ENMA300 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Patrick McCluskey ENMA300 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2023	Nice guy who tries his best to cover a TON of material. The class project is kind of useless IMO. Best way to get an A in the class is pay attention in lecture, but don't try to take notes, just sit there and pay attention. Then later go back to the lecture slides and do your own notes. Then do the homeworks with minimal assistance. Exams were very similar to homework questions.
Isabel Lloyd ENMA300 Anonymous 02/18/2021	Glad to see that a decade later, the previous reviews for ENMA300 are still accurate; lectures are indeed "schizophrenic," the information presented on the slides are jumbled, and she still goes on tangents every other sentence (about real-world examples that don't seem all that helpful in terms of learning the material).
Liyang Dai-Hattrick ENMA300 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/16/2020	Dr. Dai-Hattrick is a pretty good lecturer, but she really excels at explaining things thoroughly during her office hours. This class has a straightforward workload: homeworks due once a week and milestones for the group project due every month or so (this was during online classes so it might be different for others). The exams are pretty hard and fast-paced, make sure you prepare for them well in advance. She does curve at the end of the semester. Make sure to go to her office hours because she can be extremely helpful and will take as much time as you need to figure things out.
Isabel Lloyd ENMA300 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/25/2011	Dr. Lloyd is not the best lecturer. She is very enthusiastic and cares a lot about materials, which is nice at least. I could not pay attention to any lecture, and resorted to being productive on my laptop. The homeworks are just math and using equations, and the lab sections are a joke. Each midterm we had a cheat sheet, and could have 3 for the final. What killed my grade was missing out on conceptual stuff that I missed in lectures, which the final was heavily based on. If you're stuck with Lloyd, sit in the front and try to get through it. You might need to read the book or go to office hours with her if you can't get Christou or McCluskey.
Patrick McCluskey ENMA300 Anonymous 11/14/2011	This guy is probably the best ENMA300/ENME382 professor UMD has. His slideshows and lectures are good, he always brings in stuff so you can see that the materials actually act the way that he's talking about. I'm not going to lie, I never really payed much attention (you have to go to class- there are pop quizzes) and I studied from the book and slideshows and was able to do well on tests and quizzes, even though I probably payed about 5 min attention in total throughout the semester. So take this guy, you won't regret it.... oh yeah he was also out often so sometimes he has lectures as videos online... so sometimes there's no class. Yay!
Isabel Lloyd ENMA300 Anonymous 11/14/2011	Yeah I wouldn't say that she's very good at teaching you the stuff you are supposed to learn, the stuff that you'll actually be tested and quizzed on. She goes off on tangents on real world applications (which are interesting and nice to know, but don't really help you) that take you away from what you're actually supposed to be learning. I was in her class for about a week before I switched into another professor's section (McCluskey-- much better, probably the best ENMA300 teacher) and it made doing homeworks and understanding what I was actually supposed to learn better. So I would avoid Lloyd, but if you HAVE to take her she's not THAT bad. Her class may be a little more work when it comes to understanding what you're supposed to understand.
Luz Martinez-Miranda ENMA300 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/25/2011	Only take a class with her if you have no other options for teachers. The class will be easy (helped by her ridiculous grading policies), but you won't learn anything. She's a mediocre teacher at best, and seems to have no clue how to "connect the dots" and tie in older material to new stuff you're learning. She doesn't really seem to care much about her students, and to top it off is pretty difficult to understand.
Oded Rabin ENMA300 Expecting an A mreese 05/24/2011	Dr. Rabin is a very friendly, soft-spoken individual who cares about students learning the material well. He's not the most exciting lecturer in the world, but he does a good job of covering the most important topics and spending time to explain certain concepts that are more involved. I found Dr. Rabin to be responsive to e-mails, and he tried hard to make time to see students outside of class. Seeing him in his office was nice, because although it is painfully obvious how intelligent he is, he does not come off as condescending whatsoever. There isn't a lot to say because 300 isn't a super intense class, but I'm glad to have Rabin for 301 next semester. Edit for students figuring out when to take 301: Workload varies a bit throughout the semester, but I'd figure an average of about five hours per week. There is a three page (single spaced) paper due before the final exam that can be time consuming. Exams were harder than in 300; despite the class being all materials students, averages were slightly lower (65-75%). The actual content is focused more on applications, which is refreshing. Also, I don't know if Rabin was trying to be mean this semester, but he was very misleading when it came to informing the class about the midterms. "Midterm two will focus mainly on the biomaterial journal articles." Everyone pores through long, complex journal articles. Midterm two has no questions concerning the biomaterial journal articles. "Yes, you will get a formula sheet for midterm three." Midterm three has no formula sheet, and primarily tests knowledge of new formulas. Seriously balls.
Oded Rabin ENMA300 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/12/2010	He is an interesting teacher to say the least. Generally about half of the class is asleep during his power point lectures. He really knows his stuff but has trouble teaching it to his students. Not a terrible class, but not a fun class either.
Oded Rabin ENMA300 Expecting a B kvizzle321 12/12/2010	Smart guy, good teacher, boring lecturer. Based on other students complaining about their ENMA300 professor, I would suggest taking this guy for intro to materials as he is not a bad teacher at all.
Isabel Lloyd ENMA300 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/12/2010	Okay. I didn't think she was as bad as the other reviews made her seem, but not great either. Definitly true that lectures are hard to follow-she'll start something once, stop, continue it later, stop, continue it two days later...basically one topic will be on five different pages in your notes. But I thought the homeworks were pretty reflective of the test, and you got a cheat sheet for each exam which helped. She had 2-3 pop quizes which sucked, but didn't seem to effect your grade much. And if you pay attention in class the stuff she goes over ten times usually shows up on the exam, its just a hard class to pay attention in. Books good, so yes, you can pretty much learn everything you need to know from that.
Isabel Lloyd ENMA300 Anonymous 12/08/2009	Yes, lectures were schizophrenic. they were all jumbled and impossible to follow and strung together rather incoherently. she also does a rather poor job explaining most things, so you will really have to try hard at the homeworks, and figure them out on your own. its really through the homeworks that i gained any understanding of the material. HW every week, 2 tests and a final.
Oded Rabin ENMA300 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/17/2009	I expect to hear about Dr. Rabin in the news one day as a recipient of the Nobel Prize. Man is way smart, but can't teach. Very nice and approachable, and the class was really interesting, but a struggle since it was difficult for him to teach it to us.

