ENES102 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/28/2024	I took ENES102 over winter. I had an amazing experience with Cleanthous. Although coming in person was a bummer, especially because it was cold AF and there was a broken window, he made the best of a bad situation. He makes and brings in physical models of the problems you do in class to help you understand. Grading was fair. Also, gives extra credit opportunities. Good at lecturing. His homework problems are significantly less tedious than other professors (for the winter section) since he doesn't make you get it perfect (unlike prairelearn).
Catherine Hamel ENES102 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/09/2024	An absolute GEM of a professor. Catherine's teaching style is clear, easy to understand, and passionate. Her notes and lectures are easy to follow. Attending office hours really helped me with the tougher homeworks. Overall, I can't recommend Catherine enough, and I feel really lucky to have been in her class and learned from her.
Robert Bonenberger ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/09/2024	Explains concepts very clearly and concisely, I found it super easy to follow his train of thought and learn from him. Would highly recommend.
Mary Bowden ENES102 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/27/2024	She taught the content well enough to interest me and prepare me for tests, and was always helpful when answering questions during class or in her office hours. Even if you don't have her, you should go to her office hours if you need help, and she'll help you understand the content.
Mary Bowden ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2024	She is a very nice lady and wonderful teacher. She really gives the impression like she cares about her students and how well they are learning. Bowden teaches very straightforwardly and makes all of the content very clear. 10/10 I'm so glad I'm aerospace and can take another class with her this fall
Mary Bowden ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/10/2024	Bowden is the BEST professor I have EVER had! There is a reason she's an aerospace engineer, because she is out of this world. I literally love this woman more than words can describe, I am so so happy that I screwed up my schedule last semester and ended up in her class. She is a godsend. She is extremely kind and helpful. Her lectures are engaging and fun. Her office hours are a great environment to struggle/learn with fellow students (she even provides snacks sometimes!) The work/class is difficult but she provides ample support and resources, including tons of past exam problems to study.
Mary Bowden ENES102 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/04/2024	One of the nicest teachers ever!!! She does a great job explaining all of the concepts and her OH/review sessions are extremely helpful. She also gives you little hints on what's going to be on the exam. The only "bad" thing about her is that she's a little slow explaining the content/you'll fall behind by a day or so. Nothing detrimental though. You'll make up the content during group work on Fridays. I would love to have her again!
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/14/2024	Very lazy. Does not teach and is hard to follow. He cancelled class the week before the final exam. He did give a curve at the end of the semester though. Would not have passed without it.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/19/2024	Professor Jay is an amazing person. One of the best professors I've ever interacted with. He posts his old zoom lectures and class notes for reference which is super helpful! He does studio a little different from other Mechanics professors - he gives you past exam questions. Sometimes he doesn't really explain well, making it difficult to get through the content and homework. I relied a lot on Keystone and my TA to get a better understanding of the topic. While he gets straight to the point in his lectures, when he does examples he makes a lot of mistakes making it hard to follow along sometimes. Although the tests are pretty reasonable, he is a pretty harsh grader - he doesn't give out partial points, so if the answer is wrong you get 0 points (other than FBD). However the grade cutoffs are very reasonable. Personally, I feel like I learned better on my own and with others than through him.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/19/2024	Aris is so funny, patient, and cares for both his students and their learning. He always shares stories and jokes, and builds models for most of the frames and mechanisms we are analyzing. I would strongly recommend him!
Kevin Calabro ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/18/2024	Great teacher. He really cares about his students and is a very approachable and knowledgeable person who will answer all your questions. His office hours were very useful and he explains everything very well. He posts all of his notes online too. My one critique is that he spends a lot of time on proofs when example problems are much more helpful and easier to understand, but overall he is an excellent teacher. That being said, this is not an easy class. The weekly homework assignments are 6 problems and they take hours to complete. Most people in the class ended up going to office hours every single week. If you don't need to take this class I wouldn't recommend taking it, but if you have to, Dr. Calabro is a great professor for it.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting an A Wgervase 01/15/2024	Professor Pertmer is old school. He sometimes has trouble hearing/understanding questions in class but he never means any harm. Most of the learning is going to take place from doing the homework and trying your best to put together his notes.
Catherine Hamel ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/23/2023	Great teacher, I was the first class she taught ENES102 and she did great. It is kind of a physics class so understanding some concepts was hard, but if you follow lecture, do homeworks (DO NOT PROCRASTINATE THE HOMEWORKS), and do test practice problems, you are good. But Professor Hamel was one of the best teachers I have ever had, take her if you can.
Thomas Biegel ENES102 Expecting a W Anonymous 12/22/2023	I took Biegel for ENES102 during the Fall 2023 semester and it was horrible. DO NOT take this professor, especially if you do not have a good physics background from high school. On the first day of class, Biegel spent 30 minutes talking about the sinking of the Titanic before even introducing himself or talking about the ENES102 syllabus. The class was online- we either attended on Zoom, which was exhausting and made it really hard to pay attention, or we went to a room in the chemical and nuclear engineering building and projected the Zoom meeting on the big screen. We had to figure out how to connect one of our classmate's computers to the projector ourselves; there was no TA or professor in the room to help us. Also, the lectures are simply videos posted on Canvas and are hard to follow. The textbook also does not help at all and was simply a set of PowerPoint slides from Fall 2016, and they did not even explain the general concepts or provide that many example problems. The example problems in the lectures did not have a lot of intermediate steps, so it was difficult to understand, especially because Biegel jumps straight into the example problems without explaining the theory first. Practice is essential to the understanding of the material and success in ENES102, but is nearly impossible if you do not have a solid understanding of the theory. I dropped the class because it was becoming hard to manage with my other classes, partly because I was a first semester freshman; I highly suggest taking PHYS161 before ENES102 since ENES102 is essentially an application of the material from PHYS161. I regret not taking PHYS161 first and developed most of my understanding of the ENES102 material from either my study group in the class or Dr. Bowden's guided study sessions. If you take ENES102, ALWAYS GO TO PROFESSOR BOWDEN'S GUIDED STUDY SESSIONS; THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY LIFESAVING! Also, if you struggle in ENES102, go to the Keystone office hours in JMP; the TAs are really helpful and explain the hard PrairieLearn problems in detail and simplify them down so that you understand them really well. Also go to the other professors' office hours posted in the ENES102 portal; that really helped me before I dropped the class.
Kevin Calabro ENES102 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2023	Awesome professor. I was really nervous for this class and definitely struggled at the beginning (first semester of college, never took any physics in high school). However he was great, he explained concepts really well, answered questions really well, had a sophisticated format for drawing diagrams and doing problems on the screen. His office hours were helpful, and he had a good way of guiding you through complex problems to consider all the parts at play. He's also really considerate, responds to emails, and allows you to join the lecture on Zoom if you can't make it to class. Don't be scared to approach him with any questions about the class or content. Definitely make use of all the resources available for this class if you're struggling: office hours, GSS sessions, and you can also go to the office hours of any TA from any section of the class 6 days of the week (its all posted)
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/20/2023	Beigel is hands down the funniest professor I've ever had in my opinion. He can come off as a bit of an asshole but it just depends on your type of humor (I found his sarcasm to be absolutely hilarious). His teaching style worked very well for me being an online class. Beigel gets straight to the point and tells you what you need to know without explaining bs and goes super in depth with great explanation when working through in class examples. My only concern would be that I found his exams to be quite more difficult than other sections and his grading was a bit harsh. Other than that I would totally recommend Beigel and you should probably choose someone else if you can't take a joke or get easily offended.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Anonymous 12/16/2023	Beigel was an extremely mediocre teacher. Yes, he was amusing and entertaining however, his teaching style sucked. You have to watch pre-recorded lecture videos before class because all he does is do problems during the actual class. Because of this, I didn't feel like I was learning concepts, instead, I was learning procedures for completing problems. This class is also online, you never see him once in person. He also does not respond to emails, so I really wouldn't even try. Honestly, I thought the exams were fair. Before the exam, he gives practice problems that were on previous exams. If you do those and understand them, you should be fine. I learned more from my TA (shoutout to Hemant Kumar, he's the best!!). Kumar was super helpful during Friday's group work days and his office hours.
Catherine Hamel ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2023	Honesty the goat of mechanics. Her notes are so neat and she explains everything with such good detail. TAKE HER!!!
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/06/2023	A comical person and a true personality, but a really awful teacher. If you already know the material take this course, since he records literally everything (don't even have to bother coming to class except for the comedy of seeing him drink his 4th monster in 2hrs). Otherwise it's kind of hell, since he doesn't explain anything, ever. Literally sarcastically makes fun of students who ask questions, so I learned everything in this course from the TAs. HW is tough and extremely time consuming, and he does NOT give ANY extensions EVER - a literal doctor's note documenting a concussion he just was like oh yeah sorry no can do.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/06/2023	Dr. Jay is a good person, but that doesn't make him a good professor. Often his lectures involve him scribbling small notes on the whiteboard that you can barely read while he poorly explains topics. Often, he would leave out the necessary information that we needed for the homework and often, he would cover a single example as if that would do much help when doing the very difficult homework. His office hours aren't really helpful either, honestly, I learned more from my friends with the other professors. Many people love Dr. Jay, and again, he's a great guy, just not an effective teacher. If you feel like teaching yourself and feeling much more lost than the other classes, feel free to take this course with Dr. Jay.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/30/2023	Mike is a great professor. He keeps the lectures engaging and entertaining (as much as one can do with Mechanics), and never misses a chance to crack a joke. The actual lessons, though, aren't lost in the lightheartedness. I think he presents the topics in very understandable ways (examples certainly help), and that certainly helps with some of the more difficult topics. Mechanics isn't an easy class, but Mike makes the ideas bearable and the journey quite entertaining.
Lucas Zhu ENES102 Anonymous 05/27/2023	One of the most unhelpful TA's I have ever had. First of all he would cancel his office hour consistently for the entire semester. When he didn't cancel he was extremally unhelpful and condescending. He also would leave his office hours an hour or 2 early when there were clearly many students waiting for his help. That actually left me dumfounded. He should not be TA'ing for any class and I really hope future students don't have to deal with him.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/26/2023	Mike is by far my favorite professor I've had at UMD. He truly wants his students to succeed. He's very funny and his lectures are never boring. I really felt like I understood the material because of him. He has tons of resources to help you out, and he's a very fair grader. If you think something is wrong with a grade he'll fix it right away, you just have to ask. Sometimes he'd bring in baked treats and that was super awesome too. He's a great teacher. I would definitely recommend.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/26/2023	Easy to understand! Prof Mike has the ability to teach in a way that we (newbies to the engineering realm) can understand. His lectures are not mandatory and he has recorded versions on his Youtube channel. He tends to go over theory and then dives into some practice questions. If you get stuck on the homework or topic, go to his office hour. He's super chill and easy to talk to (so do not feel intimidated). That being said, this course takes some effort. Make super to practice practice practice.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/26/2023	Mike is quite literally the best professor you can have for ENES102. Honestly he’s probably one of the best professors you could have period. He tries his best to make the material interesting and lectures fun and engaging and also is really good at explaining the problems and the process for solving difficult problems. I literally cannot recommend him enough.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/26/2023	Mike deserves a raise, he is great at breaking down problems so that everyone can understand and brings life into the classroom. I recommend taking him for ENES100 and ENES102, I haven't had him for any other courses.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/21/2023	Mike is an incredible professor, his energy and enthusiasm always made the course better and he always tries his best to get the class involved. You can tell he really cares about his students. He's also created great in-depth videos on youtube that you can review if you miss class, and his lectures are always entertaining. I recommend Mike to anyone that can take him, because he will help his best to make sure you succeed, if you put in the work!
Jungho Kim ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/20/2023	Didn’t give me late credit on an assignment which I had no clue existed. He exclusively posted it in the canvas announcements, not even as a canvas assignment. Not very helpful, pretty ok at teaching. Did not enjoy this class, he was really inflexible or helpful.
Lucas Zhu ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2023	Goated TA, easy grader and talks shit with his students
Lucas Zhu ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2023	Lucas was a great TA. He would straight up tell you if you’re stupid and would talk shit about other students with you. If you put in the effort he will help you.
Jungho Kim ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/03/2023	Apparently a good lecturer in other classes but is confusing and bad at teaching in ENES102
