ENES102H | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Catherine Hamel ENES102H Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2023	CATHERINE HAMEL IS A QUEEN. She's SO nice and SO helpful. This class is pretty similar to AP Physics, but just more focused on the application of formulas in real-life scenarios. There are 3 midterms and a final, but the final is basically a fourth midterm. All exams and homework are the same across all ENES102 courses, so nothing special. However, Hamel was so nice, and learning from her was so easy. It was her first time teaching this course, and she did a PERFECT job.
Catherine Hamel ENES102H Expecting an A dgreg 12/13/2023	THE GOAT. 💪💪💪💪💪 Can't be beat. #1.
Patrick McAvoy ENES102H Expecting a C Anonymous 04/27/2023	I took this class in Fall 2022. He was a very nice professor who is happy to help students. He didn't curve the class at all (maybe 1 or 2 percent) and didn't give extra credit like the other ENES102H class for homework. The class environment also feels very "elite" and everyone seems to know what they were doing and doesn't seem like asking questions even if they're confused. Definitely go to discussion because you'll learn a lot doing problems on your own.
Patrick McAvoy ENES102H Expecting an A Anonymous 01/20/2023	Lectures: Goes really slow so you can understand concepts. Really easy if you've already taken AP Physics C Mechanics. Tests: Tests are standardized for the whole course, they're way easier than the homeworks and are very similar to the groupworks. Office hours: Don't bother going to his office hours, he has good intentions but often just talks for a long time and you don't get much out of it. Sometimes he felt a little disorganized but I can't blame the guy he was always kind and enthusiastic. Go to the TA office hours instead, find a TA you like and then just keep going to their office hours. Tips: Understand the intuition behind a cross product and program your calculator to be able to do a cross product. Will make your life so much easier.
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2022	Nice professor and baked cookies for the class
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2022	When I say I've never met a better professor, I mean it. You really can't go wrong with Mike. Literally. He is probably the best professor on campus. He explains everything in a way that's easy to comprehend, and he always wants what's best for you. His sections usually get the highest average score on exams, and there's a reason why. He's super approachable out of class, and in class, he is one of the funniest and charismatic professors out there. He is a huge baking guy too, so except some baked good the next lecture if your class scores well on an exam. He has a YouTube channel which has every video on every topic you will ever need. These videos are also not just him reading off a slide or something boring, but he actually puts lot of effort into them (he also has side videos like bloopers and Into the Mikeverse). If you can, take him for ENES102. You really won't regret it.
Patrick McAvoy ENES102H Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/07/2022	Seriously great professor. He is super passionate about physics and engineering and his lectures are great--he gives good notes with derivations and the follows it up with examples every lecture. He can answer any question you ask him. Literally any question. Office hours are super helpful too!
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Expecting an A Arrow 12/01/2022	MIKE IS MY GOD!!! I will build a shrine for him if possible. Take him, I beg you. This will be the most amazing best decision you have ever made in your entire college life. He teaches as if his students have no idea what they are being taught about, and this is the best thing possible. With absolutely no background in mechanics or physics, you will still excel in this class because of Mike's teaching. He is a very friendly, and approachable person. He is very invested in making the class fun and entertaining. All my friends in other sections struggled with this class, but I was able to really help them cuz I understood the concepts very easily. Mike also has a very goated youtube channel (Michael Galcyznski) that he posts lecture videos and other fun videos on. If you miss a lecture, you can catch up very easily by watching the lecture videos. My friends found this very helpful.
Mary Bowden ENES102H Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/07/2022	I love Dr. Bowden with all my heart. Go to her office hours (even if you aren't in her class) she is so sweet, helpful, and really wants you to do well. I really enjoyed her class though sometimes she would go off topic and she would take a whole class just to go over one example. She offered a lot of extra credit and doubled sided cheat sheets so definitely use those to your advantage. Do the practice problems they give out before exams because the midterms tended to have tricky problems.