Patrick McCluskey
ENMA300

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/03/2023

Nice guy who tries his best to cover a TON of material. The class project is kind of useless IMO. Best way to get an A in the class is pay attention in lecture, but don't try to take notes, just sit there and pay attention. Then later go back to the lecture slides and do your own notes. Then do the homeworks with minimal assistance. Exams were very similar to homework questions.

Isabel Lloyd
ENMA300

Anonymous
02/18/2021

Glad to see that a decade later, the previous reviews for ENMA300 are still accurate; lectures are indeed "schizophrenic," the information presented on the slides are jumbled, and she still goes on tangents every other sentence (about real-world examples that don't seem all that helpful in terms of learning the material).

Liyang Dai-Hattrick
ENMA300

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/16/2020

Dr. Dai-Hattrick is a pretty good lecturer, but she really excels at explaining things thoroughly during her office hours. This class has a straightforward workload: homeworks due once a week and milestones for the group project due every month or so (this was during online classes so it might be different for others). The exams are pretty hard and fast-paced, make sure you prepare for them well in advance. She does curve at the end of the semester. Make sure to go to her office hours because she can be extremely helpful and will take as much time as you need to figure things out.

Isabel Lloyd
ENMA300

Expecting a C
Anonymous
12/25/2011

Dr. Lloyd is not the best lecturer. She is very enthusiastic and cares a lot about materials, which is nice at least. I could not pay attention to any lecture, and resorted to being productive on my laptop. The homeworks are just math and using equations, and the lab sections are a joke. Each midterm we had a cheat sheet, and could have 3 for the final. What killed my grade was missing out on conceptual stuff that I missed in lectures, which the final was heavily based on. If you're stuck with Lloyd, sit in the front and try to get through it. You might need to read the book or go to office hours with her if you can't get Christou or McCluskey.

Patrick McCluskey
ENMA300

Anonymous
11/14/2011

This guy is probably the best ENMA300/ENME382 professor UMD has. His slideshows and lectures are good, he always brings in stuff so you can see that the materials actually act the way that he's talking about. I'm not going to lie, I never really payed much attention (you have to go to class- there are pop quizzes) and I studied from the book and slideshows and was able to do well on tests and quizzes, even though I probably payed about 5 min attention in total throughout the semester. So take this guy, you won't regret it.... oh yeah he was also out often so sometimes he has lectures as videos online... so sometimes there's no class. Yay!

