ENEE460 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/11/2026	I like Prof. Zhang's ENEE 460. The materials are indeed a bit technical and mathematical. But from my experience, as long as you attend every classes, work on the HWs by yourself, and go to the office hours often, you would learn a lot and would do well in the exams. I especially like the board-writing style of teaching, and felt like taking notes is really a good way of learning for such kind of a class, which is something Prof. Zhang strongly recommended us to do. There were a few times when the HWs touched some materials that were not covered yet, but Prof. Zhang kindly extended the due date eventually, which I much appreciated. It would have been better if he (or the TA) could have posted the solutions to the HWs on time, and provided more sample/practice exams right before the exams. His review notes were super helpful tho, containing the most relevant, if not the exact, points for the corresponding exams. Finally, and personally, I also appreciated Prof. Zhang's generosity on my grade, and the accommodation for my missing of one exam, from which I can feel Prof. Zhang is a very caring and kind person. Overall, I learned a lot this semester and would like to thank him for it.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/09/2026	I really enjoyed ENEE 406 last semester, taught by Prof. Zhang. He is the most patient lecturer I have ever met at UMD, and he always stayed after class to answer my questions carefully. The exams were a bit difficult, but I did learned a lot. Prof. Zhang is also very knowledgeable and welcoming, as he gave me valuable advice on control theory and principles for my course projects for other classes, as well as my project at R@M. I would highly recommend taking his class.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/30/2025	Prof. Zhang has been very nice and patient, and is definitely the best professor I have ever had at UMD! The materials for ENEE 460 have never been easy for me. Prof. Zhang always patiently listent to, and solved my questions in office hours and right after class. I especially appreciate his review notes before the exams, and his "recall" section at the beginning of each class. The grading is also very lenient (in my humble view), and I really appreciate his help over the semester.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2025	He’s very knowledgeable and extremely responsive to email. He is skilled at breaking lectures down into something easily understandable, and it is clear he cares about the understanding of his students. Plus, he’s one of the few professors it seems who actually writes lectures on the board, and his lectures are extremely thorough and cover everything you’ll be responsible for knowing. That being said, this class was just poorly managed in general. The textbook (Astrom/Murray) is not great since it seems to greatly over complicate things and the problems at the end of the chapters are quite involved mathematically. Also, it often felt like there was a disconnect between the professor and the TA. The homeworks took forever to grade, and the TA (who does all the grading) graded incredibly harshly. Regardless, the exams were fair and the curve was quite generous.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2025	Dr. Zhang has been super patient in answering my questions both during office hours and right after the class. I especially like the fact that he always takes the time to review the materials from the previous lectures in the beginning of each lecture. The HWs and exams are a bit difficult for me, but the finals are okay. Highly recommend this responsible, super nice, and knowledgeable professor.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/14/2025	Zhang is an okay lecturer: most of his notes are a little hard to follow since they're just bullet point upon bullet point written on the board without obvious organization unless you look back at the notes later. There aren't a lot of examples done in class except for really basic ones with little to no work shown for what can be a relatively long math derivation/exercise. The HW questions are usually harder than those few examples given, so if you don't understand the foundational knowledge (linear algebra or diff eq) that was breezed past in the lectures, these may take a while. There is no good preparation posted for the exams (he'll include very old Andre Tits exams but they won't have solutions), and he will say to simply look at HW's, lectures, and his very small study guide which is just key ideas to learn more about on your own. Sometimes the exam questions are worded in a way you've never seen before and sometimes they're just from the HW's. Midterms will not be returned to you, and solutions for them will not be posted. You'll have to go in for office hours to discuss what you did. However, sometimes he's out for a whole week at a time at a conference or the TA (in my experience) will just cancel when you need him most. Overall I felt frustrated with the lack of organization and lack of examples/solutions to study on my own because I did think the content was interesting. The curve is nice to keep me from failing but I did truly want to learn the material better, and for me what's better is if more material/solutions was posted.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/12/2025	Professor Zhang is very knowledgeable about control theory but not a good teacher. The course is poorly organized, with little alignment between lectures, homework, and exams. Instruction is overly theoretical, and students are left unprepared for assignments and assessments. 1. Lecture Structure: Lectures were difficult to follow and would benefit from a clear outline or structured plan that the professor could consistently follow. 2. Overly Theoretical Lectures: Lectures were highly theory and proof heavy, often introducing complex proofs immediately after the topic was presented. This made understanding very difficult. 3. Homework Completely Misaligned With Lectures: There was a major disconnect between lecture content and homework. Homework frequently included questions on topics that had not even been introduced in class yet, sometimes covering material that would only be taught the following week. Many problems involved complex edge cases or properties never discussed, making them impossible to solve without outside resources. 4. Inadequate Exam Preparation: Very little review material was provided before exams. For example, no sample problems were given, only a list of topics. The professor stated that exams would be based on homework, but the homework did not adequately cover the scope of the exam topics. 5. Unexpected Exam Content: Exams contained material that was not introduced in lectures or homework. 