Kevin Calabro ENES102H Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/27/2021	A fantastic professor who really cares about his students. Although the course can be fast-paced at times, he's very approachable and will go through the time to explain concepts if you shoot him an email or attend office hours. You can tell that he loves and really cares about teaching. He also peppers in content from future keystone classes to show you why you're learning the things you are, making the content more digestible and exciting. Highly recommend him for ENES102
Mary Bowden ENES102H Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/21/2021	Dr. Bowden is a wonderful person as well as a competent professor. 10/10 would recommend to anyone taking ENES102! About Bowden: - She is one of the sweetest and most caring people I have ever met. She is very approachable and encourages you to talk to her if need more guidance, always reminding us about her office hours. - Dr. Bowden is also very understanding and will try her best to help you in whatever way possible so that you never feel intimidated by a test or assignment. - She is very very knowledgeable about the material she is teaching and is very passionate about the class. Did you know she helped design spacecraft for the international space station at NASA! - She is my favorite professor so far! Teaching style: - She goes over concepts at a very good pace. I never felt rushed learning the material (considering this was my first time seeing anything related to mechanics) and she makes sure to stop and ask for clarifying questions along the way. - I also adored the examples she gives during class to solidify the abstract concepts she previously taught, not to mention she goes over homework problems she thinks are difficult to make sure we don't spend too long trying to solve them on our own. ENES102H itself: - There are three midterms and one final (no quizzes). The midterms and the final are not easy, so be prepared. They post about 18 or so review practice problems a week before the test which are a good way to study for the test and I highly recommend you do all or most of them. These practice problems go over all the concepts you will need to know for the exam (bottom line: if you can do the review practice problems, you are more or less guaranteed a B or an A on the exam so long as you avoid silly mistakes). We also get a "cheat sheet" were we can write down anything we need and use it while taking our exam. - We also have a truss project. I personally didn't like it because spanned over the two weeks before finals and we didn't really receive much guidance. If you don't have a good group in which everyone is willing to pull their weight (which unfortunately didn't happen for me), you are more or less screwed. - This class, for all I know, is not curved. BUT there is extra credit. If you compile all the practice problems you have done in preparation for the exams, you con get up to 3 or 4 percent boost in your grade. Good luck and try to have some fun with this class :)
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Expecting an A Anonymous 01/24/2021	Mike is the best professor I had in my first semester at UMD. He put a lot of time and effort into his online lectures that made them very enjoyable to watch, and gave plenty of optional opportunities for students to receive help, allowing for students of all skill levels to excel as efficiently as possible.
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Expecting an A ILSboi 01/06/2021	class was fully online due to covid Mike is a fun, knowledgeable, and entertaining professor, who truly made the class enjoyable. All lectures were pre recorded and put on his youtube channel, and it's clear that he spent a ton of time putting together lectures and filming funny videos. If you want a better sense of his teaching style (or want to get a head start on class content) (or have a terrible professor now), I highly recommend looking him up on youtube. The class itself was pretty good, with weekly group work sessions to help us practice the concepts. The homework was unnecessarily difficult, but it was assigned by the department. Mike had no control over it. He also gave out an insane amount of extra credit, which was really helpful.
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Expecting an A Anonymous 01/05/2021	His lecture videos are very engaging, unlike a lot of other professors. He does good examples on the subjects and the group work is helpful for preparing for the exams. He was well prepared for online learning. He is a great professor.
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/30/2020	I looked forward more to ENES102 than I did any other class last semester, and that was largely in part due to Mike. He definitely knows his stuff, and will always take the time to make sure you understand what exactly it is you're learning before moving on to another group. He is the only professor I've had this semester who I would say exceeded expectations when switching to a virtual environment, he truly made the video format enjoyable. Couldn't recommend him enough, and don't be afraid to have a chat with him if you ever catch him at Eppley (final point, you'll never find a professor who will proudly wear an entire Guy Fieri outfit for Halloween at the gym like Mike will).