Jungho Kim ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/02/2023	Very confusing lecturer who messes up constantly on practice problems and scores 80% on his own exams. Nice guy but bad enes102 teacher. Get Mike if you can.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/01/2023	Excellent professor. Most animated professor I've taken. Wants you to do well and tries hard to help. Actually tries to interact with the class and makes jokes(even if they're pretty repeated). Also has a youtube channel with some lectures to teach if you can't go. Only one homework a week with some groupwork. The work can definitely take some time unguided I'd recommend office hours to help out, but definitely make sure you study for exams.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/27/2023	I highly recommend taking this professor. As a teacher, Aris does a fantastic job at making sure everyone is able to visualize the concepts, he even goes as far to bringing in home-made models to look at and "feel" reaction forces. Lectures are very useful since he always goes over the entire problem, step by step and makes sure everyone understands before proceeding. He always posts his lecture notes with his work in case you miss lectures (which is hard to do). Aris always makes his lectures cozy by asking all his students their weekend plans and sharing his own experiences and life lessons. As long as you follow his instructions and complete the homework assignments, you will be more than prepared for the exams. Even though he doesn't curve, you wont need it as long as you do the homeworks and take a look at the archive of exam practice questions.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/25/2023	Literally one of the best professors I've had thus far at UMD. I retook this class over the winter because I was struggling to keep up with the class during the fall semester. The last professor I had was definitely a "textbook teacher" and would just regurgitate the material from the textbook word for word. I found that to be extremely unhelpful and of course I ultimately withdrew. I was nervous to take this course again but to my surprise, Cleanthous made sure to emphasize the fact that he was far from a textbook teacher and would have a different approach to teaching the material. He definitely delivered and I was amazed at how fast he was able to clear up a lot of my confusion. Not gonna lie, after the first lecture I already felt like I had learned waaay more than when I took the class the first time. He's funny, super approachable, and made sure to get to know each one of us individually. Exams and quizzes were definitely fair and he adjusts grading where he sees fit. 10/10 would love to have him again!
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/23/2023	Aris is a down to earth, fair and simple guy who wants to help his students learn. He is quick to respond with emails and prioritizes demonstrations and visual learning to help give you a tangible understanding of statics. As long as you finish the homework and attend lectures, you will be more than prepared for the exams. I feel like I actually learned alot in this class, and I would absolutely recommend Aris.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/30/2022	Solid teacher and incredibly nice guy. His notes and explanations were very simple and to the point and he posted every single powerpoint to Canvas so they could be reviewed at any time. These powerpoints included several examples for each topic and he would write out most of work save some simple algebra. On top of this, he would bring in physical examples for many of these problems to show you how they actually work. On top of this, he would always ask the class about how things were and share some of the interesting things he was doing. He was kind and helpful when I asked questions in class, but I never went to office hours so I cannot comment on how he was there. There was a curve at the end of the class; I'm not sure how substantial it was but my A- in Canvas went to an A on Testudo.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/27/2022	Dr. Jay is a professor who cares greatly. He wants to inspire his students and does his best. I want to offer a warning to anyone entering this class out of high school that this class is very difficult for the average person, especially if you have not taken a mechanics class before and regardless of the professor. Other people have mentioned asking questions and I don't believe it to be as bad as some have mentioned. I have never seen him answer a question in a way that does not provoke learning whether it be through trying to see if they can figure it out or excitingly telling the person that their question leads him to the next topic. The technical definitions might be helpful to some, but examples seem to be the most helpful part of the lectures. The examples most closely resemble what we do in the class, whether it be on the homework or the exams, so doing a few more examples to help people learn the content might be beneficial to those who are a little confused. Unfortunately since the textbook is simultaneously too basic and too confusing, the professor of this course will be close to the only source of teaching and thus is very important. Not everyone likes Dr. Jay's style and in that case, I would recommend using the lectures put out by the other teachers, however, he is a great professor to have regardless of the opinion of his lectures. He wants his students to learn and will do everything in his power. I highly recommend doing the extra credit he gives throughout the year because it will boost your grade a lot (without extra credit my grade drops about 6%). I truly believe that anyone who has the desire to learn the material will be successful even if the material fails to click at first primarily because of Dr. Jay's willingness to help.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/22/2022	AMAZING professor! I am in the honors program and originally registered for ENES102H, but I had a walking man on my schedule because of it so I switched to a non-honors ENES102. Best decision I've made. I would take Dr. Jay over an honors class for the same topic any day. I came into the class having never taken an engineering class in my life, and I got over 100%. He is friendly, is chill with his students, encourages his students effectively, creates a welcoming environment, and teaches well. I hope I get him for thermodynamics.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2022	Dr. Young is a great guy when you talk to him, however, he can be a bit harsh on students. His grading is harsh and he does not respond to questions well. Whenever questions were asked he would chastise the question asker and never gave a clear answer. I did actually learn a lot from this class, partly from Dr. Young but partly because it is a very straight forward course meant for freshmen. I do enjoy him as a person but he seems like he is here to relax, not focus on the success of his students.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/17/2022	Dr. Jay is an okay teacher. He knows his stuff for the course but he's not really the best at explaining it. During lectures, he often skims past things that require further explanation and when a student asks a valid question, he just answers "wait and you'll see", but the question never gets answered by the end of the lecture. Given that this is a pretty easy class, it doesn't matter too much but I'm not sure how taking a class with him for a more difficult subject would be...
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a B vishal128 06/01/2022	One of my favorite professors in the engineering department. He's a lot of fun, and his review sessions for midterms saved my grade. He's hilarious (depending on your type of humor) and he likes conversing with students. His iconic "celebratory chug" is great, and he made taking the class a great experience.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/26/2022	Most of the things said about biegel I agree on, good and funny professor, teaches by example, but grades fairly harshly. However I do want to highlight a grading issue. All grades do not go in canvas. Some are on prairie learn, some are in gradescope, and I didn’t even get a grade back for the project. A week after the semester ended, I just see a grade pop up in testudo with no breakdown or explanation anywhere (from what I can find). Very disorganized.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/19/2022	Aris was a good professor in explaining concepts and was very helpful. He was able to make me come to his class 99% of the semester.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Anonymous 05/15/2022	Great guy. Liked his way of demonstrating the material we're learning by bringing in physical models of what we were learning.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/15/2022	Good guy really nice and I felt like I did learn things. I did not like a couple of things: The hw took 6 hours or more some weeks, the exams were too hard and they weigh too much and if you screw up on one or 2 it's hard to recover, he doesn't answer emails frequently. I felt like I learned thou and he is definitely better than other professors. Go with him.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/12/2022	Concepts were taught mainly through examples so I felt that I wasn't actually learning the concepts. Exams were harder than the homework or practice exams that were given. He also didn't put grades into canvas ever so I was have to calculate my grade myself every time an assignment was given back. He isn't a bad teacher, just his teaching style and the way that the class worked didn't work well with me.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/10/2022	Beigel is a good professor. This was an asynchronous class and his video lectures were concise and easy to follow. He would always do practice problems during lecture. The one downside is that beigel is an extremely harsh grader, so you have to be nigh perfect on your exams to maintain an A (this class isn't curved). I'd recommend him though, he's good.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/02/2022	pretty engaging professor, class moved slow for me but was still interesting. he knows his stuff and seems to genuinely enjoy teaching.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/28/2022	Aris was great for ENES102. Taking the class during a short winter semester was a lot but he made the class inviting and comfortable. He offers tons of time for questions and is more than happy to help. If you're paying attention and practicing nothing he tests is unfairly difficult. Would definitely recommend.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/17/2022	Aris was a great professor for ENES102. He encouraged class participation and asking questions and clearly just wanted his students to learn and succeed. He would talk about his weekends and life experiences and encourage students to talk about theirs as well, which makes his class have a very welcoming environment. His tests were not necessarily the easiest but they were always fair. Studying for the tests will guarantee at least a fine grade on them. Overall for a student that wants to learn the concepts central to this class and being an engineer in general, Aris will be an amazing professor at teaching that and making the student successful in his class.
Jarred Young ENES102 Anonymous 01/04/2022	Dr.Jay is the best professor I've had at UMD. He truly cares about his students and helped me immensely during office hours. Not only that, he's one of the most genuine people you'll meet, he's one of the few instructors at this school who's actually passionate about teaching! If you don't understand make sure you communicate that to him since closed mouths don't get fed. If I could, I'd give him 6 stars.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/03/2022	Boring, slow, unhelpful, good guy, garbage professor, difficult exams and doesn't prepare you for them at all. Only ends up preparing you for groupworks but exams are always much harder. Do not recommend him at all.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2021	Dr. JAY is an excellent professor who cares tremendously about his students. He is friendly, helpful, and supportive. Sometimes his lectures could be a bit hard for me to follow because of his handwriting/his style of writing on the board, but he more than made up for that by posting notes and giving assignments that genuinely helped us comprehend the material better. He really wants his students to succeed and gives ample support and extra credit opportunities so that people who put in the effort have the chance to do well.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2021	5 star but notes about enes100 for future students!! Mike is a great guy, really fun personality, fun lectures, cares about his students. He brings in baked goods and held a pizza party at the end of the semester. He also has online video lectures that are interesting and engaging. Overall a wonderful guy. If you're taking enes100, it's going to surprise you with assignments. I recommend that as soon as your teams form you start looking at the next two "Milestone" assignments, otherwise you'll get sidelined and quickly have to rush to put something together. This class is fairly easy to get a high grade in, but it's not so easy to actually have a working autonomous vehicle. Another piece of advice: have a robot that drives as early as you can so that the people who program can start coding it ASAP. Code is the #1 fail factor on vehicles except for physical failure (i.e. a burnt arduino).
Jarred Young ENES102 Anonymous 12/18/2021	Very solid professor who had an entertaining personality and was a strong lecturer. Tests were fair, after the class did poorly on the first one he offered 20 points of extra credit for it if you did a supplemental take-home test. Homework was quite hard IMO so I'd recommend going to office hours, but the hard homework means the tests will be easier in comparison. The way to pass the class is to do lots of practice problems, Dr. Young also offers extra credit for practice problems if you do 80+and turn them in. I'd recommend the class for sure.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/18/2021	Aris was pretty good for ENES102, he was always prepared and took his time going through examples and his lectures were very easy to follow. Most of the professors for this class seem pretty decent, but I would recommend Aris.
W Ethan Eagle ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2021	To be honest, I haven't learned from his lectures but mostly from the office hours or studying myself. At the beginning of the semester, he made students to teach each other by making presentation and summary of each chapters. This was totally waste of time because most of the students presenting didn't know the topic themselves. However, near the end of the semester, he decided to teach the class by solving example problems which was better than what he did before but wasn't that helpful. I spent average 70~90 min a week in his office hours trying to understand what is going on in class. He is really helpful in his office hours but the quality of lecture was really poor. If you really have to take this course, I recommend taking other professor.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2021	Dr. Young is funny in a nerdy way. He is truly always a delight to talk to because in the way he talks to students. He talks to you as an equal and is never demeaning. I'm not sure if other professors give out extra credit for ENES102, but Dr. Young gives out quite a bit. Whenever you go to office hours, he is happy to answer questions and guide you through stuff.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/03/2021	Dr. Jay is AMAZING! He genuinely cares about your success and well-being. His lectures are good at explaining the concepts, but he doesn't go over harder examples that mirror the in-class assignments, homework, or exams. He also posts his covid lecture videos which are helpful if you want a review of the concepts again. But definitely go to office hours if you want explanations for problems at the difficulty level that you'll be graded on. Just doing the in-class assignments, homework, and review problems are not enough practice before an exam though, so this class takes a lot of time if you want to do well. He offers a generous bonus percentage (+2-3%) at the end of the semester for turning in all your extra practice problems (if you have more than 80 problems), and from what I hear he will bump your grade even more on a case-by-case basis. If you put in the work, he WILL reward you. There are three midterms (15, 20, and 20% of the final grade) and a final (25%), as well as homework/in-class assignments (10%) and the final design project (building a truss) (10%).
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/28/2021	Mike's passion for teaching is infectious, and his ability to communicate material in a fun and effective manner is honestly unmatched. His expectations were articulated very well, and he seemed to be willing to do anything to help you meet and exceed those expectations. His assignments are very fair and he provides excellent feedback on exams. Do yourself a favor and register for the classes he teaches!
