Reviews for ENME351

Sort By:

Professor Filter:

Information	Review
Avik Dutt ENME351 Anonymous 05/15/2024	Decent guy, helpful and pretty good at conveying the material. Wasnt the most engaging but he isnt boring by any means. I would go to loonies with this guy.
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/22/2023	Good lecturer, I feel like a learned a lot. Labs were interesting. However, his exams can be challenging and somewhat confusing (especially the final which is 30% of the final grade and averages below a 60). And he doesn’t curve at all. Good luck.
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/12/2022	I find these reviews pretty funny. I interacted with Dr. Mitchell plenty 1-on-1 and had a good experience. Actually the only professor I've had at UMD that ever bothered to learn my name, ask anything about me, and talk to me. Meanwhile I heard from a few classmates how much they hated him. Beats me. He definitely does not have patience for dumb questions, that I do know. I heard some absolutely idiotic questions in lecture this semester that were so dumb that Mitchell clearly had a hard time even understanding what the student was asking. He will still spend way too much time trying to answer your bad lecture questions to the detriment of all the other students in the class. Mid-term was difficult but pretty fair overall. Be prepared, he could ask any little factoid that will have a major impact on your grade. I think he's a relatively lenient grader for the exams overall. I find the lectures don't quite give you all the info you need for this class, so I found that a bit frustrating at times. You're on your own for a lot of the homeworks and labs, the lecture notes will get you stared to a decent level, but be prepared to spent a lot of time on google and github to find a workable solution. Some labs can be very challenging due to the lack of resources. Lab grading for this class is very inconsistent. Your grade will depend heavily on what TA you get that week. Sometimes Mitchell comes in and grades in person. During the semester, the lab he graded was notably challenging, but he spoon-fed everyone the answers and gave basically everyone an A for that one. However, during the final lab 9 project lab, he was noticeably way harsher of a grader compared to the TAs. Some TAs will just have an attitude and do whatever they can to not give you an A, while some will do whatever they can to give you that A. Pure luck. The TAs will help you a ton in this class if you ask for their help, but don't expect them to code everything up for you. Overall I found the class extremely enjoyable as someone that struggled but liked the content of 350. 351 is definitely WAY easier than 350 so you have that to look forward too. Grading is much easier in this class. If you procrastinate, I'd recommend you pick a lab section late in the week as possible. The first lab section of the week kind of gets screwed by having the least amount of time to work on it.
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Expecting a B Anonymous 08/04/2022	Dr. Mitchell is a fake professor where he seems nice and friendly during lectures, but is terrible one-on-one. Once I asked him a question in office hours and he gave a vague analogy for me to try and understand his answer instead of just providing help. I left his office hours being even more confused. He posts a couple pre-lecture videos for students to watch (20-30 min in total) before each lecture which can be annoying, but they are helpful. During lecture, Dr. Mitchell will do a quick recap from the videos and do some example problems. He does make a lot of jokes that are funny at first, but some of them he repeats multiple times which I found to be creepy and weird. Homework's are hard, but the TAs/TFs are helpful and knowledgeable. Exams are really hard, so you have to know any and everything from lecture, pre-lecture videos, homeworks, and labs. For labs, all of the lab must be done BEFORE your lab section. Schedule lab time is where students demonstrate they built the lab successfully and then leave, so its short in-lab time, but a lot of time spent outside of lab. However, these labs are more interesting than in 350 and are a little easier to follow. For the final project, grading is based on the TAs judgement and how your project compares to everyone elses (lots of Bs and Cs).
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Anonymous 06/01/2022	Mitchel is very fake-nice. He said that he will be there for the students on the first day of class but never seemed to actually answer a question in a lecture without dancing around it for a while and then ending with a nonanswer. His project grading sometimes felt very arbitrary, although the TFs in that class were incredible. The class material isn't bad but the exams were pretty hard and you will have to be prepared for pretty much anything.