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Anonymous 12/26/2020	awesome teacher, really cares about his students. his lectures are interesting, easy to follow, and funny. offered extra credit for different things too. would definitely recommend him to anyone!
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Expecting an A Milanp2001 12/24/2020	Mike is the GOAT god of professors. He truly cares about all of his students and will treat you just like a close friend. His lecture videos were interesting and full of bloopers that resemble a full-on movie saga like the MCU. He is one of those professors who would be willing to take the time to make sure you understood the material, but then go on to talk about fantasy football or other activities that you may do in your life. He is the best professor for a transition to college and please take him if you want to succeed.
Gary Pertmer ENES102H Expecting an A Anonymous 03/25/2020	Covers the material well. Makes the typical physics jokes. He is helpful with explaining concepts after class if you did not understand something. Made the course fun and engaging.
Michael Galczynski ENES102H Expecting an A+ StardustGogeta 01/15/2019	Professor Galczynski is a fantastic teacher who makes the class fun and engaging with his lectures. He has a great sense of humor and is able to help with any questions you have about the material. Mike provides many opportunities for extra credit and uses Canvas far more efficiently and reliably than the other professors teaching ENES102.
Michael Galczynski ENES102H EulersBoiler 12/11/2018	Mike is so far the best professor I've had at UMD. All of his lectures are entertaining and informative. He does great presentations and demonstrations that make his class always fun to go to. He also makes really good cookies!
Gary Pertmer ENES102H Expecting an A zhang 06/04/2015	Great professor, as all of the other reviews said so I will not elaborate. Teaches by example, which is great. Will always answer questions and is very approachable. No curve (well, he normalizes the grades so the highest grade becomes the new 100, but grading is pretty easy so the highest grade is probably 98+). No +/-, but that's true for all 102 sections, at least when I took the class. Take Pertmer, he's great!
Gary Pertmer ENES102H Expecting a B+ nbarshain 02/26/2014	Great professor! Good at explaining concepts, and has a good balance in class between equations and example problems. Good review sessions in discussion every Friday. We did in-class problems in groups of three. Exams were fair, and the practice problems he posted were extremely helpful when studying. Homework was handled very well. We had five problems online for practice and the sixth one was graded online, but the five practice problems had to be written out and handed in during class for credit. This allowed instantaneous checking of answers, but then forced us to write out the whole process, which ultimately helped me on the test. The only reason I am not expecting an A is because I took the class at 9 AM and I failed to turn in some assignments because I woke up late.
William Fourney ENES102H Anonymous 12/16/2012	Fourney is one of the nicest professors ever. He's always funny in class and telling us stories about his days working with bombs, which are really cool to hear about. As a teacher, he goes over the material you need learn, but his examples are usually a bit easier than what you'll see on the test. Before each of the tests, he'll give you hints on what's going to be on them, which makes studying for them a lot easier. He's pretty soft-spoken in class, but everyone really loves him too much to talk over him. Even so, sitting in the front of the room will benefit you. During our discussion, he'll tend to not give quizzes most times like the other teachers do, which really reduces the stress of having to study for them every week. He does give additional problems though, but since they're group work they're not too bad. Overall, he's a really great and chill professor, so take him if you can.
Gary Pertmer ENES102H milk 12/16/2012	Pertmer is nice and incredibly understanding. I've had a few issues I had to address to him, like taking up a make-up exam, and he was always very approachable and easy to talk to. As a teacher, he's competent, covers all the material you need (I know a couple of other teachers miss some things that Pertmer makes sure to cover), and makes sure he teaches you in the simplest way possible. He makes the material very easy to understand as long as you pay attention, which isn't too hard because he doesn't drone and makes occasional jokes if he's in the mood. That being said, if I could go back in time, I don't know if I'd take the H-version of this class. There's not much difference in the teaching, but there's a huge difference in the curve at the end. If you have a strong background in vectors, go for it - if not, I'd probably go for 102 regular.