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Anonymous 08/28/2021	Mike is authentically on his student's side; he wants them to succeed. He knows exactly how to break down complex concepts without making them dull. He is an extremely engaging, helpful, and talented teacher. I wholeheartedly recommend taking his class!
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 08/27/2021	If you ever wanted to meet someone who figured out what they were born to do, its Prof. Michael G. He's got it all, showmanship, expertise, and compassion. Keep it up Mike!.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Anonymous 08/27/2021	Mike was a wonderful professor, and I would recommend him to anyone. He made a tough class interesting and it was obvious that he was on your side as a student. Things weren't easy in the class, but Mike was very accessible if you needed any form of assistance.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Anonymous 06/11/2021	Mike lives up to his almost 5 star rating, which wholly reflects his positive teaching and charisma. I could really tell that he not only wanted us to succeed, but also to be engaged and have fun doing it. He had a great sense of humor in person and in his self-paced lecture videos, which made me want to be more active in class. I highly recommend taking his courses!
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/03/2021	Mike is a great and engaging professor. He teaches the material really well with lectures that are actually fun to watch. He's funny and can bake really well. I highly recommend taking his class.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Fire_Lahrd 06/02/2021	I chose to take ENES102 with Mike after having him for ENES100 the previous semester, and he was just as amazing. Mike's class is very well organized, and his lecture videos are timestamped and incredibly informative, which makes studying any specific topic easily accessible and at whatever pace a student desires. His sense of humor is unique and engaging, and he gives out great tips not just for engineering, but also for test-taking and life.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/24/2021	Dr. Pertmer was a great professor! Exams were very fair and directly reflected what was taught in class. Lectures were easy to follow. His class was also very well adapted to the online environment, and the way it was structure helped you learn the material better without stressing over quizzes (because there are no quizzes!) while also getting somewhat familiar with him and your classmates. Highly recommend him!
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/12/2021	Dr. Young genuinely cares about his students' well-being, both academically and otherwise. Fair grading, plenty of extra-credit opportunities, and more-than-generous grade cutoffs at the end.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/28/2020	Mike is an amazing professor and is hands down the best in the engineering department. He makes sure all his students understand the concepts and truly tries to make every lecture new and interesting.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 09/02/2020	Mike was an amazing professor. He cares about his students and tries to make the course interesting. 102 isn't a cake walk, but he made the summer session manageable.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/26/2020	Pertmer is a nice, funny, and thorough professor. His notes are clear, and straightforward. The only downside is that his example problems are more simple than in the homework and exams. Pertmer curves the class by dividing all grades by the highest percentage in the class which is really nice. Friday in class problems are difficult, but if you do the homework problems beforehand, it'll be easier. All ENES 102 classes are taught the same content at the same time, so you can go to any teacher for help.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2020	50% Statics / 50% dad jokes
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/03/2020	I thought this dude hated me for the first month of classes. I'd ask questions - not understand his answer - then he'd be done with me. Once he just completely ignored my question in class and waved me off. But I went to his office hours and turns our he's nice. Teaches really well.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Anonymous 03/27/2020	Mike is such a good professor, he makes class so much fun and he clearly cares so much about his students. He gives more time for homework assignments than the other professors for 102 and he also is definitely the best teacher you could get for 102!
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 03/24/2020	Really good teacher, he gives steps for how to solve each problem and the does multiple examples. The exams are similar to hw. Also just a really nice and fun guy, he asks how everyone's weekends were or what plans we have for the weekend.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2019	He’s a great guy, really understanding and he explains concepts relatively well. He’s really generous with partial credit but unfortunately the exams are graded by many professors (Young is pretty stingy with partial credit). During class, pertmer’s examples can get a little drawn out and boring, but overall the class was good.
Jarred Young ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2019	Jarred Young truly cares about his students and goes out of his way to help them. He gives several extra credit opportunities throughout the semester which helps with the grade. He does not do "-" grades and curved the final grade by 5 percentage points. However, his lectures are not all that informative as he goes over the principles and very basic problems, but does not cover the hard examples that will definitely show up on the exam and homework. However, Keystone Center Office Hours are very flexible and useful.
Michael Galczynski ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2019	Mike is amazing. One of the best lecturers and is very entertaining and informative. Exams are fair and he gives you a formula sheet. Homeworks are online and are annoying but not impossible. He really cares about students and is extremely helpful at office hours . I highly recommend him as a teacher in ENES100 and ENES102
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/20/2019	Very good teacher, he likes to bring in props for students to mess with during lecture. No curve for the class, although you really shouldn't need one it's statics. He has like 5 hours of office hours per week and is extremely generous with his time to help students.
Aris Cleanthous ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/01/2019	Aris is a very good teacher. His lectures are well structured and he does a good job conveying all of the information you need to know. His exams aren’t too hard because they’re really similar to the problems on homework’s and in class. He’s also a generous professor and tries to help everyone get the best grade they can.
Robert Bonenberger ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/21/2018	His notes and lectures are detailed and easy to follow. However, he never responds to emails and never posts anything on elms, you won't know your grade until he puts it on your transcript after the semester is over.
Kevin Calabro ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2015	Super organized and very friendly. He teaches the material really well and does plenty of example problems. If you do your homework and plan ahead for the truss project, you'll get an A.
Robert Bonenberger ENES102 Anonymous 05/26/2015	Terrible teacher. Writes bad notes on the chalkboard. Doesn't do practice problems that even relate to the homework or tests. Tried emailing for help and it took the entire semester for him to respond. Highly discourage taking him if it's your first semester in college
Peter Chang ENES102 Expecting a C ajones 05/11/2015	If you signed up for Peter Chang's section of ENES 102, DROP IT. SAVE YOURSELVES. Hands down the worst class I have ever taken. I made an OurUMD account for the express purpose of warning my peers. However, I in no way blame him for my grade in this class. Here goes nothing.... First, he begins lecture on the hour, without giving any kind of overview about what he will be covering, so check the syllabus before class. His lectures are quiet and confusing. The only phrase he says loudly and articulately is "Do you understand?"; no one in the class answers and he continues to lecture. He gives graded classwork during lecture, despite none of the other 102 Professors doing this. The examples he does in class are in no way indicative of the work you will see on the homework or on exams. Lecture usually goes over by a few minutes. And now, the end of the year group project. The end of the year project is to make truss out of wood and glue. As the lucky little guinea pigs we are, Chang's section created a truss using a CNC machine to eliminate the need for glue and gusset plates. Sounds great right, WRONG. Chang gave little information on how our project specifications would differ from the other sections. He also didn't indicate all of the data we needed to collect from materials testing, leading to skewed calculations. His only redeeming quality is that his lecture notes are online.
Peter Chang ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/04/2015	I do not like how he teaches. He spends what seems like 95% of class going over the most simple concepts, and then a tiny fraction going over the complex concepts which are what we actually need in order to complete the homework. I also feel like he wastes so much time constantly asking us if we understand, over and over again, but no one ever answers, but he still always does it. He also never responds to emails, and does not always follow up with things he says he will do in class. So if you have a choice, I would suggest not to take him.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/24/2015	Prof. Pertmer is definitely the professor for ENES102. He is approachable, personable, and never gives the impression that he takes himself too seriously. He will make jokes during lecture (some of them are subtle but still quite funny). The material itself is not that hard, and Prof. Pertmer never makes it harder than it has to be. Lectures can sometimes be a bit dry (I had the 2 pm lecture and every now and then I would zone out a bit), but they are not too long (50 min vs. 75 min) so this is usually not a serious issue. The HWK is through Mastering Engineering and generally is free of errors (which can be a serious annoyance on online HWK). It varies from being relatively simple in the beginning to somewhat time-intensive (though not impossible). I would give it a range from 1-4 hr per week. I went to his office hours once to check my HWK because I had to miss a class, and he was very helpful and willing to answer all manner of questions. There are two tests and a final; Prof. Pertmer posts a ton of review questions for every topic, and those questions alone are usually plenty for the exams. The two tests he made for us during the semester were not bad and he allows an equations sheet. The final exam (joint for every ENES102 professor and section) was tougher, but still fair. There are no +/- grades, and generally speaking getting an A is not too hard if you've had some physics in HS and do not mind some math. It's not a free A, but Pertmer removes most of the roadblocks. If you need to take 102 and he is an option, take his class.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/28/2014	Dr. Pertmer is incredibly approachable, thorough, and funny. He teaches by example, which makes it very easy to learn. He goes at a good pace, and explains well. I never used the textbook. The weekly Mastering Engineering homework isn't fun, but really helps you learn the material. It took me 2-4 hours. The class is not really curved, and he does not give +/-, so I really earned a B+ but got a B.
Robert Bonenberger ENES102 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/19/2014	The man! He is the best professor I have had thus far. He is a very effective teacher. From the beginning of enes102, I had no idea what a free body diagram was and was awful at basic physics. Bonenberger did such an amazing job illustrating material to the class. He uses real-world examples to apply the material he teaches in class. Bonenberger uses a step by step approach to teach class. Does a lot of example problems and numbers each step! Great guy overall. However, his grade distribution is not as good as other professors.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/06/2013	Beigel is a very good teacher. He doesn't beat around the bush and is very effective in teaching his students the best way to complete each problem. If you pay attention and make an effort to understand all the homeworks, you should be fine to pass the class. He is very approachable during office hours too, but sometimes instead of explaining a problem to you, he will just do it for you. If you ask, though, he won't have a problem explaining what he did. Also if you are like me, you have difficulty trying to pay attention for a whole class period. He doesn't necessarily start teaching right away and will keep you engaged with stories which are always pretty interesting. His classes go by pretty fast so you're not sitting there watching the clock the whole time. Definitely take Beigel.
Peter Chang ENES102 tiresias 09/03/2013	I don't resent Professor Chang, but I would not recommend taking his class. What follows is a description meant to warn you, not bitter libel. Take it seriously. This is the sort of professor that you only take if you are highly confident in your skill and don't anticipate any difficulty with material. Even then, his teaching style will cripple you. If you do not learn well from the textbook then you are probably in trouble. As others have mentioned, he presents the material in a convoluted fashion. The way he solves problems is different from the other professors and different than what is taught in the book. He also grades harshly. What shocked me most about Professor Chang was his lack of professionalism, which probably stems from a spiteful streak under his overlying impersonal demeanor. I went to turn in a problem set late after class within the first few weeks - it stated in the syllabus that they would be accepted tardy with a point deduction. He looked at me blankly and said I had to give it to the TA. When I asked him where the TA was, he actually told me word for word "You have to go find him." I was taken aback by how petty this was. I think it says a lot about how he looks at his students. Very reprehensible behavior for a supposed professional. If you remain unconvinced, here is my final anecdote. During a discussion one day I was working in a group to solve a problem set. I could not solve the last one of the three, and nobody in my group could either. I asked the TA for help and he made a mistake. I pointed it out and he tried for a few more minutes before saying to ask the professor. When I did so, I presented Professor Chang with the work I had done so far and the answer I had gotten. I told him the answer was clearly wrong (it was far too small, obviously erroneous) and he agreed with me. I asked if he could see the flaw in my work and he said he wasn't sure. Then he just walked off.... No help from the professor or the TA on a graded in-class problem set. Utterly preposterous. I think this may be the only teacher I've had, including ones in high school, that I honestly don't think should even be allowed to teach.
Robert Bonenberger ENES102 Anonymous 07/15/2013	Very nice guy, explains stuff well. However, the exams were NOTHING like the homeworks and examples. The best way I can explain it is, the homework and quizzes were like riding a bicycle on a flat road (easy, straightforward). However, the exams were like mountain biking down Mt. Everest (vaguely relating to biking on a road, but about 10 times tougher.
Mary Bowden ENES102 Anonymous 05/26/2013	Picture the perfect professor, and that's Bowden. She is hands down one of the best professors in this University as well as one of the nicest. She is an excellent lecturer who is very clear and easy to understand. She is one of few teachers who care about their student's grades and wants them to succeed. She is also probably the only statics professor who gives EC and also curves. The first 2 midterms are pretty easy, the final is pretty hard, so don't get cocky after the first 2 midterms. Honestly THERE IS NO OTHER TEACHER U SHOULD TAKE FOR STATICS OTHER THAN BOWDEN!!! In fact, if you don't have Bowden, Statics will be a hard class. Again, TAKE BOWDEN, or regret it!!!!!!
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/17/2013	He's a really nice guy in general, and a pretty good teacher. The homework load was alright, especially if you did the problems throughout the week. If you waited until the last minute, it would suck, but you could still get them done. The reason I won't give him 5 stars is because he was extremely inappropriate at time, especially towards females. He makes dirty jokes that were usually funny, but a lot of the time were downright offensive. One girl I know stopped going to his office hours and was afraid to ask him for help because of the things he said to her. Gives good examples, and is helpful, but sometimes his jokes go way too far.