Hosam Fathy ENME351 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/21/2022	Dr.Fathy puts in a lot of effort. I think this semester he had a tough time and I don't blame him for being late on a few things. He made sure our grades never suffered because of his issues. He cares, tries, and will meet you halfway if you ask.
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Anonymous 01/17/2022	He seems chill, but he is not. Don't be fool by the impression he gives off on first day of class. When you go ask him questions, the questions better be good questions.
Hosam Fathy ENME351 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/03/2021	During the semester in which I took this course the professor switched from Mitchell to Fathy after spring break. At that time my learning basically stopped completely. The lectures lacked any useful content and the pre-lecture videos created by Mitchell were the main source of learning. Fathy made his own pre-lecture videos a couple times but they were always uploaded super late and some were just music playing as he filled in a powerpoint. He seemed to give up and just use Mitchell's videos after a couple weeks. The class was always behind schedule, lacked consistency in assignments, and grading was extremely slow (only when Fathy was teaching).
Hosam Fathy ENME351 Expecting a P Anonymous 05/11/2021	I would give this professor ZERO stars, if possible. He is incredibly lazy. He spends the first 15 minutes of each lecture discussing "objectives" for each topic rather than teaching the material. He expects his students to learn everything from pre-lecture videos (which are lengthy) so that he does not have to teach during lecture. Moreover, he posts quizzes with incorrect answers. Fathy made a 10 question quiz, and two of them were answered incorrectly on his end. A friend of mine went to his office hours to sort out the issue, and he only fixed ONE of the two answers (after admitting his mistake). It does not take long to fix an ELMS quiz. His final exam (25% of the grade) is no partial credit. Fortunately, I can take a "pass" just to avoid focusing on his final. Avoid Fathy at all costs. You deserve more for your tuition money.
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Anonymous 12/21/2020	He is pretty great and chill until you have to actually interact with him one on one.
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 06/18/2020	Professor Mitchell is a talented lecturer, and comes across as very approachable, a real professor "for the students, his #1 concern". However his actions do not reflect what he says. Myself and fellow students would ask the guy simple questions often requiring a yes/no answer. He would go out of his way to NOT answer the question, instead supplying some BS that was often condescending in nature. He completely blew off the large majority of questions students had. He refused to post cut off grades at the end of the semester and was not transparent at all about how grades were being determined. He did not award grades on a fair basis, and projects of the same difficulty level were awarded wildly varying grades. When I approached him with proof of the inconsistent grading he admitted that there were inconsistencies, but told me he wasn't going to do anything about it. So if you want a smooth talker that will blow smoke up your a** take him, if you want a man of character and principle go with someone else.
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/17/2019	Best professor ever! Really, genuinely cares about his students. I had him for ENME392, ENME351, and ENME489Y and can not praise him enough. Reasonable expectations for students, is very clear up front about his late policy, and is just a joy to be in the classroom with. He makes an effort to learn everyone's name even in classes of 50+ students.
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2018	Best professor in the department. Dr. Mitchell is a wonderful person who cares about his students and wants them to be successful. He makes an effort to learn as many students' names as possible (in a class of over 100). He is always prepared for lecture, and he is great at explaining concepts. Most of all, he is EXTREMELY approachable. Go to his office hours if you need help, or even just to say hi. He loves to get to know students. He's passionate about mechatronics and he makes the course fun.
Elisabeth Smela ENME351 Expecting a C parade 06/17/2015	Absolutely awful teacher. She just reads directly from her crappy lecture slides. She also reported over 50 students for academic dishonesty.
Elisabeth Smela ENME351 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/19/2015	Smela clearly thoroughly understands and enjoys the subject, but her lectures are made as if being presented to someone who already understands it as well as she does. Almost everything was graded on completion, and extra credit was given out inconsistently (though this was due to the TAs). The exams were pretty awful, with both the midterm and final averages being about 50, even with extra credit questions. The class was graded so that even if you scored 33 on the exams you would still pass. Take Smela if you don't want to fail, but I can't recommend her if you want to really learn the material.