6. Excessive Difficulty and Low Scores: Both homework and exams were unreasonably difficult, leading to very low averages. While a curve was promised, the goal of a class should be learning the material, not struggling to get a passing grade. Poor Timing of Assignments and Exams: Homework was due during academic breaks, with exams immediately afterward. This timing made it difficult to properly prepare and added unnecessary stress.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting a C Anonymous 06/09/2025	Professor Zhang is very friendly and knowledgeable. He is open to questions and has a quick recap for prior material which is helpful. Bonus rating if he gave a roadmap of the lecture before diving in. However, I think there could be some improvements overall. 1.) Preparing and posting lectures/slides for student study. The text book is unnecessarily difficult to use. 2.) Giving feedback on HW and timely grading (mostly TA job but still) and don't let TA teach class... 3.) Magic curve at the end of the course. All that being said he is good, but just in the way that you will be challenged to academically perform and bond with peers based on mutual struggle. I do feel as though I learned stuff and became curious about control theory. Wouldn't be surprised if he turns into one of the best profs in the dept.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/18/2025	Extremely nice and smart professor -- I have been falling a bit behind after the first mid-term exam, and Professor Zhang has answered my questions in the exam and HWs very patiently, which helped me catch up in the second mid-term exam and the second half of the semester. I also appreciate him taking the time to prepare review notes for us for each exam, which turned out to be very helpful to me. Just finished our final today, and I felt good and felt that I have learned a lot this semester, and am extremely grateful to Professor Zhang, one of the most caring professors I have met at UMD.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/14/2025	The class is a bit too mathy for me, but I guess it is the nature of control theory -- Dr. Zhang is very good at explaining in-depth mathematical concepts, and very patient with our questions, both in class and in office hours. His exams are a bit difficult but similar to the homework problems. It would have been a bit better if more practice exams had been provided for the midterms. I especially like his review of some materials from some prerequisite classes like ENEE322. Overall, I have learned a lot from this great professor, and very much enjoyed ENEE 460 this semester.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2025	Very knowledgeable and patient professor. Always cares about the students, and has been super nice to me (although I did not perform very well in my first midterm). The exams are of the same style as the HWs (which has reasonable workload), and have been very helpful in deepening the understanding of the materials. His grades have been fair so far. Highly recommend taking his 460.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/05/2025	Studied extremely hard but not getting an A, I mean you should expect how the lecture is when he said "I don't give grade, rather, you earn the grade".
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2024	Fantastic lecture -- very patient and knowledgeable, and very good at lecturing. The HWs are closely related to the exams, and he has always been helpful answering questions after classes and office hours. Gradings are fair and favorable also. Strongly recommended.
Kaiqing Zhang ENEE460 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/01/2023	Great professor. While there are no lecture notes or anything, he is really good at lecturing. He takes the time to review past lectures that are necessary to understand the new content he will be teaching. His homeworks are fair (3-4 problems every week) and follow closely to the textbook. His exams are quite similar to the homework. I like this professor a lot because of his ability to explain abstract mathematical concepts in a very layman intuitive fashion that simplifies control theory. Very knowledgeable and helpful.
Andre Tits ENEE460 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/19/2022	Professor Tits is a super approachable professor that is committed to your advancing your knowledge. His lectures can be hard to follow sometimes as he occasionally makes mistakes while writing and explaining concepts, likely due to his age, BUT he always welcomes questions and addresses student's comments during his lectures. He is always happy and open to helping students who stop by whenever he's in his office, even outside of his posted office hours. (He will drop whatever he's doing to help students.) Some advice to those looking to take ENEE460 with him: Do all the homework! This develops your ability to attack questions he gives on his tests. While he also posts reading assignments, you could probably get by without them. That being said, the book can sometimes have details he might've glanced over during lecture. Listen to everything he says during lecture, especially when he talks about how to solve problems as this is likely what he expects from you on the exams. Do not fret if you bomb his midterm (I did), he gives out an optional project to boost your grade and the finals are relatively similar in problem type to his past exams. Note: His final is still challenging so make sure to give yourself lots of time to study and fill your cheat sheet! Watch Steve Brunton, Brian Douglas, Prof. Madan Gopal, etc. on YouTube for strengthening conceptual and mathematical foundations for the course.
Andre Tits ENEE460 Anonymous 12/27/2021	He is a nice guy. His lectures are okay, and he is knowledgeable in his field. BUT, his exams are challenging, and he is a really harsh grader. On top of that, a large percentage(about 80%) of the overall grade goes to those two exams(mid-term and final). Homework is challenging and takes a lot of time to do.
Eyad Abed ENEE460 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2020	Not the best lectures, but he is a very helpful and kind professor that does everything in his power to help the students succeed. Massive curve of 10% as well, even though it technically was not needed (class average was around a ~79).
Andre Tits ENEE460 Expecting an A- LadyS 02/02/2013	I took 322 and 460 with Dr. Tits. His lectures are clear and to the point. I think he really cares about his students and their success in his classes (and as engineers in general). He is helpful during his office hours, easily-approachable and answers emails very quickly; he is also very nice. I highly recommend him.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/11/2026