Robert Bonenberger ENES102 Expecting a C cheesecake 05/01/2013	Good teacher, but the class was just really tough for me. My TA graded the homework problems surprisingly tough. I often got points taken off even though, I had the answers to the homework online. Tests were not really hard, but there was always one problem on every test that was just extremely hard. Most people would mess up on that problem and end up having the highest possible test grade a B or C.
Robert Bonenberger ENES102 Expecting a B soheikitsune 08/28/2012	Great professor, explained things very thoroughly and made sure that his students got the information they needed for exams/quizzes.
Mary Bowden ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anony 07/09/2012	Honestly this women is angel sent from God to teach us all about engineering. If I didn't have her as a teacher I probably would have cried myself to sleep every night because I believed that I did not have the brainpower and the aptitude to be cut out for an Engineer, however she proved me wrong. Dr. Bowden does an amazing job teaching the material both in her class and at office hours (I recommend going to). She hands out plenty of extra credit opportunities that are great sample/mock problems for upcoming tests, though a little difficult to say the least. The homework for this class is not fun, and I would never have gotten through it without having a friend help/work with me. The tests dare I say were pretty straightforward, and matched the problem solving techniques for the homework. So basically understand the homework, and work on all of the practice exam problems you should do decently at least an 80% on both the tests. Bridge building with Bowden was fun because she allowed our class to use different materials than the other ENES102 classes, which produced interesting bridges with metal plates or made out of bamboo. The only problem about this class is the final, so a word to the wise DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE FINAL. That is all, and enjoy engineering :D
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Anonymous 05/25/2012	Dr. Pertmer is an awesome professor. He was always very approachable and seemed to actually care about his students. He makes some funny jokes in class, and lectures are usually interesting. He covers the material very well. For each new topic he starts by introducing the topic, giving an outline of how to solve the kinds of problems for that topic, and does many examples (with the examples becoming progressively more complicated). I really enjoyed his class and would recommend that you take a class with this professor. You will always feel like you know what you're doing in this class, and can ask him for help any time you don't understand something.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/05/2012	I'm obviously a minority here, but I was not a big fan of Beigel. He teaches by example, and not by concepts, which really screwed me over when I got to the final - a couple of the problems I had never seen before, and thus had no idea how to do them. The homework and the in-class problems (he has us do some in discussion in groups) were easy, as all you needed to do was copy from the solutions manual. However, office hours were nice, even though they are always crowded. You can ask him questions one-on-one. Finally, his personality. Most people love it, I couldn't stand it. He would talk for 30 minutes into class, and then do one example problem. I would much rather spend that time sleeping since it was a 9am class, or let us out early. And I felt as though you couldn't come late or you might miss something, because the time he talked was irregular. tl;dr: Teaches by example, copy the homework, go to office hours, deal with him wasting your time.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/30/2011	Tom is a good statics teacher. The concepts in statics are pretty easy: sum of all forces and moments equal 0, with a little bit of material properties included. Tom teaches with 1-2 examples per class. This is fine for people who learn through example, but I found I would not fully understand what was being taught. The homework problems ended up being a pain. I ended up in office hours every week to do them because I may miss a concept tom showed during lecture. Tests (which are generally the same among all statics teachers) can be tricky because there can be problems you have never seen before, but can surely apply the big concepts to solving the problems. He gives out a lot of practice problems to prepare you for exams, so take advantage of those.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting an A pat 10/30/2011	I took this class 2 years ago, but I am in the mood to do this so here you go. Pertmer is the Chuck Norris of statics. If I had to sum up one class where I SINCERELY feel like I got my money and time's worth out of, it would be statics with this guy. He is incredibly thorough with his notes, lays everything in a step by step manner, prepares you very well for exams and homeworks, and is actually very witty and hilarious if you listen close (he makes subtle jokes that most people miss.) You will really learn a lot if you put in the time here. I 1000 percent recommend.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/30/2011	Wow after that final, I'm glad I even passed. I'll be honest, I think I learned more by doing the homework with the solution manual (obviously written out by Bonenberger), than going to Tom's lectures. We did on average one example a class, which definitely was not getting the material into my head. Others might have been at an advantage if they had physics or calc 3. Its a tough class, but enjoyable with Tom. You could always turn in stuff late, and he is so willing to help. I love him as a person, just not as a teacher. Get on his good side, and make an effort to show you're trying at least! He's not for everyone.
Robert Bonenberger ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/29/2011	Love this guy. He wrote the textbook and he really knows his stuf. Super methodical, bordering on obsessive but it works. Theres no way to take bad notes in his class he writes everything out on the board and explains everything hes doing very well. If u have any questions go to his office hours or ask after class cause hes not great with responding to email. Very fair with extra credit as well. One of the best teachers ive had at UMD by far. Do the work and study for tests and you should be fine.
Robert Bonenberger ENES102 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/09/2011	Bonenberger moves incredibly quickly, but is easy to understand, as long as you pay attention and take good notes. In one class period, you can expect to learn a lot of information. Not much of a personality; I think he's made an attempt at humor twice this semester. Overall, I would definitely recommend him, great professor.
Peter Chang ENES102 Expecting a C Anonymous 02/16/2011	Dr. Chang was awful. He did not take the class seriously yet graded us harshly. He would find a problem during class for our quiz and give us 5 minutes to complete it. Our final review for statics was him saying "sum of all forces equals zero". He didn't teach well at all.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Anonymous 12/17/2010	VERY smart, funny, nice guy. Not once did he ever get angry at a student for asking a question or for clarification, no matter how stupid the question. He is very approachable and helpful, and really knows what you need to know and what you dont - he's been doing this for almost 20 years. However, the final exam was brutal, even though the midterms were easy, so be warned. I definitely recommend Beigel for ENES102.
Peter Chang ENES102 Expecting an A mreese 12/12/2010	Chang's lectures were never terribly interesting, and he seemed to enjoy bringing students' grades down with clicker questions immediately following the introduction of a new concept. His method of curving was to grant extra points based on the fourth highest score on individual questions so it would be 20/20. That is to say, there was never a curve because for each question, four people in the class would have managed to get it 100% correct. Dr. Chang was pretty friendly, though, and he had a really corny sense of humor that I enjoyed. He was pretty helpful outside of class and liked to share tricks and new ways of thinking about problems. If I remember correctly, anyone who received an A on the final would get an A in the class regardless of their current grade. He was probably the worst professor teaching statics when I took it, but there isn't too much to learn in this class, so learning the material on your own is not a major time sink.
Mary Bowden ENES102 Expecting an A clementi 12/02/2010	Very nice woman, makes material easy to understand. She's very approachable and good at answering emails if you have questions. Lots of extra credit opportunities so even if you mess up on the easy exams you can still get a good grade as long as you put the effort in.
Peter Chang ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/25/2010	A quite unapproachable teacher who has his own way of doing things compared to the other teachers of this course. Found myself learning a lot of the material on my own and never wanting to take a class with him again
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/18/2010	This professor is great. He's not the most boring teacher, he throws in small jokes periodically that are usually subtle and hard to catch. He teaches everything you need for the tests and is a reasonable grader. I've never needed to use office hours but I wouldn't hesitate if I wanted to ask something. definitely recommend him.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 10/13/2010	Pertmer is very helpful. His lectures mostly consist of showing you how to derive an answer and one or two numerical problems. This worked fine with me, and only once or twice did I ever need to really go for help but the background he provided really made it easy to move on from there. He's also very willing to answer a lot of questions, and usually does very well.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Anonymous 10/12/2010	Not the most exciting teacher, but covers the material adequately enough. The stuff he does cover he covers well, he just tends to not cover everything assigned on the homework which is frustrating. Really nice though, and very approachable. I know everyone always tries to get Biegel but my friend took beigel at the same time and he gave her much more homework-he would add on to the regularly assigned stuff and pertmer would take stuff off that he thought was a waste of our time. pertmer also gives lighter homework after exams which is very appreciated.
Kevin Calabro ENES102 Expecting an A+ zhangsta 09/12/2010	Kevin's a pretty good statics teacher. his notes are easy to follow and understand. he also explains concepts pretty well. for the most part, if you do the hw and the practice problems, you should do fine in the class.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 sgewirtz 03/09/2010	Dr. Pertmer really is a great teacher he is willing to stay late and answer your questions as well as explaining the material clearly and succinctly. Also he is willing to work with you and make allowances if you need a reasonable amount of extra time to turn in an assignment or something
Kevin Calabro ENES102 Expecting an A fiddlerkrt 03/01/2010	Calabro is definitely a decent statics teacher. Lectures are pretty helpful even though it was hard to stay awake (I had his class at 9 am). ENES 102 is a fair amount of work towards the end of the semester. Do not underestimate the class just because the majority of material on the first exam is mostly review. Also, make sure you do as many practice problems as possible before the exam to get a good grade.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 08/25/2009	Nicest man. Fantastic teacher...even though I was miserable in the class he made things understandable. I would say that that in and of itself shows how fantastic he must be!
Chandrasekhar Thamire ENES102 Expecting a B jwong89 04/20/2009	Good professor, knows and teaches the material well. Extremely nice guy, easy to talk to if you have any questions in or out of lecture. Exams were fair, not my favorite, but not really hard either. Take him if you want to get through ENES102 without hating the class at the end.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Anonymous 04/15/2009	Beigel is the best instructor i've had. He only teaches about 25 minutes out of a normal class, but i guarantee you will learn more in those 25 minutes than you do in any other 50 minutes class. Also, the beginning of statics covers a lot of material from the beginning of physics and calc 3 and i learned my stuff for all 3 classes in beigels lectures. He also tells you exactly whats on tests and is the funniest teacher youll have. He sometimes will give you the option of leaving or staying and listening to his stories. Stay for the stories.
Gary Pertmer ENES102 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/06/2009	Dr. Pertmer teaches the material very well. He is very straightforward, explains things clearly, and uses class time effectively. He provides plenty of example problems in class and is willing to take time to answer people's questions. The material in ENES102 isn't difficult conceptually (it's an entire semester on vectors), but Pertmer will definitely help you out if you're having trouble. Although he's not as funny as Beigel, it's not a huge loss.
Chandrasekhar Thamire ENES102 Expecting an A- kmk 12/31/2008	Dr. Thamire is a great statics instructor. He really knows the material well, and makes himself very available if you have any out-of-class questions. Also, lots of opportunity for extra credit in his class.
William Fourney ENES102 Expecting a B Var 07/08/2008	He is clear, straightforward, and more than willing to help if you ask. Works through example or homework problems slowly but carefully. I did not find myself in need of a textbook to work any problems or study until about halfway through the semester. A word of caution, though: It is extremely important that you pay closest attention when he is teaching the concepts of the course rather than just equations or going through problems. Knowing the concepts and thinking about how you can apply them are key to succeeding in statics.
Chandrasekhar Thamire ENES102 Anonymous 05/19/2008	Decent professor, he does his best to try and make you understand the material. Lectures were really really really really boring. I hated discussions because the questions were always too difficult to answer. His teaching style kind of got sloppy towards the end of the semester. And he does other little stupid things that I didn't like. I suggest try getting a professor like Beigel but if you end up with Thamire, it won't be too bad.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 t69 05/11/2008	His class is definatley an experince. I'd recomend if you can get him. He'll always be late and won't always teach, which is a lot better than it sounds. He'll help you all you need at office hours and is a very understanding guy. Very freindly and funny. Highly recomend.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 jmartin1 05/06/2008	tom is probably on of the most hilarious teachers ive ever had. he will come in late every day, and will tell some of the dirtiest, yet hilarious stories. sometimes he can be lazy when teaching the stuff, but he does explain it pretty well, and he'll help you if you really need it
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Anonymous 05/06/2008	Beigel is awesome. He will take a problem, tell you how to do it the long way, then show you the easiest way to do it. He is a genius. Most of us are not. So if you ask him a question he will try to lead you through it, but if you're too slow to understand he will move on and you will have to go to his office hours or ask him after class. Easier to just ask kids around you. Here's one thing you really don't know: Beigel is Chuck Norris in disguise. It could be a good thing, or a bad thing. Either way, it's awesome. Just take his class.
Thomas Beigel ENES102 Anonymous 05/02/2008	Beigel is by far one of the most unusual instructors I have encountered. He generally shows up late to class, tells lots of jokes and stories and can be quite profane. If you don't mind listening to his dirty jokes and frequent swearing, he actually does a pretty good job teaching. He does lots of examples that are likely to show up on exams and does a good job answering any questions if people don't understand.
Chandrasekhar Thamire ENES102 Expecting an A+ a778999 12/07/2007	By far the easiest statics teacher. He will love you as long as you appear to try hard. His voice can put you to sleep though. Hope you get this guy for ENES102.
Mary Bowden ENES102 avigana 11/16/2007	Professor Bowden is a competent teacher, who tries her best to ensure that her students understand the subject matter.She is also very approachable and gives extra-credit problems.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/28/2024