Peter Chang ENES102H Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2011	Dr. Chang is one of the most frustrating people I have ever met or worked with. He is certainly a good engineer and knows the material, but he makes almost no second effort to teach the material if students don't understand and is not very receptive to questions during lecture.
Peter Chang ENES102H cjholman23 11/01/2011	I have nothing to say that cannot be seen in the other reviews. Chang is a good engineer, but is the absolute worst professor/teacher I have ever had. I would recommend taking any other professor at 4am over him at 11am. (obviously that is not possible, but you get my point). Avoid him at all costs.
Gary Pertmer ENES102H Expecting an A Anonymous 07/17/2011	I felt well prepared for all the tests in this class. He goes over examples thoroughly and is very willing to answer questions (either related specifically to the course or engineering in general). He also spends the class before tests going over key topics covered in the course so students know what to include on their formula sheets. Often, one can find examples in the textbook that look exactly like the homework problems. note: the only difference between ENES102 and ENES102H (as far as I can tell) are the two weekly in-class problems that you do with a group, so definitely take the Honors version.
Peter Chang ENES102H Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2010	His class is incredibly frustrating- he makes Statics much harder than it needs to be, and when comparing notes with students in the other Statics classes, its clear that his methods of solving problems are often extremely convoluted. He also doesn't like explaining his work, so the class leaves confused on a regular basis.
Peter Chang ENES102H Expecting a B Anonymous 12/15/2010	He is the worst teacher to have ever taught the class. He doesn't prepare you for exams like the other professors do, and the only way you have a chance of passing is if you go to Biegel's review sessions, and learn to teach the material to yourself. Do not take this class with him!
Mary Bowden ENES102H Expecting a B+ MooseNinja 12/13/2010	ENES102H -- I really enjoyed the class and thought Bowden was a good professor. Sadly, I got a little overconfident and did not study enough for the final. ENAE283 -- The structure of this class pretty much means you don't need to go to class. She allows a formula sheet which makes tests and quizzes simple.
Gary Pertmer ENES102H Expecting an A Anonymous 12/02/2010	Pertmer is a great teacher. Though sometimes the material is a little dreary, his examples are great and he really helps you understand what you are doing. The in class problems can be challenging, but he is happy to help out. The class overall is quite challenging and the homeworks are long and graded for accuracy. (harsh graders). Overall, I think he is a fantastic professor and I would recommend him to anyone who needs to take statics, and if you listen carefully you will notice that he is actually very funny.
Peter Chang ENES102H Expecting an A+ vnsach 06/02/2010	He has a very stupid sense of humor. I had to learn everything by myself but it was not a hard course.
Mary Bowden ENES102H Expecting an A blife 01/17/2010	P. Bowden is a great teacher. She explains the material very clearly, is always willing to answer questions, and is genuinely interested in her students understanding the material. She offers tons of extra credit. She is extremely nice and patient, especially in office hours. top choice for ENES102.
Peter Chang ENES102H Expecting an A aloo1111 12/11/2009	A good professor and he has a fun sense of humor which makes an otherwise dull and boring class fun to attend. At times he seems to not fully go over the material and he expects you to know something ahead of time, but he has some neat tricks to make problems easier which makes up for it.
Kevin Calabro ENES102H Expecting an A thehaus 11/24/2008	Calabro is a relatively good statics teacher, but some people have a hard time with him. He talks in a monotone, but if you pay attention, his lectures are really good and you can learn everything in class. I have never had to study outside of class. The exams are not that difficult if you know the material. If you can get Fourney, go for him, but otherwise Calabro is good choice.
William Fourney ENES102H Anonymous 12/31/2007	He tends not to explain much in class, and often dawdles on problems, leading to a total of 1 or 2 problems being finished. In addition, he doesn't provide much in terms of actually teaching the material, and it is the responsibility of the student to read from the textbook, which isn't any better. In terms of tests, a piece of advice would be to disregard the examples he gives you, since the test questions will be nowhere near simple and easy as that example.
William Fourney ENES102H Expecting an A- scroofoo 10/23/2007	I had him for ENES102 but I think the same will apply. He is a great lecturer and fair grader. Nothing is mind-blowing about the exams or homework. Work consists of weekly homeworks from the book, a project, and 3-4 tests. Statics is pretty much straight vector math and some physics 1 concepts. Supplement your notes from lecture with reading the book (its a well-written book) to get pretty easy A's on exams.

