If you do, you will not learn the material correctly. He posts slides (which he doesn't use in lecture) that are *mostly* correct, but not always. He gives out a lot of A's, but you dont learn anything. My understanding of the class is that a big part of what you are supposed to get out of it is how to use/read smith charts which Goldhar did not get to till half way through the semester. I would advise putting this class off till some other time if Goldhar is your only option. He is a nice guy at least... The book for the class is.. ok..

Danilo Romero
ENEE381

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/05/2009

This professor does not teach, but gives you slides with all the equations you'll need. You probably will get an B or C b/c he practically gives you all the formulas for the test. His distribution is 100-90 A, 89-70 B, and 69-55 or 50 C.

Reviews for ENEE381