I took ENES102 over winter. I had an amazing experience with Cleanthous. Although coming in person was a bummer, especially because it was cold AF and there was a broken window, he made the best of a bad situation. He makes and brings in physical models of the problems you do in class to help you understand. Grading was fair. Also, gives extra credit opportunities. Good at lecturing. His homework problems are significantly less tedious than other professors (for the winter section) since he doesn't make you get it perfect (unlike prairelearn).

Catherine Hamel
ENES102

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
07/09/2024

An absolute GEM of a professor. Catherine's teaching style is clear, easy to understand, and passionate. Her notes and lectures are easy to follow. Attending office hours really helped me with the tougher homeworks. Overall, I can't recommend Catherine enough, and I feel really lucky to have been in her class and learned from her.

Robert Bonenberger
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/09/2024

Explains concepts very clearly and concisely, I found it super easy to follow his train of thought and learn from him. Would highly recommend.

Mary Bowden
ENES102

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/27/2024

She taught the content well enough to interest me and prepare me for tests, and was always helpful when answering questions during class or in her office hours. Even if you don't have her, you should go to her office hours if you need help, and she'll help you understand the content.

Mary Bowden
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/20/2024

She is a very nice lady and wonderful teacher. She really gives the impression like she cares about her students and how well they are learning. Bowden teaches very straightforwardly and makes all of the content very clear. 10/10 I'm so glad I'm aerospace and can take another class with her this fall

Mary Bowden
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/10/2024

Bowden is the BEST professor I have EVER had! There is a reason she's an aerospace engineer, because she is out of this world. I literally love this woman more than words can describe, I am so so happy that I screwed up my schedule last semester and ended up in her class. She is a godsend. She is extremely kind and helpful. Her lectures are engaging and fun. Her office hours are a great environment to struggle/learn with fellow students (she even provides snacks sometimes!) The work/class is difficult but she provides ample support and resources, including tons of past exam problems to study.

Mary Bowden
ENES102

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/04/2024

One of the nicest teachers ever!!! She does a great job explaining all of the concepts and her OH/review sessions are extremely helpful. She also gives you little hints on what's going to be on the exam. The only "bad" thing about her is that she's a little slow explaining the content/you'll fall behind by a day or so. Nothing detrimental though. You'll make up the content during group work on Fridays. I would love to have her again!

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
02/14/2024

Very lazy. Does not teach and is hard to follow. He cancelled class the week before the final exam. He did give a curve at the end of the semester though. Would not have passed without it.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/19/2024

Professor Jay is an amazing person. One of the best professors I've ever interacted with. He posts his old zoom lectures and class notes for reference which is super helpful! He does studio a little different from other Mechanics professors - he gives you past exam questions. Sometimes he doesn't really explain well, making it difficult to get through the content and homework. I relied a lot on Keystone and my TA to get a better understanding of the topic. While he gets straight to the point in his lectures, when he does examples he makes a lot of mistakes making it hard to follow along sometimes. Although the tests are pretty reasonable, he is a pretty harsh grader - he doesn't give out partial points, so if the answer is wrong you get 0 points (other than FBD). However the grade cutoffs are very reasonable. Personally, I feel like I learned better on my own and with others than through him.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/19/2024

Aris is so funny, patient, and cares for both his students and their learning. He always shares stories and jokes, and builds models for most of the frames and mechanisms we are analyzing. I would strongly recommend him!

Kevin Calabro
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/18/2024

Great teacher. He really cares about his students and is a very approachable and knowledgeable person who will answer all your questions. His office hours were very useful and he explains everything very well. He posts all of his notes online too. My one critique is that he spends a lot of time on proofs when example problems are much more helpful and easier to understand, but overall he is an excellent teacher. That being said, this is not an easy class. The weekly homework assignments are 6 problems and they take hours to complete. Most people in the class ended up going to office hours every single week. If you don't need to take this class I wouldn't recommend taking it, but if you have to, Dr. Calabro is a great professor for it.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting an A
Wgervase
01/15/2024

Professor Pertmer is old school. He sometimes has trouble hearing/understanding questions in class but he never means any harm. Most of the learning is going to take place from doing the homework and trying your best to put together his notes.

Catherine Hamel
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/23/2023

Great teacher, I was the first class she taught ENES102 and she did great. It is kind of a physics class so understanding some concepts was hard, but if you follow lecture, do homeworks (DO NOT PROCRASTINATE THE HOMEWORKS), and do test practice problems, you are good. But Professor Hamel was one of the best teachers I have ever had, take her if you can.

Thomas Biegel
ENES102

Expecting a W
Anonymous
12/22/2023

I took Biegel for ENES102 during the Fall 2023 semester and it was horrible. DO NOT take this professor, especially if you do not have a good physics background from high school. On the first day of class, Biegel spent 30 minutes talking about the sinking of the Titanic before even introducing himself or talking about the ENES102 syllabus. The class was online- we either attended on Zoom, which was exhausting and made it really hard to pay attention, or we went to a room in the chemical and nuclear engineering building and projected the Zoom meeting on the big screen. We had to figure out how to connect one of our classmate's computers to the projector ourselves; there was no TA or professor in the room to help us. Also, the lectures are simply videos posted on Canvas and are hard to follow. The textbook also does not help at all and was simply a set of PowerPoint slides from Fall 2016, and they did not even explain the general concepts or provide that many example problems. The example problems in the lectures did not have a lot of intermediate steps, so it was difficult to understand, especially because Biegel jumps straight into the example problems without explaining the theory first. Practice is essential to the understanding of the material and success in ENES102, but is nearly impossible if you do not have a solid understanding of the theory. I dropped the class because it was becoming hard to manage with my other classes, partly because I was a first semester freshman; I highly suggest taking PHYS161 before ENES102 since ENES102 is essentially an application of the material from PHYS161. I regret not taking PHYS161 first and developed most of my understanding of the ENES102 material from either my study group in the class or Dr. Bowden's guided study sessions. If you take ENES102, ALWAYS GO TO PROFESSOR BOWDEN'S GUIDED STUDY SESSIONS; THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY LIFESAVING! Also, if you struggle in ENES102, go to the Keystone office hours in JMP; the TAs are really helpful and explain the hard PrairieLearn problems in detail and simplify them down so that you understand them really well. Also go to the other professors' office hours posted in the ENES102 portal; that really helped me before I dropped the class.

Kevin Calabro
ENES102

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/21/2023

Awesome professor. I was really nervous for this class and definitely struggled at the beginning (first semester of college, never took any physics in high school). However he was great, he explained concepts really well, answered questions really well, had a sophisticated format for drawing diagrams and doing problems on the screen. His office hours were helpful, and he had a good way of guiding you through complex problems to consider all the parts at play. He's also really considerate, responds to emails, and allows you to join the lecture on Zoom if you can't make it to class. Don't be scared to approach him with any questions about the class or content. Definitely make use of all the resources available for this class if you're struggling: office hours, GSS sessions, and you can also go to the office hours of any TA from any section of the class 6 days of the week (its all posted)

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/20/2023

Beigel is hands down the funniest professor I've ever had in my opinion. He can come off as a bit of an asshole but it just depends on your type of humor (I found his sarcasm to be absolutely hilarious). His teaching style worked very well for me being an online class. Beigel gets straight to the point and tells you what you need to know without explaining bs and goes super in depth with great explanation when working through in class examples. My only concern would be that I found his exams to be quite more difficult than other sections and his grading was a bit harsh. Other than that I would totally recommend Beigel and you should probably choose someone else if you can't take a joke or get easily offended.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Anonymous
12/16/2023

Beigel was an extremely mediocre teacher. Yes, he was amusing and entertaining however, his teaching style sucked. You have to watch pre-recorded lecture videos before class because all he does is do problems during the actual class. Because of this, I didn't feel like I was learning concepts, instead, I was learning procedures for completing problems. This class is also online, you never see him once in person. He also does not respond to emails, so I really wouldn't even try. Honestly, I thought the exams were fair. Before the exam, he gives practice problems that were on previous exams. If you do those and understand them, you should be fine. I learned more from my TA (shoutout to Hemant Kumar, he's the best!!). Kumar was super helpful during Friday's group work days and his office hours.

Catherine Hamel
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/11/2023

Honesty the goat of mechanics. Her notes are so neat and she explains everything with such good detail. TAKE HER!!!

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/06/2023

A comical person and a true personality, but a really awful teacher. If you already know the material take this course, since he records literally everything (don't even have to bother coming to class except for the comedy of seeing him drink his 4th monster in 2hrs). Otherwise it's kind of hell, since he doesn't explain anything, ever. Literally sarcastically makes fun of students who ask questions, so I learned everything in this course from the TAs. HW is tough and extremely time consuming, and he does NOT give ANY extensions EVER - a literal doctor's note documenting a concussion he just was like oh yeah sorry no can do.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/06/2023

Dr. Jay is a good person, but that doesn't make him a good professor. Often his lectures involve him scribbling small notes on the whiteboard that you can barely read while he poorly explains topics. Often, he would leave out the necessary information that we needed for the homework and often, he would cover a single example as if that would do much help when doing the very difficult homework. His office hours aren't really helpful either, honestly, I learned more from my friends with the other professors. Many people love Dr. Jay, and again, he's a great guy, just not an effective teacher. If you feel like teaching yourself and feeling much more lost than the other classes, feel free to take this course with Dr. Jay.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/30/2023

Mike is a great professor. He keeps the lectures engaging and entertaining (as much as one can do with Mechanics), and never misses a chance to crack a joke. The actual lessons, though, aren't lost in the lightheartedness. I think he presents the topics in very understandable ways (examples certainly help), and that certainly helps with some of the more difficult topics. Mechanics isn't an easy class, but Mike makes the ideas bearable and the journey quite entertaining.

Lucas Zhu
ENES102

Anonymous
05/27/2023

One of the most unhelpful TA's I have ever had. First of all he would cancel his office hour consistently for the entire semester. When he didn't cancel he was extremally unhelpful and condescending. He also would leave his office hours an hour or 2 early when there were clearly many students waiting for his help. That actually left me dumfounded. He should not be TA'ing for any class and I really hope future students don't have to deal with him.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/26/2023

Mike is by far my favorite professor I've had at UMD. He truly wants his students to succeed. He's very funny and his lectures are never boring. I really felt like I understood the material because of him. He has tons of resources to help you out, and he's a very fair grader. If you think something is wrong with a grade he'll fix it right away, you just have to ask. Sometimes he'd bring in baked treats and that was super awesome too. He's a great teacher. I would definitely recommend.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/26/2023

Easy to understand! Prof Mike has the ability to teach in a way that we (newbies to the engineering realm) can understand. His lectures are not mandatory and he has recorded versions on his Youtube channel. He tends to go over theory and then dives into some practice questions. If you get stuck on the homework or topic, go to his office hour. He's super chill and easy to talk to (so do not feel intimidated). That being said, this course takes some effort. Make super to practice practice practice.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/26/2023

Mike is quite literally the best professor you can have for ENES102. Honestly he’s probably one of the best professors you could have period. He tries his best to make the material interesting and lectures fun and engaging and also is really good at explaining the problems and the process for solving difficult problems. I literally cannot recommend him enough.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/26/2023

Mike deserves a raise, he is great at breaking down problems so that everyone can understand and brings life into the classroom. I recommend taking him for ENES100 and ENES102, I haven't had him for any other courses.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/21/2023

Mike is an incredible professor, his energy and enthusiasm always made the course better and he always tries his best to get the class involved. You can tell he really cares about his students. He's also created great in-depth videos on youtube that you can review if you miss class, and his lectures are always entertaining. I recommend Mike to anyone that can take him, because he will help his best to make sure you succeed, if you put in the work!

Jungho Kim
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/20/2023

Didn’t give me late credit on an assignment which I had no clue existed. He exclusively posted it in the canvas announcements, not even as a canvas assignment. Not very helpful, pretty ok at teaching. Did not enjoy this class, he was really inflexible or helpful.

Lucas Zhu
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/16/2023

Goated TA, easy grader and talks shit with his students

Lucas Zhu
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/16/2023

Lucas was a great TA. He would straight up tell you if you’re stupid and would talk shit about other students with you. If you put in the effort he will help you.