I like Prof. Zhang's ENEE 460. The materials are indeed a bit technical and mathematical. But from my experience, as long as you attend every classes, work on the HWs by yourself, and go to the office hours often, you would learn a lot and would do well in the exams. I especially like the board-writing style of teaching, and felt like taking notes is really a good way of learning for such kind of a class, which is something Prof. Zhang strongly recommended us to do. There were a few times when the HWs touched some materials that were not covered yet, but Prof. Zhang kindly extended the due date eventually, which I much appreciated. It would have been better if he (or the TA) could have posted the solutions to the HWs on time, and provided more sample/practice exams right before the exams. His review notes were super helpful tho, containing the most relevant, if not the exact, points for the corresponding exams. Finally, and personally, I also appreciated Prof. Zhang's generosity on my grade, and the accommodation for my missing of one exam, from which I can feel Prof. Zhang is a very caring and kind person. Overall, I learned a lot this semester and would like to thank him for it.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/09/2026

I really enjoyed ENEE 406 last semester, taught by Prof. Zhang. He is the most patient lecturer I have ever met at UMD, and he always stayed after class to answer my questions carefully. The exams were a bit difficult, but I did learned a lot. Prof. Zhang is also very knowledgeable and welcoming, as he gave me valuable advice on control theory and principles for my course projects for other classes, as well as my project at R@M. I would highly recommend taking his class.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/30/2025

Prof. Zhang has been very nice and patient, and is definitely the best professor I have ever had at UMD! The materials for ENEE 460 have never been easy for me. Prof. Zhang always patiently listent to, and solved my questions in office hours and right after class. I especially appreciate his review notes before the exams, and his "recall" section at the beginning of each class. The grading is also very lenient (in my humble view), and I really appreciate his help over the semester.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/24/2025