Catherine Hamel
ENES102H

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/16/2023

CATHERINE HAMEL IS A QUEEN. She's SO nice and SO helpful. This class is pretty similar to AP Physics, but just more focused on the application of formulas in real-life scenarios. There are 3 midterms and a final, but the final is basically a fourth midterm. All exams and homework are the same across all ENES102 courses, so nothing special. However, Hamel was so nice, and learning from her was so easy. It was her first time teaching this course, and she did a PERFECT job.

Catherine Hamel
ENES102H

Expecting an A
dgreg
12/13/2023

THE GOAT. 💪💪💪💪💪 Can't be beat. #1.

Patrick McAvoy
ENES102H

Expecting a C
Anonymous
04/27/2023

I took this class in Fall 2022. He was a very nice professor who is happy to help students. He didn't curve the class at all (maybe 1 or 2 percent) and didn't give extra credit like the other ENES102H class for homework. The class environment also feels very "elite" and everyone seems to know what they were doing and doesn't seem like asking questions even if they're confused. Definitely go to discussion because you'll learn a lot doing problems on your own.

Patrick McAvoy
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/20/2023

Lectures: Goes really slow so you can understand concepts. Really easy if you've already taken AP Physics C Mechanics. Tests: Tests are standardized for the whole course, they're way easier than the homeworks and are very similar to the groupworks. Office hours: Don't bother going to his office hours, he has good intentions but often just talks for a long time and you don't get much out of it. Sometimes he felt a little disorganized but I can't blame the guy he was always kind and enthusiastic. Go to the TA office hours instead, find a TA you like and then just keep going to their office hours. Tips: Understand the intuition behind a cross product and program your calculator to be able to do a cross product. Will make your life so much easier.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/22/2022

Nice professor and baked cookies for the class

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/10/2022

When I say I've never met a better professor, I mean it. You really can't go wrong with Mike. Literally. He is probably the best professor on campus. He explains everything in a way that's easy to comprehend, and he always wants what's best for you. His sections usually get the highest average score on exams, and there's a reason why. He's super approachable out of class, and in class, he is one of the funniest and charismatic professors out there. He is a huge baking guy too, so except some baked good the next lecture if your class scores well on an exam. He has a YouTube channel which has every video on every topic you will ever need. These videos are also not just him reading off a slide or something boring, but he actually puts lot of effort into them (he also has side videos like bloopers and Into the Mikeverse). If you can, take him for ENES102. You really won't regret it.

Patrick McAvoy
ENES102H

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/07/2022

Seriously great professor. He is super passionate about physics and engineering and his lectures are great--he gives good notes with derivations and the follows it up with examples every lecture. He can answer any question you ask him. Literally any question. Office hours are super helpful too!

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Arrow
12/01/2022

MIKE IS MY GOD!!! I will build a shrine for him if possible. Take him, I beg you. This will be the most amazing best decision you have ever made in your entire college life. He teaches as if his students have no idea what they are being taught about, and this is the best thing possible. With absolutely no background in mechanics or physics, you will still excel in this class because of Mike's teaching. He is a very friendly, and approachable person. He is very invested in making the class fun and entertaining. All my friends in other sections struggled with this class, but I was able to really help them cuz I understood the concepts very easily. Mike also has a very goated youtube channel (Michael Galcyznski) that he posts lecture videos and other fun videos on. If you miss a lecture, you can catch up very easily by watching the lecture videos. My friends found this very helpful.

Mary Bowden
ENES102H

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/07/2022

I love Dr. Bowden with all my heart. Go to her office hours (even if you aren't in her class) she is so sweet, helpful, and really wants you to do well. I really enjoyed her class though sometimes she would go off topic and she would take a whole class just to go over one example. She offered a lot of extra credit and doubled sided cheat sheets so definitely use those to your advantage. Do the practice problems they give out before exams because the midterms tended to have tricky problems.