Isabel Lloyd
ENMA300

Anonymous
11/14/2011

Yeah I wouldn't say that she's very good at teaching you the stuff you are supposed to learn, the stuff that you'll actually be tested and quizzed on. She goes off on tangents on real world applications (which are interesting and nice to know, but don't really help you) that take you away from what you're actually supposed to be learning. I was in her class for about a week before I switched into another professor's section (McCluskey-- much better, probably the best ENMA300 teacher) and it made doing homeworks and understanding what I was actually supposed to learn better. So I would avoid Lloyd, but if you HAVE to take her she's not THAT bad. Her class may be a little more work when it comes to understanding what you're supposed to understand.

Luz Martinez-Miranda
ENMA300

Expecting an A
Anonymous
07/25/2011

Only take a class with her if you have no other options for teachers. The class will be easy (helped by her ridiculous grading policies), but you won't learn anything. She's a mediocre teacher at best, and seems to have no clue how to "connect the dots" and tie in older material to new stuff you're learning. She doesn't really seem to care much about her students, and to top it off is pretty difficult to understand.

Oded Rabin
ENMA300

Expecting an A
mreese
05/24/2011

Dr. Rabin is a very friendly, soft-spoken individual who cares about students learning the material well. He's not the most exciting lecturer in the world, but he does a good job of covering the most important topics and spending time to explain certain concepts that are more involved. I found Dr. Rabin to be responsive to e-mails, and he tried hard to make time to see students outside of class. Seeing him in his office was nice, because although it is painfully obvious how intelligent he is, he does not come off as condescending whatsoever. There isn't a lot to say because 300 isn't a super intense class, but I'm glad to have Rabin for 301 next semester. Edit for students figuring out when to take 301: Workload varies a bit throughout the semester, but I'd figure an average of about five hours per week. There is a three page (single spaced) paper due before the final exam that can be time consuming. Exams were harder than in 300; despite the class being all materials students, averages were slightly lower (65-75%). The actual content is focused more on applications, which is refreshing. Also, I don't know if Rabin was trying to be mean this semester, but he was very misleading when it came to informing the class about the midterms. "Midterm two will focus mainly on the biomaterial journal articles." Everyone pores through long, complex journal articles. Midterm two has no questions concerning the biomaterial journal articles. "Yes, you will get a formula sheet for midterm three." Midterm three has no formula sheet, and primarily tests knowledge of new formulas. Seriously balls.

Oded Rabin
ENMA300

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/12/2010

He is an interesting teacher to say the least. Generally about half of the class is asleep during his power point lectures. He really knows his stuff but has trouble teaching it to his students. Not a terrible class, but not a fun class either.

Oded Rabin
ENMA300

Expecting a B
kvizzle321
12/12/2010

Smart guy, good teacher, boring lecturer. Based on other students complaining about their ENMA300 professor, I would suggest taking this guy for intro to materials as he is not a bad teacher at all.

Isabel Lloyd
ENMA300

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/12/2010

Okay. I didn't think she was as bad as the other reviews made her seem, but not great either. Definitly true that lectures are hard to follow-she'll start something once, stop, continue it later, stop, continue it two days later...basically one topic will be on five different pages in your notes. But I thought the homeworks were pretty reflective of the test, and you got a cheat sheet for each exam which helped. She had 2-3 pop quizes which sucked, but didn't seem to effect your grade much. And if you pay attention in class the stuff she goes over ten times usually shows up on the exam, its just a hard class to pay attention in. Books good, so yes, you can pretty much learn everything you need to know from that.

Isabel Lloyd
ENMA300

Anonymous
12/08/2009

Yes, lectures were schizophrenic. they were all jumbled and impossible to follow and strung together rather incoherently. she also does a rather poor job explaining most things, so you will really have to try hard at the homeworks, and figure them out on your own. its really through the homeworks that i gained any understanding of the material. HW every week, 2 tests and a final.

Oded Rabin
ENMA300

Expecting a B
Anonymous
06/17/2009

I expect to hear about Dr. Rabin in the news one day as a recipient of the Nobel Prize. Man is way smart, but can't teach. Very nice and approachable, and the class was really interesting, but a struggle since it was difficult for him to teach it to us.

Reviews for ENMA300