Elisabeth Smela ENME351 Expecting a B jschel 12/09/2014	I think maybe Smela has changed her style since these previous reviews were posted... they don't even sound like they're describing the same person. I found her teaching to be very informative, thorough, and clear. Homeworks are graded on completion - If you turn something in, you get 100/100. I've even turned in stuff that's only like 1/3 complete and still gotten 100. Labs are basically graded on completion as well. If you show up and get it to work, you get a 100. The midterm was graded pretty harshly - I think 50% was the average - but I believe she plans to curve the final grade if necessary. I would recommend Smela very highly!
Sarah Bergbreiter ENME351 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2014	Great at explaining the concepts of mechatronics and electronics in general. I wish I had her for 350 because I feel I understand that class a lot more now that I took 351 with her. Also makes the material a lot more interesting.
Sarah Bergbreiter ENME351 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2011	Excellent teacher, very clear, fair, and helpful. Dr. Bergbreiter and Kim did an excellent job of teaching the class. She does get annoyed when the class is noisy, and rightfully so, some kids have no respect.
Jungho Kim ENME351 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2011	Good teacher, very intelligent and funny. The material in 351 is not hard but is incredibly useful for learning how to properly set up, run, and analyze real world experiments.
Elisabeth Smela ENME351 Anonymous 05/16/2011	Avoid taking ENME351 with smela at all costs. You will thank me later. The only good part about her class is she speaks fluent english, so at very least you can understand the words she is saying. As far as the concepts she is trying to teach, she may as well be speaking an alien language. She should stick to her research and never teach again.
Jungho Kim ENME351 Expecting a B kvizzle321 04/25/2011	Kim taught ENME351 along Sarah Bergbreiter. He is very clear and easy to follow, but the things he lectures about (in this class) tend to get a little boring. He is a funny guy and very organized in addition to being very friendly.
Sarah Bergbreiter ENME351 Expecting a B kvizzle321 04/25/2011	Easy to follow lectures, good hand writing, moves slowly, and very clear. Grading is fair and material is not too much. Hardest part of the class is doing those 20 page lab reports.
Elisabeth Smela ENME351 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/18/2010	Smela is a very smart professor, but she does not know how to teach. She does not convey the concepts of the class and expects that everyone knows how to do the problems prior to her teaching us the concepts. Furthermore, she is a control freak. Every week she has a seating chart made for the class, which you must follow. She even has a seating chart for her exams. Her quizzes are not that bad, but the Labs are a waste of time. Her grading rubric tells you how to get an 85...yes an 85/100 is what her grading rubric tells you how to get. So save yourself and don't take this professor for ENME351.
Elisabeth Smela ENME351 Expecting a C? Anonymous 12/16/2010	Please, whatever you do, do not associate with this woman. Maryland really needs to take her out of the classroom. She is extremely smart, however I'm amazed every day as she will talk for 50min and not really say anything. Half of the class is spent learning how to draw graphs. The other half is a collection of random topics, topped off in the last two weeks with non-stop talk about her research. As I'm sitting here studying for the final, I really don't know what the whole class was suppose to teach me. Some other random comments: * There is one test during the semester. She had the entire class retake it because we didn't do well enough. Yes, 60% of the class did drop, after taking the test twice. Lab rubrics tell you how to get an 85/100, its up to you to go above and beyond to get that 100. The labs are bullshit Quizzes were given everyday at the beginning of class, that changed towards the end to once a week. Office hours are not helpful The seating chart was ridiculous, luckily after half of the class left, she gave up. *Homework is done by scouring Wikipedia and the rest of the internets, can take anywhere from 30min (when shes nice, that one time) to about 3 hours. In conclusion, do no take this or any other class with this woman. Ever.
Elisabeth Smela ENME351 Expecting a W Anonymous 11/25/2010	I would not take this class or any other class with Smela after what I was put through in this class. As the semester went on more and more seats were open with drops and grades just got worse. By the end of the drop period about 65% of the class had dropped. If you are up for one of the toughest classes out there then this is the one for you, unless you are a part time student only taking one class I would not recommend this to anyone.