Kevin Calabro
ENES102H

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/27/2021

A fantastic professor who really cares about his students. Although the course can be fast-paced at times, he's very approachable and will go through the time to explain concepts if you shoot him an email or attend office hours. You can tell that he loves and really cares about teaching. He also peppers in content from future keystone classes to show you why you're learning the things you are, making the content more digestible and exciting. Highly recommend him for ENES102

Mary Bowden
ENES102H

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/21/2021

Dr. Bowden is a wonderful person as well as a competent professor. 10/10 would recommend to anyone taking ENES102! About Bowden: - She is one of the sweetest and most caring people I have ever met. She is very approachable and encourages you to talk to her if need more guidance, always reminding us about her office hours. - Dr. Bowden is also very understanding and will try her best to help you in whatever way possible so that you never feel intimidated by a test or assignment. - She is very very knowledgeable about the material she is teaching and is very passionate about the class. Did you know she helped design spacecraft for the international space station at NASA! - She is my favorite professor so far! Teaching style: - She goes over concepts at a very good pace. I never felt rushed learning the material (considering this was my first time seeing anything related to mechanics) and she makes sure to stop and ask for clarifying questions along the way. - I also adored the examples she gives during class to solidify the abstract concepts she previously taught, not to mention she goes over homework problems she thinks are difficult to make sure we don't spend too long trying to solve them on our own. ENES102H itself: - There are three midterms and one final (no quizzes). The midterms and the final are not easy, so be prepared. They post about 18 or so review practice problems a week before the test which are a good way to study for the test and I highly recommend you do all or most of them. These practice problems go over all the concepts you will need to know for the exam (bottom line: if you can do the review practice problems, you are more or less guaranteed a B or an A on the exam so long as you avoid silly mistakes). We also get a "cheat sheet" were we can write down anything we need and use it while taking our exam. - We also have a truss project. I personally didn't like it because spanned over the two weeks before finals and we didn't really receive much guidance. If you don't have a good group in which everyone is willing to pull their weight (which unfortunately didn't happen for me), you are more or less screwed. - This class, for all I know, is not curved. BUT there is extra credit. If you compile all the practice problems you have done in preparation for the exams, you con get up to 3 or 4 percent boost in your grade. Good luck and try to have some fun with this class :)

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/24/2021

Mike is the best professor I had in my first semester at UMD. He put a lot of time and effort into his online lectures that made them very enjoyable to watch, and gave plenty of optional opportunities for students to receive help, allowing for students of all skill levels to excel as efficiently as possible.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Expecting an A
ILSboi
01/06/2021

*class was fully online due to covid* Mike is a fun, knowledgeable, and entertaining professor, who truly made the class enjoyable. All lectures were pre recorded and put on his youtube channel, and it's clear that he spent a ton of time putting together lectures and filming funny videos. If you want a better sense of his teaching style (or want to get a head start on class content) (or have a terrible professor now), I highly recommend looking him up on youtube. The class itself was pretty good, with weekly group work sessions to help us practice the concepts. The homework was unnecessarily difficult, but it was assigned by the department. Mike had no control over it. He also gave out an insane amount of extra credit, which was really helpful.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/05/2021

His lecture videos are very engaging, unlike a lot of other professors. He does good examples on the subjects and the group work is helpful for preparing for the exams. He was well prepared for online learning. He is a great professor.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/30/2020

I looked forward more to ENES102 than I did any other class last semester, and that was largely in part due to Mike. He definitely knows his stuff, and will always take the time to make sure you understand what exactly it is you're learning before moving on to another group. He is the only professor I've had this semester who I would say exceeded expectations when switching to a virtual environment, he truly made the video format enjoyable. Couldn't recommend him enough, and don't be afraid to have a chat with him if you ever catch him at Eppley (final point, you'll never find a professor who will proudly wear an entire Guy Fieri outfit for Halloween at the gym like Mike will).

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Anonymous
12/26/2020

awesome teacher, really cares about his students. his lectures are interesting, easy to follow, and funny. offered extra credit for different things too. would definitely recommend him to anyone!

