ENES467 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Sami Ainane ENES467 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2025	He will give you an A if you show up (he takes attendance). The team project is fine and the problem you choose to solve can be quite interesting. Make sure to pick something feasible but fun. Now onto the cons... This class is heavily disorganized. Most of the assignments are known by word-of-mouth, and they usually aren't put up on canvas. If your team wants to email him about anything (feedback on progress, assignments, or any questions), he will tell you to speak with him on zoom. Even for a simple clarification question. I'm pretty sure he just doesn't read the emails. I've heard from other teams in my class that he's also not a great listener, so even if you ask something in-person during class he may just cut you off, think you're asking a completely different question, give a very irrelevant answer, and move on to the next group that needs help. The TLDR here is that he's very frustrating to work with. This class is also more business-heavy than I anticipated. He will show several inspiring TED Talks about how some big shot from MIT or Harvard or Stanford succeeded in "engineering for social change", but for most of us, that (imo) lucky draw of winning big on creating a simple solution and marketing it well is just not gonna happen. Anyways, the class gets pretty deep into whether you want to be for-profit or non-profit, creating a business model, and giving presentations that focus on emphasizing the initial hook of why your project matters to a hypothetical sponsor. I wish that the class had more discussions about how to think about the feasibility of a solution, how to identify a simple real-world problem that is feasible to work on in the first place, and ways in which several engineering disciplines can be involved. To me, learning how to present is important, but I think that should be saved for a different course with an entrepreneurship focus. TLDR I wanted to learn how to "engineer" a solution for a society that is in need of help but instead I got lectured on how to get people's attention when presenting and what a business model looks like.
Sami Ainane ENES467 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/23/2022	The course that Dr. Ainane teaches is one of the more interesting courses I've taken thus far. Throughout the semester, he led discussions on a diverse selection of topics revolving around the impact of engineering on social change. His class has two parts: lectures that often had guest speakers from either UMD staff or other professors knowledgeable of the week's topic and discussion sections that he would personally lead. While the lectures were a hit-or-miss, I really enjoyed the discussion sections. You could really tell that Dr. Ainane is passionate about this course and that he is very qualified to teach it. If it were based on this information alone, I would easily give Dr. Ainane 5 stars. However, my biggest gripe about this course is how the grading in the class works. There were very few assignments for this class, which was nice for relieving workloads but bad because every assignment weighs so heavily into the final grade. What makes it more frustrating is that Dr. Ainane would grade these assignments relatively harshly, the high of most assignments being low 90's. This would leave very little flexibility for reasonably getting an A in the course. Assignment could also be a bit ambiguous at times. He would occasionally assign these fun activities to be due the following class and never visit them again. He also pushed some due dates back at the last minute, which could be a bit chaotic but nice at the same time. Dr. Ainane is a pretty personable guy. If you are looking for a class that gets you engaged and thinking about engineering on a global scale with a professor who is committed to the class, this is definitely a class you should take. Just note that it won't be an easy A course despite how the class may appear.
Sami Ainane ENES467 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/14/2022	Take this class. Dr. Ainane is one of the most passionate, student-centered professors I have ever met. He is not overly concerned with grades, exams, or homeworks - he just wants to have a good discussion and get the students engaged.

Sami Ainane
ENES467

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/14/2025

He will give you an A if you show up (he takes attendance). The team project is fine and the problem you choose to solve can be quite interesting. Make sure to pick something feasible but fun. Now onto the cons... This class is heavily disorganized. Most of the assignments are known by word-of-mouth, and they usually aren't put up on canvas. If your team wants to email him about anything (feedback on progress, assignments, or any questions), he will tell you to speak with him on zoom. Even for a simple clarification question. I'm pretty sure he just doesn't read the emails. I've heard from other teams in my class that he's also not a great listener, so even if you ask something in-person during class he may just cut you off, think you're asking a completely different question, give a very irrelevant answer, and move on to the next group that needs help. The TLDR here is that he's very frustrating to work with. This class is also more business-heavy than I anticipated. He will show several inspiring TED Talks about how some big shot from MIT or Harvard or Stanford succeeded in "engineering for social change", but for most of us, that (imo) lucky draw of winning big on creating a simple solution and marketing it well is just not gonna happen. Anyways, the class gets pretty deep into whether you want to be for-profit or non-profit, creating a business model, and giving presentations that focus on emphasizing the initial hook of why your project matters to a hypothetical sponsor. I wish that the class had more discussions about how to think about the feasibility of a solution, how to identify a simple real-world problem that is feasible to work on in the first place, and ways in which several engineering disciplines can be involved. To me, learning how to present is important, but I think that should be saved for a different course with an entrepreneurship focus. TLDR I wanted to learn how to "engineer" a solution for a society that is in need of help but instead I got lectured on how to get people's attention when presenting and what a business model looks like.

Sami Ainane
ENES467

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/23/2022

The course that Dr. Ainane teaches is one of the more interesting courses I've taken thus far. Throughout the semester, he led discussions on a diverse selection of topics revolving around the impact of engineering on social change. His class has two parts: lectures that often had guest speakers from either UMD staff or other professors knowledgeable of the week's topic and discussion sections that he would personally lead. While the lectures were a hit-or-miss, I really enjoyed the discussion sections. You could really tell that Dr. Ainane is passionate about this course and that he is very qualified to teach it. If it were based on this information alone, I would easily give Dr. Ainane 5 stars. However, my biggest gripe about this course is how the grading in the class works. There were very few assignments for this class, which was nice for relieving workloads but bad because every assignment weighs so heavily into the final grade. What makes it more frustrating is that Dr. Ainane would grade these assignments relatively harshly, the high of most assignments being low 90's. This would leave very little flexibility for reasonably getting an A in the course. Assignment could also be a bit ambiguous at times. He would occasionally assign these fun activities to be due the following class and never visit them again. He also pushed some due dates back at the last minute, which could be a bit chaotic but nice at the same time. Dr. Ainane is a pretty personable guy. If you are looking for a class that gets you engaged and thinking about engineering on a global scale with a professor who is committed to the class, this is definitely a class you should take. Just note that it won't be an easy A course despite how the class may appear.

Sami Ainane
ENES467

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
03/14/2022

Take this class. Dr. Ainane is one of the most passionate, student-centered professors I have ever met. He is not overly concerned with grades, exams, or homeworks - he just wants to have a good discussion and get the students engaged.

Reviews for ENES467