Jungho Kim
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/03/2023

Apparently a good lecturer in other classes but is confusing and bad at teaching in ENES102

Jungho Kim
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/02/2023

Very confusing lecturer who messes up constantly on practice problems and scores 80% on his own exams. Nice guy but bad enes102 teacher. Get Mike if you can.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/01/2023

Excellent professor. Most animated professor I've taken. Wants you to do well and tries hard to help. Actually tries to interact with the class and makes jokes(even if they're pretty repeated). Also has a youtube channel with some lectures to teach if you can't go. Only one homework a week with some groupwork. The work can definitely take some time unguided I'd recommend office hours to help out, but definitely make sure you study for exams.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/27/2023

I highly recommend taking this professor. As a teacher, Aris does a fantastic job at making sure everyone is able to visualize the concepts, he even goes as far to bringing in home-made models to look at and "feel" reaction forces. Lectures are very useful since he always goes over the entire problem, step by step and makes sure everyone understands before proceeding. He always posts his lecture notes with his work in case you miss lectures (which is hard to do). Aris always makes his lectures cozy by asking all his students their weekend plans and sharing his own experiences and life lessons. As long as you follow his instructions and complete the homework assignments, you will be more than prepared for the exams. Even though he doesn't curve, you wont need it as long as you do the homeworks and take a look at the archive of exam practice questions.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/25/2023

Literally one of the best professors I've had thus far at UMD. I retook this class over the winter because I was struggling to keep up with the class during the fall semester. The last professor I had was definitely a "textbook teacher" and would just regurgitate the material from the textbook word for word. I found that to be extremely unhelpful and of course I ultimately withdrew. I was nervous to take this course again but to my surprise, Cleanthous made sure to emphasize the fact that he was far from a textbook teacher and would have a different approach to teaching the material. He definitely delivered and I was amazed at how fast he was able to clear up a lot of my confusion. Not gonna lie, after the first lecture I already felt like I had learned waaay more than when I took the class the first time. He's funny, super approachable, and made sure to get to know each one of us individually. Exams and quizzes were definitely fair and he adjusts grading where he sees fit. 10/10 would love to have him again!

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/23/2023

Aris is a down to earth, fair and simple guy who wants to help his students learn. He is quick to respond with emails and prioritizes demonstrations and visual learning to help give you a tangible understanding of statics. As long as you finish the homework and attend lectures, you will be more than prepared for the exams. I feel like I actually learned alot in this class, and I would absolutely recommend Aris.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/30/2022

Solid teacher and incredibly nice guy. His notes and explanations were very simple and to the point and he posted every single powerpoint to Canvas so they could be reviewed at any time. These powerpoints included several examples for each topic and he would write out most of work save some simple algebra. On top of this, he would bring in physical examples for many of these problems to show you how they actually work. On top of this, he would always ask the class about how things were and share some of the interesting things he was doing. He was kind and helpful when I asked questions in class, but I never went to office hours so I cannot comment on how he was there. There was a curve at the end of the class; I'm not sure how substantial it was but my A- in Canvas went to an A on Testudo.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/27/2022

Dr. Jay is a professor who cares greatly. He wants to inspire his students and does his best. I want to offer a warning to anyone entering this class out of high school that this class is very difficult for the average person, especially if you have not taken a mechanics class before and regardless of the professor. Other people have mentioned asking questions and I don't believe it to be as bad as some have mentioned. I have never seen him answer a question in a way that does not provoke learning whether it be through trying to see if they can figure it out or excitingly telling the person that their question leads him to the next topic. The technical definitions might be helpful to some, but examples seem to be the most helpful part of the lectures. The examples most closely resemble what we do in the class, whether it be on the homework or the exams, so doing a few more examples to help people learn the content might be beneficial to those who are a little confused. Unfortunately since the textbook is simultaneously too basic and too confusing, the professor of this course will be close to the only source of teaching and thus is very important. Not everyone likes Dr. Jay's style and in that case, I would recommend using the lectures put out by the other teachers, however, he is a great professor to have regardless of the opinion of his lectures. He wants his students to learn and will do everything in his power. I highly recommend doing the extra credit he gives throughout the year because it will boost your grade a lot (without extra credit my grade drops about 6%). I truly believe that anyone who has the desire to learn the material will be successful even if the material fails to click at first primarily because of Dr. Jay's willingness to help.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/22/2022

AMAZING professor! I am in the honors program and originally registered for ENES102H, but I had a walking man on my schedule because of it so I switched to a non-honors ENES102. Best decision I've made. I would take Dr. Jay over an honors class for the same topic any day. I came into the class having never taken an engineering class in my life, and I got over 100%. He is friendly, is chill with his students, encourages his students effectively, creates a welcoming environment, and teaches well. I hope I get him for thermodynamics.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2022

Dr. Young is a great guy when you talk to him, however, he can be a bit harsh on students. His grading is harsh and he does not respond to questions well. Whenever questions were asked he would chastise the question asker and never gave a clear answer. I did actually learn a lot from this class, partly from Dr. Young but partly because it is a very straight forward course meant for freshmen. I do enjoy him as a person but he seems like he is here to relax, not focus on the success of his students.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/17/2022

Dr. Jay is an okay teacher. He knows his stuff for the course but he's not really the best at explaining it. During lectures, he often skims past things that require further explanation and when a student asks a valid question, he just answers "wait and you'll see", but the question never gets answered by the end of the lecture. Given that this is a pretty easy class, it doesn't matter too much but I'm not sure how taking a class with him for a more difficult subject would be...

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a B
vishal128
06/01/2022

One of my favorite professors in the engineering department. He's a lot of fun, and his review sessions for midterms saved my grade. He's hilarious (depending on your type of humor) and he likes conversing with students. His iconic "celebratory chug" is great, and he made taking the class a great experience.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/26/2022

Most of the things said about biegel I agree on, good and funny professor, teaches by example, but grades fairly harshly. However I do want to highlight a grading issue. All grades do not go in canvas. Some are on prairie learn, some are in gradescope, and I didn’t even get a grade back for the project. A week after the semester ended, I just see a grade pop up in testudo with no breakdown or explanation anywhere (from what I can find). Very disorganized.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/19/2022

Aris was a good professor in explaining concepts and was very helpful. He was able to make me come to his class 99% of the semester.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Anonymous
05/15/2022

Great guy. Liked his way of demonstrating the material we're learning by bringing in physical models of what we were learning.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/15/2022

Good guy really nice and I felt like I did learn things. I did not like a couple of things: The hw took 6 hours or more some weeks, the exams were too hard and they weigh too much and if you screw up on one or 2 it's hard to recover, he doesn't answer emails frequently. I felt like I learned thou and he is definitely better than other professors. Go with him.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/12/2022

Concepts were taught mainly through examples so I felt that I wasn't actually learning the concepts. Exams were harder than the homework or practice exams that were given. He also didn't put grades into canvas ever so I was have to calculate my grade myself every time an assignment was given back. He isn't a bad teacher, just his teaching style and the way that the class worked didn't work well with me.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/10/2022

Beigel is a good professor. This was an asynchronous class and his video lectures were concise and easy to follow. He would always do practice problems during lecture. The one downside is that beigel is an extremely harsh grader, so you have to be nigh perfect on your exams to maintain an A (this class isn't curved). I'd recommend him though, he's good.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
02/02/2022

pretty engaging professor, class moved slow for me but was still interesting. he knows his stuff and seems to genuinely enjoy teaching.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/28/2022

Aris was great for ENES102. Taking the class during a short winter semester was a lot but he made the class inviting and comfortable. He offers tons of time for questions and is more than happy to help. If you're paying attention and practicing nothing he tests is unfairly difficult. Would definitely recommend.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/17/2022

Aris was a great professor for ENES102. He encouraged class participation and asking questions and clearly just wanted his students to learn and succeed. He would talk about his weekends and life experiences and encourage students to talk about theirs as well, which makes his class have a very welcoming environment. His tests were not necessarily the easiest but they were always fair. Studying for the tests will guarantee at least a fine grade on them. Overall for a student that wants to learn the concepts central to this class and being an engineer in general, Aris will be an amazing professor at teaching that and making the student successful in his class.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Anonymous
01/04/2022

Dr.Jay is the best professor I've had at UMD. He truly cares about his students and helped me immensely during office hours. Not only that, he's one of the most genuine people you'll meet, he's one of the few instructors at this school who's actually passionate about teaching! If you don't understand make sure you communicate that to him since closed mouths don't get fed. If I could, I'd give him 6 stars.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/03/2022

Boring, slow, unhelpful, good guy, garbage professor, difficult exams and doesn't prepare you for them at all. Only ends up preparing you for groupworks but exams are always much harder. Do not recommend him at all.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/24/2021

Dr. JAY is an excellent professor who cares tremendously about his students. He is friendly, helpful, and supportive. Sometimes his lectures could be a bit hard for me to follow because of his handwriting/his style of writing on the board, but he more than made up for that by posting notes and giving assignments that genuinely helped us comprehend the material better. He really wants his students to succeed and gives ample support and extra credit opportunities so that people who put in the effort have the chance to do well.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/19/2021

5 star but notes about enes100 for future students!! Mike is a great guy, really fun personality, fun lectures, cares about his students. He brings in baked goods and held a pizza party at the end of the semester. He also has online video lectures that are interesting and engaging. Overall a wonderful guy. If you're taking enes100, it's going to surprise you with assignments. I recommend that as soon as your teams form you start looking at the next two "Milestone" assignments, otherwise you'll get sidelined and quickly have to rush to put something together. This class is fairly easy to get a high grade in, but it's not so easy to actually have a working autonomous vehicle. Another piece of advice: have a robot that drives as early as you can so that the people who program can start coding it ASAP. Code is the #1 fail factor on vehicles except for physical failure (i.e. a burnt arduino).

Jarred Young
ENES102

Anonymous
12/18/2021

Very solid professor who had an entertaining personality and was a strong lecturer. Tests were fair, after the class did poorly on the first one he offered 20 points of extra credit for it if you did a supplemental take-home test. Homework was quite hard IMO so I'd recommend going to office hours, but the hard homework means the tests will be easier in comparison. The way to pass the class is to do lots of practice problems, Dr. Young also offers extra credit for practice problems if you do 80+and turn them in. I'd recommend the class for sure.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/18/2021

Aris was pretty good for ENES102, he was always prepared and took his time going through examples and his lectures were very easy to follow. Most of the professors for this class seem pretty decent, but I would recommend Aris.

W Ethan Eagle
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/10/2021

To be honest, I haven't learned from his lectures but mostly from the office hours or studying myself. At the beginning of the semester, he made students to teach each other by making presentation and summary of each chapters. This was totally waste of time because most of the students presenting didn't know the topic themselves. However, near the end of the semester, he decided to teach the class by solving example problems which was better than what he did before but wasn't that helpful. I spent average 70~90 min a week in his office hours trying to understand what is going on in class. He is really helpful in his office hours but the quality of lecture was really poor. If you really have to take this course, I recommend taking other professor.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/08/2021

Dr. Young is funny in a nerdy way. He is truly always a delight to talk to because in the way he talks to students. He talks to you as an equal and is never demeaning. I'm not sure if other professors give out extra credit for ENES102, but Dr. Young gives out quite a bit. Whenever you go to office hours, he is happy to answer questions and guide you through stuff.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/03/2021

Dr. Jay is AMAZING! He genuinely cares about your success and well-being. His lectures are good at explaining the concepts, but he doesn't go over harder examples that mirror the in-class assignments, homework, or exams. He also posts his covid lecture videos which are helpful if you want a review of the concepts again. But definitely go to office hours if you want explanations for problems at the difficulty level that you'll be graded on. Just doing the in-class assignments, homework, and review problems are not enough practice before an exam though, so this class takes a lot of time if you want to do well. He offers a generous bonus percentage (+2-3%) at the end of the semester for turning in all your extra practice problems (if you have more than 80 problems), and from what I hear he will bump your grade even more on a case-by-case basis. If you put in the work, he WILL reward you. There are three midterms (15, 20, and 20% of the final grade) and a final (25%), as well as homework/in-class assignments (10%) and the final design project (building a truss) (10%).

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/28/2021

Mike's passion for teaching is infectious, and his ability to communicate material in a fun and effective manner is honestly unmatched. His expectations were articulated very well, and he seemed to be willing to do anything to help you meet and exceed those expectations. His assignments are very fair and he provides excellent feedback on exams. Do yourself a favor and register for the classes he teaches!

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Anonymous
08/28/2021

Mike is authentically on his student's side; he wants them to succeed. He knows exactly how to break down complex concepts without making them dull. He is an extremely engaging, helpful, and talented teacher. I wholeheartedly recommend taking his class!

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
08/27/2021

If you ever wanted to meet someone who figured out what they were born to do, its Prof. Michael G. He's got it all, showmanship, expertise, and compassion. Keep it up Mike!.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Anonymous
08/27/2021

Mike was a wonderful professor, and I would recommend him to anyone. He made a tough class interesting and it was obvious that he was on your side as a student. Things weren't easy in the class, but Mike was very accessible if you needed any form of assistance.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Anonymous
06/11/2021

Mike lives up to his almost 5 star rating, which wholly reflects his positive teaching and charisma. I could really tell that he not only wanted us to succeed, but also to be engaged and have fun doing it. He had a great sense of humor in person and in his self-paced lecture videos, which made me want to be more active in class. I highly recommend taking his courses!