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Milanp2001
12/24/2020

Mike is the GOAT god of professors. He truly cares about all of his students and will treat you just like a close friend. His lecture videos were interesting and full of bloopers that resemble a full-on movie saga like the MCU. He is one of those professors who would be willing to take the time to make sure you understood the material, but then go on to talk about fantasy football or other activities that you may do in your life. He is the best professor for a transition to college and please take him if you want to succeed.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Anonymous
03/25/2020

Covers the material well. Makes the typical physics jokes. He is helpful with explaining concepts after class if you did not understand something. Made the course fun and engaging.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

Expecting an A+
StardustGogeta
01/15/2019

Professor Galczynski is a fantastic teacher who makes the class fun and engaging with his lectures. He has a great sense of humor and is able to help with any questions you have about the material. Mike provides many opportunities for extra credit and uses Canvas far more efficiently and reliably than the other professors teaching ENES102.

Michael Galczynski
ENES102H

EulersBoiler
12/11/2018

Mike is so far the best professor I've had at UMD. All of his lectures are entertaining and informative. He does great presentations and demonstrations that make his class always fun to go to. He also makes really good cookies!

Gary Pertmer
ENES102H

Expecting an A
zhang
06/04/2015

Great professor, as all of the other reviews said so I will not elaborate. Teaches by example, which is great. Will always answer questions and is very approachable. No curve (well, he normalizes the grades so the highest grade becomes the new 100, but grading is pretty easy so the highest grade is probably 98+). No +/-, but that's true for all 102 sections, at least when I took the class. Take Pertmer, he's great!

Gary Pertmer
ENES102H

Expecting a B+
nbarshain
02/26/2014

Great professor! Good at explaining concepts, and has a good balance in class between equations and example problems. Good review sessions in discussion every Friday. We did in-class problems in groups of three. Exams were fair, and the practice problems he posted were extremely helpful when studying. Homework was handled very well. We had five problems online for practice and the sixth one was graded online, but the five practice problems had to be written out and handed in during class for credit. This allowed instantaneous checking of answers, but then forced us to write out the whole process, which ultimately helped me on the test. The only reason I am not expecting an A is because I took the class at 9 AM and I failed to turn in some assignments because I woke up late.

William Fourney
ENES102H

Anonymous
12/16/2012

Fourney is one of the nicest professors ever. He's always funny in class and telling us stories about his days working with bombs, which are really cool to hear about. As a teacher, he goes over the material you need learn, but his examples are usually a bit easier than what you'll see on the test. Before each of the tests, he'll give you hints on what's going to be on them, which makes studying for them a lot easier. He's pretty soft-spoken in class, but everyone really loves him too much to talk over him. Even so, sitting in the front of the room will benefit you. During our discussion, he'll tend to not give quizzes most times like the other teachers do, which really reduces the stress of having to study for them every week. He does give additional problems though, but since they're group work they're not too bad. Overall, he's a really great and chill professor, so take him if you can.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102H

milk
12/16/2012

Pertmer is nice and incredibly understanding. I've had a few issues I had to address to him, like taking up a make-up exam, and he was always very approachable and easy to talk to. As a teacher, he's competent, covers all the material you need (I know a couple of other teachers miss some things that Pertmer makes sure to cover), and makes sure he teaches you in the simplest way possible. He makes the material very easy to understand as long as you pay attention, which isn't too hard because he doesn't drone and makes occasional jokes if he's in the mood. That being said, if I could go back in time, I don't know if I'd take the H-version of this class. There's not much difference in the teaching, but there's a huge difference in the curve at the end. If you have a strong background in vectors, go for it - if not, I'd probably go for 102 regular.

Peter Chang
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/24/2011

Dr. Chang is one of the most frustrating people I have ever met or worked with. He is certainly a good engineer and knows the material, but he makes almost no second effort to teach the material if students don't understand and is not very receptive to questions during lecture.