He’s very knowledgeable and extremely responsive to email. He is skilled at breaking lectures down into something easily understandable, and it is clear he cares about the understanding of his students. Plus, he’s one of the few professors it seems who actually writes lectures on the board, and his lectures are extremely thorough and cover everything you’ll be responsible for knowing. That being said, this class was just poorly managed in general. The textbook (Astrom/Murray) is not great since it seems to greatly over complicate things and the problems at the end of the chapters are quite involved mathematically. Also, it often felt like there was a disconnect between the professor and the TA. The homeworks took forever to grade, and the TA (who does all the grading) graded incredibly harshly. Regardless, the exams were fair and the curve was quite generous.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2025

Dr. Zhang has been super patient in answering my questions both during office hours and right after the class. I especially like the fact that he always takes the time to review the materials from the previous lectures in the beginning of each lecture. The HWs and exams are a bit difficult for me, but the finals are okay. Highly recommend this responsible, super nice, and knowledgeable professor.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/14/2025

Zhang is an okay lecturer: most of his notes are a little hard to follow since they're just bullet point upon bullet point written on the board without obvious organization unless you look back at the notes later. There aren't a lot of examples done in class except for really basic ones with little to no work shown for what can be a relatively long math derivation/exercise. The HW questions are usually harder than those few examples given, so if you don't understand the foundational knowledge (linear algebra or diff eq) that was breezed past in the lectures, these may take a while. There is no good preparation posted for the exams (he'll include very old Andre Tits exams but they won't have solutions), and he will say to simply look at HW's, lectures, and his very small study guide which is just key ideas to learn more about on your own. Sometimes the exam questions are worded in a way you've never seen before and sometimes they're just from the HW's. Midterms will not be returned to you, and solutions for them will not be posted. You'll have to go in for office hours to discuss what you did. However, sometimes he's out for a whole week at a time at a conference or the TA (in my experience) will just cancel when you need him most. Overall I felt frustrated with the lack of organization and lack of examples/solutions to study on my own because I did think the content was interesting. The curve is nice to keep me from failing but I did truly want to learn the material better, and for me what's better is if more material/solutions was posted.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/12/2025

Professor Zhang is very knowledgeable about control theory but not a good teacher. The course is poorly organized, with little alignment between lectures, homework, and exams. Instruction is overly theoretical, and students are left unprepared for assignments and assessments. 1. Lecture Structure: Lectures were difficult to follow and would benefit from a clear outline or structured plan that the professor could consistently follow. 2. Overly Theoretical Lectures: Lectures were highly theory and proof heavy, often introducing complex proofs immediately after the topic was presented. This made understanding very difficult. 3. Homework Completely Misaligned With Lectures: There was a major disconnect between lecture content and homework. Homework frequently included questions on topics that had not even been introduced in class yet, sometimes covering material that would only be taught the following week. Many problems involved complex edge cases or properties never discussed, making them impossible to solve without outside resources. 4. Inadequate Exam Preparation: Very little review material was provided before exams. For example, no sample problems were given, only a list of topics. The professor stated that exams would be based on homework, but the homework did not adequately cover the scope of the exam topics. 5. Unexpected Exam Content: Exams contained material that was not introduced in lectures or homework. 6. Excessive Difficulty and Low Scores: Both homework and exams were unreasonably difficult, leading to very low averages. While a curve was promised, the goal of a class should be learning the material, not struggling to get a passing grade. Poor Timing of Assignments and Exams: Homework was due during academic breaks, with exams immediately afterward. This timing made it difficult to properly prepare and added unnecessary stress.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting a C
Anonymous
06/09/2025

Professor Zhang is very friendly and knowledgeable. He is open to questions and has a quick recap for prior material which is helpful. Bonus rating if he gave a roadmap of the lecture before diving in. However, I think there could be some improvements overall. 1.) Preparing and posting lectures/slides for student study. The text book is unnecessarily difficult to use. 2.) Giving feedback on HW and timely grading (mostly TA job but still) and don't let TA teach class... 3.) Magic curve at the end of the course. All that being said he is good, but just in the way that you will be challenged to academically perform and bond with peers based on mutual struggle. I do feel as though I learned stuff and became curious about control theory. Wouldn't be surprised if he turns into one of the best profs in the dept.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/18/2025