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/03/2021

Mike is a great and engaging professor. He teaches the material really well with lectures that are actually fun to watch. He's funny and can bake really well. I highly recommend taking his class.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Fire_Lahrd
06/02/2021

I chose to take ENES102 with Mike after having him for ENES100 the previous semester, and he was just as amazing. Mike's class is very well organized, and his lecture videos are timestamped and incredibly informative, which makes studying any specific topic easily accessible and at whatever pace a student desires. His sense of humor is unique and engaging, and he gives out great tips not just for engineering, but also for test-taking and life.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
03/24/2021

Dr. Pertmer was a great professor! Exams were very fair and directly reflected what was taught in class. Lectures were easy to follow. His class was also very well adapted to the online environment, and the way it was structure helped you learn the material better without stressing over quizzes (because there are no quizzes!) while also getting somewhat familiar with him and your classmates. Highly recommend him!

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/12/2021

Dr. Young genuinely cares about his students' well-being, both academically and otherwise. Fair grading, plenty of extra-credit opportunities, and more-than-generous grade cutoffs at the end.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/28/2020

Mike is an amazing professor and is hands down the best in the engineering department. He makes sure all his students understand the concepts and truly tries to make every lecture new and interesting.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
09/02/2020

Mike was an amazing professor. He cares about his students and tries to make the course interesting. 102 isn't a cake walk, but he made the summer session manageable.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/26/2020

Pertmer is a nice, funny, and thorough professor. His notes are clear, and straightforward. The only downside is that his example problems are more simple than in the homework and exams. Pertmer curves the class by dividing all grades by the highest percentage in the class which is really nice. Friday in class problems are difficult, but if you do the homework problems beforehand, it'll be easier. All ENES 102 classes are taught the same content at the same time, so you can go to any teacher for help.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/24/2020

50% Statics / 50% dad jokes

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/03/2020

I thought this dude hated me for the first month of classes. I'd ask questions - not understand his answer - then he'd be done with me. Once he just completely ignored my question in class and waved me off. But I went to his office hours and turns our he's nice. Teaches really well.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Anonymous
03/27/2020

Mike is such a good professor, he makes class so much fun and he clearly cares so much about his students. He gives more time for homework assignments than the other professors for 102 and he also is definitely the best teacher you could get for 102!

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
03/24/2020

Really good teacher, he gives steps for how to solve each problem and the does multiple examples. The exams are similar to hw. Also just a really nice and fun guy, he asks how everyone's weekends were or what plans we have for the weekend.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2019

He’s a great guy, really understanding and he explains concepts relatively well. He’s really generous with partial credit but unfortunately the exams are graded by many professors (Young is pretty stingy with partial credit). During class, pertmer’s examples can get a little drawn out and boring, but overall the class was good.

Jarred Young
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/19/2019

Jarred Young truly cares about his students and goes out of his way to help them. He gives several extra credit opportunities throughout the semester which helps with the grade. He does not do "-" grades and curved the final grade by 5 percentage points. However, his lectures are not all that informative as he goes over the principles and very basic problems, but does not cover the hard examples that will definitely show up on the exam and homework. However, Keystone Center Office Hours are very flexible and useful.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2019

Mike is amazing. One of the best lecturers and is very entertaining and informative. Exams are fair and he gives you a formula sheet. Homeworks are online and are annoying but not impossible. He really cares about students and is extremely helpful at office hours . I highly recommend him as a teacher in ENES100 and ENES102

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/20/2019

Very good teacher, he likes to bring in props for students to mess with during lecture. No curve for the class, although you really shouldn't need one it's statics. He has like 5 hours of office hours per week and is extremely generous with his time to help students.

Aris Cleanthous
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/01/2019

Aris is a very good teacher. His lectures are well structured and he does a good job conveying all of the information you need to know. His exams aren’t too hard because they’re really similar to the problems on homework’s and in class. He’s also a generous professor and tries to help everyone get the best grade they can.

Robert Bonenberger
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/21/2018

His notes and lectures are detailed and easy to follow. However, he never responds to emails and never posts anything on elms, you won't know your grade until he puts it on your transcript after the semester is over.

Kevin Calabro
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2015

Super organized and very friendly. He teaches the material really well and does plenty of example problems. If you do your homework and plan ahead for the truss project, you'll get an A.

Robert Bonenberger
ENES102

Anonymous
05/26/2015

Terrible teacher. Writes bad notes on the chalkboard. Doesn't do practice problems that even relate to the homework or tests. Tried emailing for help and it took the entire semester for him to respond. Highly discourage taking him if it's your first semester in college

Peter Chang
ENES102

Expecting a C
ajones
05/11/2015

If you signed up for Peter Chang's section of ENES 102, DROP IT. SAVE YOURSELVES. Hands down the worst class I have ever taken. I made an OurUMD account for the express purpose of warning my peers. However, I in no way blame him for my grade in this class. Here goes nothing.... First, he begins lecture on the hour, without giving any kind of overview about what he will be covering, so check the syllabus before class. His lectures are quiet and confusing. The only phrase he says loudly and articulately is "Do you understand?"; no one in the class answers and he continues to lecture. He gives graded classwork during lecture, despite none of the other 102 Professors doing this. The examples he does in class are in no way indicative of the work you will see on the homework or on exams. Lecture usually goes over by a few minutes. And now, the end of the year group project. The end of the year project is to make truss out of wood and glue. As the lucky little guinea pigs we are, Chang's section created a truss using a CNC machine to eliminate the need for glue and gusset plates. Sounds great right, WRONG. Chang gave little information on how our project specifications would differ from the other sections. He also didn't indicate all of the data we needed to collect from materials testing, leading to skewed calculations. His only redeeming quality is that his lecture notes are online.

Peter Chang
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/04/2015

I do not like how he teaches. He spends what seems like 95% of class going over the most simple concepts, and then a tiny fraction going over the complex concepts which are what we actually need in order to complete the homework. I also feel like he wastes so much time constantly asking us if we understand, over and over again, but no one ever answers, but he still always does it. He also never responds to emails, and does not always follow up with things he says he will do in class. So if you have a choice, I would suggest not to take him.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
03/24/2015

Prof. Pertmer is definitely the professor for ENES102. He is approachable, personable, and never gives the impression that he takes himself too seriously. He will make jokes during lecture (some of them are subtle but still quite funny). The material itself is not that hard, and Prof. Pertmer never makes it harder than it has to be. Lectures can sometimes be a bit dry (I had the 2 pm lecture and every now and then I would zone out a bit), but they are not too long (50 min vs. 75 min) so this is usually not a serious issue. The HWK is through Mastering Engineering and generally is free of errors (which can be a serious annoyance on online HWK). It varies from being relatively simple in the beginning to somewhat time-intensive (though not impossible). I would give it a range from 1-4 hr per week. I went to his office hours once to check my HWK because I had to miss a class, and he was very helpful and willing to answer all manner of questions. There are two tests and a final; Prof. Pertmer posts a ton of review questions for every topic, and those questions alone are usually plenty for the exams. The two tests he made for us during the semester were not bad and he allows an equations sheet. The final exam (joint for every ENES102 professor and section) was tougher, but still fair. There are no +/- grades, and generally speaking getting an A is not too hard if you've had some physics in HS and do not mind some math. It's not a free A, but Pertmer removes most of the roadblocks. If you need to take 102 and he is an option, take his class.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/28/2014

Dr. Pertmer is incredibly approachable, thorough, and funny. He teaches by example, which makes it very easy to learn. He goes at a good pace, and explains well. I never used the textbook. The weekly Mastering Engineering homework isn't fun, but really helps you learn the material. It took me 2-4 hours. The class is not really curved, and he does not give +/-, so I really earned a B+ but got a B.

Robert Bonenberger
ENES102

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/19/2014

The man! He is the best professor I have had thus far. He is a very effective teacher. From the beginning of enes102, I had no idea what a free body diagram was and was awful at basic physics. Bonenberger did such an amazing job illustrating material to the class. He uses real-world examples to apply the material he teaches in class. Bonenberger uses a step by step approach to teach class. Does a lot of example problems and numbers each step! Great guy overall. However, his grade distribution is not as good as other professors.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/06/2013

Beigel is a very good teacher. He doesn't beat around the bush and is very effective in teaching his students the best way to complete each problem. If you pay attention and make an effort to understand all the homeworks, you should be fine to pass the class. He is very approachable during office hours too, but sometimes instead of explaining a problem to you, he will just do it for you. If you ask, though, he won't have a problem explaining what he did. Also if you are like me, you have difficulty trying to pay attention for a whole class period. He doesn't necessarily start teaching right away and will keep you engaged with stories which are always pretty interesting. His classes go by pretty fast so you're not sitting there watching the clock the whole time. Definitely take Beigel.

Peter Chang
ENES102

tiresias
09/03/2013

I don't resent Professor Chang, but I would not recommend taking his class. What follows is a description meant to warn you, not bitter libel. Take it seriously. This is the sort of professor that you only take if you are highly confident in your skill and don't anticipate any difficulty with material. Even then, his teaching style will cripple you. If you do not learn well from the textbook then you are probably in trouble. As others have mentioned, he presents the material in a convoluted fashion. The way he solves problems is different from the other professors and different than what is taught in the book. He also grades harshly. What shocked me most about Professor Chang was his lack of professionalism, which probably stems from a spiteful streak under his overlying impersonal demeanor. I went to turn in a problem set late after class within the first few weeks - it stated in the syllabus that they would be accepted tardy with a point deduction. He looked at me blankly and said I had to give it to the TA. When I asked him where the TA was, he actually told me word for word "You have to go find him." I was taken aback by how petty this was. I think it says a lot about how he looks at his students. Very reprehensible behavior for a supposed professional. If you remain unconvinced, here is my final anecdote. During a discussion one day I was working in a group to solve a problem set. I could not solve the last one of the three, and nobody in my group could either. I asked the TA for help and he made a mistake. I pointed it out and he tried for a few more minutes before saying to ask the professor. When I did so, I presented Professor Chang with the work I had done so far and the answer I had gotten. I told him the answer was clearly wrong (it was far too small, obviously erroneous) and he agreed with me. I asked if he could see the flaw in my work and he said he wasn't sure. Then he just walked off.... No help from the professor or the TA on a graded in-class problem set. Utterly preposterous. I think this may be the only teacher I've had, including ones in high school, that I honestly don't think should even be allowed to teach.

Robert Bonenberger
ENES102

Anonymous
07/15/2013

Very nice guy, explains stuff well. However, the exams were NOTHING like the homeworks and examples. The best way I can explain it is, the homework and quizzes were like riding a bicycle on a flat road (easy, straightforward). However, the exams were like mountain biking down Mt. Everest (vaguely relating to biking on a road, but about 10 times tougher.

Mary Bowden
ENES102

Anonymous
05/26/2013

Picture the perfect professor, and that's Bowden. She is hands down one of the best professors in this University as well as one of the nicest. She is an excellent lecturer who is very clear and easy to understand. She is one of few teachers who care about their student's grades and wants them to succeed. She is also probably the only statics professor who gives EC and also curves. The first 2 midterms are pretty easy, the final is pretty hard, so don't get cocky after the first 2 midterms. Honestly THERE IS NO OTHER TEACHER U SHOULD TAKE FOR STATICS OTHER THAN BOWDEN!!! In fact, if you don't have Bowden, Statics will be a hard class. Again, TAKE BOWDEN, or regret it!!!!!!

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/17/2013

He's a really nice guy in general, and a pretty good teacher. The homework load was alright, especially if you did the problems throughout the week. If you waited until the last minute, it would suck, but you could still get them done. The reason I won't give him 5 stars is because he was extremely inappropriate at time, especially towards females. He makes dirty jokes that were usually funny, but a lot of the time were downright offensive. One girl I know stopped going to his office hours and was afraid to ask him for help because of the things he said to her. Gives good examples, and is helpful, but sometimes his jokes go way too far.

Robert Bonenberger
ENES102

Expecting a C
cheesecake
05/01/2013

Good teacher, but the class was just really tough for me. My TA graded the homework problems surprisingly tough. I often got points taken off even though, I had the answers to the homework online. Tests were not really hard, but there was always one problem on every test that was just extremely hard. Most people would mess up on that problem and end up having the highest possible test grade a B or C.