Peter Chang
ENES102H

cjholman23
11/01/2011

I have nothing to say that cannot be seen in the other reviews. Chang is a good engineer, but is the absolute worst professor/teacher I have ever had. I would recommend taking any other professor at 4am over him at 11am. (obviously that is not possible, but you get my point). Avoid him at all costs.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Anonymous
07/17/2011

I felt well prepared for all the tests in this class. He goes over examples thoroughly and is very willing to answer questions (either related specifically to the course or engineering in general). He also spends the class before tests going over key topics covered in the course so students know what to include on their formula sheets. Often, one can find examples in the textbook that look exactly like the homework problems. note: the only difference between ENES102 and ENES102H (as far as I can tell) are the two weekly in-class problems that you do with a group, so definitely take the Honors version.

Peter Chang
ENES102H

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/18/2010

His class is incredibly frustrating- he makes Statics much harder than it needs to be, and when comparing notes with students in the other Statics classes, its clear that his methods of solving problems are often extremely convoluted. He also doesn't like explaining his work, so the class leaves confused on a regular basis.

Peter Chang
ENES102H

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/15/2010

He is the worst teacher to have ever taught the class. He doesn't prepare you for exams like the other professors do, and the only way you have a chance of passing is if you go to Biegel's review sessions, and learn to teach the material to yourself. Do not take this class with him!

Mary Bowden
ENES102H

Expecting a B+
MooseNinja
12/13/2010

ENES102H -- I really enjoyed the class and thought Bowden was a good professor. Sadly, I got a little overconfident and did not study enough for the final. ENAE283 -- The structure of this class pretty much means you don't need to go to class. She allows a formula sheet which makes tests and quizzes simple.

Gary Pertmer
ENES102H

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/02/2010

Pertmer is a great teacher. Though sometimes the material is a little dreary, his examples are great and he really helps you understand what you are doing. The in class problems can be challenging, but he is happy to help out. The class overall is quite challenging and the homeworks are long and graded for accuracy. (harsh graders). Overall, I think he is a fantastic professor and I would recommend him to anyone who needs to take statics, and if you listen carefully you will notice that he is actually very funny.

Peter Chang
ENES102H

Expecting an A+
vnsach
06/02/2010

He has a very stupid sense of humor. I had to learn everything by myself but it was not a hard course.

Mary Bowden
ENES102H

Expecting an A
blife
01/17/2010

P. Bowden is a great teacher. She explains the material very clearly, is always willing to answer questions, and is genuinely interested in her students understanding the material. She offers tons of extra credit. She is extremely nice and patient, especially in office hours. top choice for ENES102.

Peter Chang
ENES102H

Expecting an A
aloo1111
12/11/2009

A good professor and he has a fun sense of humor which makes an otherwise dull and boring class fun to attend. At times he seems to not fully go over the material and he expects you to know something ahead of time, but he has some neat tricks to make problems easier which makes up for it.

Kevin Calabro
ENES102H

Expecting an A
thehaus
11/24/2008

Calabro is a relatively good statics teacher, but some people have a hard time with him. He talks in a monotone, but if you pay attention, his lectures are really good and you can learn everything in class. I have never had to study outside of class. The exams are not that difficult if you know the material. If you can get Fourney, go for him, but otherwise Calabro is good choice.

William Fourney
ENES102H

Anonymous
12/31/2007

He tends not to explain much in class, and often dawdles on problems, leading to a total of 1 or 2 problems being finished. In addition, he doesn't provide much in terms of actually teaching the material, and it is the responsibility of the student to read from the textbook, which isn't any better. In terms of tests, a piece of advice would be to disregard the examples he gives you, since the test questions will be nowhere near simple and easy as that example.

William Fourney
ENES102H

Expecting an A-
scroofoo
10/23/2007

I had him for ENES102 but I think the same will apply. He is a great lecturer and fair grader. Nothing is mind-blowing about the exams or homework. Work consists of weekly homeworks from the book, a project, and 3-4 tests. Statics is pretty much straight vector math and some physics 1 concepts. Supplement your notes from lecture with reading the book (its a well-written book) to get pretty easy A's on exams.

Reviews for ENES102H