Extremely nice and smart professor -- I have been falling a bit behind after the first mid-term exam, and Professor Zhang has answered my questions in the exam and HWs very patiently, which helped me catch up in the second mid-term exam and the second half of the semester. I also appreciate him taking the time to prepare review notes for us for each exam, which turned out to be very helpful to me. Just finished our final today, and I felt good and felt that I have learned a lot this semester, and am extremely grateful to Professor Zhang, one of the most caring professors I have met at UMD.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/14/2025

The class is a bit too mathy for me, but I guess it is the nature of control theory -- Dr. Zhang is very good at explaining in-depth mathematical concepts, and very patient with our questions, both in class and in office hours. His exams are a bit difficult but similar to the homework problems. It would have been a bit better if more practice exams had been provided for the midterms. I especially like his review of some materials from some prerequisite classes like ENEE322. Overall, I have learned a lot from this great professor, and very much enjoyed ENEE 460 this semester.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/13/2025

Very knowledgeable and patient professor. Always cares about the students, and has been super nice to me (although I did not perform very well in my first midterm). The exams are of the same style as the HWs (which has reasonable workload), and have been very helpful in deepening the understanding of the materials. His grades have been fair so far. Highly recommend taking his 460.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/05/2025

Studied extremely hard but not getting an A, I mean you should expect how the lecture is when he said "I don't give grade, rather, you earn the grade".

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/03/2024

Fantastic lecture -- very patient and knowledgeable, and very good at lecturing. The HWs are closely related to the exams, and he has always been helpful answering questions after classes and office hours. Gradings are fair and favorable also. Strongly recommended.

Kaiqing Zhang
ENEE460

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/01/2023

Great professor. While there are no lecture notes or anything, he is really good at lecturing. He takes the time to review past lectures that are necessary to understand the new content he will be teaching. His homeworks are fair (3-4 problems every week) and follow closely to the textbook. His exams are quite similar to the homework. I like this professor a lot because of his ability to explain abstract mathematical concepts in a very layman intuitive fashion that simplifies control theory. Very knowledgeable and helpful.

Andre Tits
ENEE460

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/19/2022

Professor Tits is a super approachable professor that is committed to your advancing your knowledge. His lectures can be hard to follow sometimes as he occasionally makes mistakes while writing and explaining concepts, likely due to his age, BUT he always welcomes questions and addresses student's comments during his lectures. He is always happy and open to helping students who stop by whenever he's in his office, even outside of his posted office hours. (He will drop whatever he's doing to help students.) Some advice to those looking to take ENEE460 with him: Do all the homework! This develops your ability to attack questions he gives on his tests. While he also posts reading assignments, you could probably get by without them. That being said, the book can sometimes have details he might've glanced over during lecture. Listen to everything he says during lecture, especially when he talks about how to solve problems as this is likely what he expects from you on the exams. Do not fret if you bomb his midterm (I did), he gives out an optional project to boost your grade and the finals are relatively similar in problem type to his past exams. Note: His final is still challenging so make sure to give yourself lots of time to study and fill your cheat sheet! Watch Steve Brunton, Brian Douglas, Prof. Madan Gopal, etc. on YouTube for strengthening conceptual and mathematical foundations for the course.

Andre Tits
ENEE460

Anonymous
12/27/2021

He is a nice guy. His lectures are okay, and he is knowledgeable in his field. BUT, his exams are challenging, and he is a really harsh grader. On top of that, a large percentage(about 80%) of the overall grade goes to those two exams(mid-term and final). Homework is challenging and takes a lot of time to do.

Eyad Abed
ENEE460

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/20/2020

Not the best lectures, but he is a very helpful and kind professor that does everything in his power to help the students succeed. Massive curve of 10% as well, even though it technically was not needed (class average was around a ~79).

Andre Tits
ENEE460

Expecting an A-
LadyS
02/02/2013

I took 322 and 460 with Dr. Tits. His lectures are clear and to the point. I think he really cares about his students and their success in his classes (and as engineers in general). He is helpful during his office hours, easily-approachable and answers emails very quickly; he is also very nice. I highly recommend him.

Reviews for ENEE460