Robert Bonenberger
ENES102

Expecting a B
soheikitsune
08/28/2012

Great professor, explained things very thoroughly and made sure that his students got the information they needed for exams/quizzes.

Mary Bowden
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anony
07/09/2012

Honestly this women is angel sent from God to teach us all about engineering. If I didn't have her as a teacher I probably would have cried myself to sleep every night because I believed that I did not have the brainpower and the aptitude to be cut out for an Engineer, however she proved me wrong. Dr. Bowden does an amazing job teaching the material both in her class and at office hours (I recommend going to). She hands out plenty of extra credit opportunities that are great sample/mock problems for upcoming tests, though a little difficult to say the least. The homework for this class is not fun, and I would never have gotten through it without having a friend help/work with me. The tests dare I say were pretty straightforward, and matched the problem solving techniques for the homework. So basically understand the homework, and work on all of the practice exam problems you should do decently at least an 80% on both the tests. Bridge building with Bowden was fun because she allowed our class to use different materials than the other ENES102 classes, which produced interesting bridges with metal plates or made out of bamboo. The only problem about this class is the final, so a word to the wise DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE FINAL. That is all, and enjoy engineering :D

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Anonymous
05/25/2012

Dr. Pertmer is an awesome professor. He was always very approachable and seemed to actually care about his students. He makes some funny jokes in class, and lectures are usually interesting. He covers the material very well. For each new topic he starts by introducing the topic, giving an outline of how to solve the kinds of problems for that topic, and does many examples (with the examples becoming progressively more complicated). I really enjoyed his class and would recommend that you take a class with this professor. You will always feel like you know what you're doing in this class, and can ask him for help any time you don't understand something.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/05/2012

I'm obviously a minority here, but I was not a big fan of Beigel. He teaches by example, and not by concepts, which really screwed me over when I got to the final - a couple of the problems I had never seen before, and thus had no idea how to do them. The homework and the in-class problems (he has us do some in discussion in groups) were easy, as all you needed to do was copy from the solutions manual. However, office hours were nice, even though they are always crowded. You can ask him questions one-on-one. Finally, his personality. Most people love it, I couldn't stand it. He would talk for 30 minutes into class, and then do one example problem. I would much rather spend that time sleeping since it was a 9am class, or let us out early. And I felt as though you couldn't come late or you might miss something, because the time he talked was irregular. tl;dr: Teaches by example, copy the homework, go to office hours, deal with him wasting your time.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/30/2011

Tom is a good statics teacher. The concepts in statics are pretty easy: sum of all forces and moments equal 0, with a little bit of material properties included. Tom teaches with 1-2 examples per class. This is fine for people who learn through example, but I found I would not fully understand what was being taught. The homework problems ended up being a pain. I ended up in office hours every week to do them because I may miss a concept tom showed during lecture. Tests (which are generally the same among all statics teachers) can be tricky because there can be problems you have never seen before, but can surely apply the big concepts to solving the problems. He gives out a lot of practice problems to prepare you for exams, so take advantage of those.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting an A
pat
10/30/2011

I took this class 2 years ago, but I am in the mood to do this so here you go. Pertmer is the Chuck Norris of statics. If I had to sum up one class where I SINCERELY feel like I got my money and time's worth out of, it would be statics with this guy. He is incredibly thorough with his notes, lays everything in a step by step manner, prepares you very well for exams and homeworks, and is actually very witty and hilarious if you listen close (he makes subtle jokes that most people miss.) You will really learn a lot if you put in the time here. I 1000 percent recommend.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/30/2011

Wow after that final, I'm glad I even passed. I'll be honest, I think I learned more by doing the homework with the solution manual (obviously written out by Bonenberger), than going to Tom's lectures. We did on average one example a class, which definitely was not getting the material into my head. Others might have been at an advantage if they had physics or calc 3. Its a tough class, but enjoyable with Tom. You could always turn in stuff late, and he is so willing to help. I love him as a person, just not as a teacher. Get on his good side, and make an effort to show you're trying at least! He's not for everyone.

Robert Bonenberger
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/29/2011

Love this guy. He wrote the textbook and he really knows his stuf. Super methodical, bordering on obsessive but it works. Theres no way to take bad notes in his class he writes everything out on the board and explains everything hes doing very well. If u have any questions go to his office hours or ask after class cause hes not great with responding to email. Very fair with extra credit as well. One of the best teachers ive had at UMD by far. Do the work and study for tests and you should be fine.

Robert Bonenberger
ENES102

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/09/2011

Bonenberger moves incredibly quickly, but is easy to understand, as long as you pay attention and take good notes. In one class period, you can expect to learn a lot of information. Not much of a personality; I think he's made an attempt at humor twice this semester. Overall, I would definitely recommend him, great professor.

Peter Chang
ENES102

Expecting a C
Anonymous
02/16/2011

Dr. Chang was awful. He did not take the class seriously yet graded us harshly. He would find a problem during class for our quiz and give us 5 minutes to complete it. Our final review for statics was him saying "sum of all forces equals zero". He didn't teach well at all.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Anonymous
12/17/2010

VERY smart, funny, nice guy. Not once did he ever get angry at a student for asking a question or for clarification, no matter how stupid the question. He is very approachable and helpful, and really knows what you need to know and what you dont - he's been doing this for almost 20 years. However, the final exam was brutal, even though the midterms were easy, so be warned. I definitely recommend Beigel for ENES102.

Peter Chang
ENES102

Expecting an A
mreese
12/12/2010

Chang's lectures were never terribly interesting, and he seemed to enjoy bringing students' grades down with clicker questions immediately following the introduction of a new concept. His method of curving was to grant extra points based on the fourth highest score on individual questions so it would be 20/20. That is to say, there was never a curve because for each question, four people in the class would have managed to get it 100% correct. Dr. Chang was pretty friendly, though, and he had a really corny sense of humor that I enjoyed. He was pretty helpful outside of class and liked to share tricks and new ways of thinking about problems. If I remember correctly, anyone who received an A on the final would get an A in the class regardless of their current grade. He was probably the worst professor teaching statics when I took it, but there isn't too much to learn in this class, so learning the material on your own is not a major time sink.

Mary Bowden
ENES102

Expecting an A
clementi
12/02/2010

Very nice woman, makes material easy to understand. She's very approachable and good at answering emails if you have questions. Lots of extra credit opportunities so even if you mess up on the easy exams you can still get a good grade as long as you put the effort in.

Peter Chang
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/25/2010

A quite unapproachable teacher who has his own way of doing things compared to the other teachers of this course. Found myself learning a lot of the material on my own and never wanting to take a class with him again

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/18/2010

This professor is great. He's not the most boring teacher, he throws in small jokes periodically that are usually subtle and hard to catch. He teaches everything you need for the tests and is a reasonable grader. I've never needed to use office hours but I wouldn't hesitate if I wanted to ask something. definitely recommend him.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
10/13/2010

Pertmer is very helpful. His lectures mostly consist of showing you how to derive an answer and one or two numerical problems. This worked fine with me, and only once or twice did I ever need to really go for help but the background he provided really made it easy to move on from there. He's also very willing to answer a lot of questions, and usually does very well.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Anonymous
10/12/2010

Not the most exciting teacher, but covers the material adequately enough. The stuff he does cover he covers well, he just tends to not cover everything assigned on the homework which is frustrating. Really nice though, and very approachable. I know everyone always tries to get Biegel but my friend took beigel at the same time and he gave her much more homework-he would add on to the regularly assigned stuff and pertmer would take stuff off that he thought was a waste of our time. pertmer also gives lighter homework after exams which is very appreciated.

Kevin Calabro
ENES102

Expecting an A+
zhangsta
09/12/2010

Kevin's a pretty good statics teacher. his notes are easy to follow and understand. he also explains concepts pretty well. for the most part, if you do the hw and the practice problems, you should do fine in the class.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

sgewirtz
03/09/2010

Dr. Pertmer really is a great teacher he is willing to stay late and answer your questions as well as explaining the material clearly and succinctly. Also he is willing to work with you and make allowances if you need a reasonable amount of extra time to turn in an assignment or something

Kevin Calabro
ENES102

Expecting an A
fiddlerkrt
03/01/2010

Calabro is definitely a decent statics teacher. Lectures are pretty helpful even though it was hard to stay awake (I had his class at 9 am). ENES 102 is a fair amount of work towards the end of the semester. Do not underestimate the class just because the majority of material on the first exam is mostly review. Also, make sure you do as many practice problems as possible before the exam to get a good grade.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
08/25/2009

Nicest man. Fantastic teacher...even though I was miserable in the class he made things understandable. I would say that that in and of itself shows how fantastic he must be!

Chandrasekhar Thamire
ENES102

Expecting a B
jwong89
04/20/2009

Good professor, knows and teaches the material well. Extremely nice guy, easy to talk to if you have any questions in or out of lecture. Exams were fair, not my favorite, but not really hard either. Take him if you want to get through ENES102 without hating the class at the end.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Anonymous
04/15/2009

Beigel is the best instructor i've had. He only teaches about 25 minutes out of a normal class, but i guarantee you will learn more in those 25 minutes than you do in any other 50 minutes class. Also, the beginning of statics covers a lot of material from the beginning of physics and calc 3 and i learned my stuff for all 3 classes in beigels lectures. He also tells you exactly whats on tests and is the funniest teacher youll have. He sometimes will give you the option of leaving or staying and listening to his stories. Stay for the stories.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102

Expecting a B
Anonymous
02/06/2009

Dr. Pertmer teaches the material very well. He is very straightforward, explains things clearly, and uses class time effectively. He provides plenty of example problems in class and is willing to take time to answer people's questions. The material in ENES102 isn't difficult conceptually (it's an entire semester on vectors), but Pertmer will definitely help you out if you're having trouble. Although he's not as funny as Beigel, it's not a huge loss.

Chandrasekhar Thamire
ENES102

Expecting an A-
kmk
12/31/2008

Dr. Thamire is a great statics instructor. He really knows the material well, and makes himself very available if you have any out-of-class questions. Also, lots of opportunity for extra credit in his class.

William Fourney
ENES102

Expecting a B
Var
07/08/2008

He is clear, straightforward, and more than willing to help if you ask. Works through example or homework problems slowly but carefully. I did not find myself in need of a textbook to work any problems or study until about halfway through the semester. A word of caution, though: It is extremely important that you pay closest attention when he is teaching the concepts of the course rather than just equations or going through problems. Knowing the concepts and thinking about how you can apply them are key to succeeding in statics.

Chandrasekhar Thamire
ENES102

Anonymous
05/19/2008

Decent professor, he does his best to try and make you understand the material. Lectures were really really really really boring. I hated discussions because the questions were always too difficult to answer. His teaching style kind of got sloppy towards the end of the semester. And he does other little stupid things that I didn't like. I suggest try getting a professor like Beigel but if you end up with Thamire, it won't be too bad.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

t69
05/11/2008

His class is definatley an experince. I'd recomend if you can get him. He'll always be late and won't always teach, which is a lot better than it sounds. He'll help you all you need at office hours and is a very understanding guy. Very freindly and funny. Highly recomend.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

jmartin1
05/06/2008

tom is probably on of the most hilarious teachers ive ever had. he will come in late every day, and will tell some of the dirtiest, yet hilarious stories. sometimes he can be lazy when teaching the stuff, but he does explain it pretty well, and he'll help you if you really need it

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Anonymous
05/06/2008

Beigel is awesome. He will take a problem, tell you how to do it the long way, then show you the easiest way to do it. He is a genius. Most of us are not. So if you ask him a question he will try to lead you through it, but if you're too slow to understand he will move on and you will have to go to his office hours or ask him after class. Easier to just ask kids around you. Here's one thing you really don't know: Beigel is Chuck Norris in disguise. It could be a good thing, or a bad thing. Either way, it's awesome. Just take his class.

Thomas Beigel
ENES102

Anonymous
05/02/2008

Beigel is by far one of the most unusual instructors I have encountered. He generally shows up late to class, tells lots of jokes and stories and can be quite profane. If you don't mind listening to his dirty jokes and frequent swearing, he actually does a pretty good job teaching. He does lots of examples that are likely to show up on exams and does a good job answering any questions if people don't understand.

Chandrasekhar Thamire
ENES102

Expecting an A+
a778999
12/07/2007

By far the easiest statics teacher. He will love you as long as you appear to try hard. His voice can put you to sleep though. Hope you get this guy for ENES102.

Mary Bowden
ENES102

avigana
11/16/2007

Professor Bowden is a competent teacher, who tries her best to ensure that her students understand the subject matter.She is also very approachable and gives extra-credit problems.

Reviews for ENES102