David Bigio

This professor has taught: ENES401, ENME201, ENME392, ENME401, ENME466, ENME472, ENME489B, ENME808Q
Information Review
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
04/29/2023
I did not learn one single thing in his class. Lectures are unbearable to sit through and his disorganization makes it nearly impossible to take notes. Probably 4 weeks into the semester about half the class stopped showing up to lecture. All of the stat professors are horrendous, but unfortunately you’re better off with Bigio than Fuge.
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting an A-
tortoise7
12/31/2022
To do well in this class you really need to use both the lectures and the book as resources. Bigio's lectures are a bit disorganized and he went through the content a bit slower, which made them easier to follow, but he often didn't cover all the content you need to read in the book. However, I found this teaching style a lot better than the other professor who would speed through all the content to cover everything. Exam questions also seemed fair. From what I can tell, he is probably the best option to take for ENME392.
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/15/2022
Bigio is by far the best option for ENME392 and it's not even close. You absolutely want to take this with him over Fuge and Cukier. Our class was on zoom, and attendance was optional but you really want to attend these. They're a bit annoying at times and you'll be forced to do group break out participation things. But he will walk you through examples, and most importantly he will tell you exactly what's going to be on the exam. For our class, he told the zoom section a method to do one problem that anyone who didn't watch the lecture would not have known, and definitely got a 0 on the exam for that. So maybe that's not fair, but if you attend the lecture and participate, you'll get a good grade. Lectures are recorded too so you can watch it later. He can be funny at times although I'd guess some will not appreciate his humor and may find it a bit... out of touch. HW is harder than exams by far, so if you can understand the HW you'll be in great shape. He's a pretty lenient grader too, I think even more so if you attended lecture and actively participated. Do the HW, then run through the practice exam he posts and you'll get a good grade. Overall I put in very minimal effort for this class and got an A. I never even opened a textbook (or textbook PDF) for this class.
David Bigio
ENME466

Expecting an A-
Terpstine
05/27/2022
This is single handedly the worst professor I have ever encountered in my time at University of Maryland. I wish there was an option for ZERO stars. Do not take this professor. First of all, this is the most disorganized course I have ever taken. This course is a horrible reflection on the teaching performance of the University of Maryland as a whole. The professor goes on random tangents and does not prepare lectures at all. He will pull up a set of slides (if his computer works), loosely talk about them for a few minutes, then veer away from the slides into a rambling heap of non-sensible Lean Six Sigma projects he has completed in the past. This course involves a semester long lean six sigma project. Unfortunately, these projects were a HUGE stretch as relating to lean six sigma. My project was closer to an English project than anything else. It was extremely disappointing and a huge waste of time for everyone involved.
David Bigio
ENME466

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/02/2022
This class is useful and you definitely get real-world experience through the class project, but imo it isn't worth dealing with Dr. Bigio. He does not grade based on your performance, just based on his opinion of you. Now, this wasn't a huge issue for me grade wise because I was on his good side, but if you do anything to annoy him he will not give you a good grade. Also, he expects you to spend way more time outside of class working than should be expected of a 3 credit elective. Overall, he is inappropriate in his grading and dealings with students, I would not recommend taking this class unless you are prepared to be frustrated by him every class.
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/04/2022
Bigio is a funny guy but not a great lecturer. It is not uncommon to walk away from one of his classes feeling more confused than when you walked into class. He often has odd tangents or jokes which do help students to stay engaged for the 75 min class periods. He also occasionally gives a break during the 75 min class periods. Also be prepared for Bigio's very unorganized files page on canvas. There are a lot of past exam problems and other helpful resources, but they are often very hard to find and require a bit of digging. As for the class readings, they are longer than they should be, but they do a really good job at teaching the material, and Bigio is open to shortening them if students ay they are too long. For the exams, I think they were fair and Bigio is a pretty lenient grader as long as you explain your thought process for the question.
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/30/2021
DON'T LET THESE REVIEWS SECOND GUESS TAKING DR. BIGIO I honestly enjoyed having Dr. Bigio as an instructor. I would say to be successful in his class, you have to read both the textbook and attend lecture. There are some topics that are not covered in the book that he goes over in lecture such as (Sign Rank and Sign Test, some hypothesis testing problems, and Design of Experiments). He really likes when people engage in his class so make sure to ask questions/work out problems when he says to or he will not be happy. I also used the syllabus to help me plan out what sections of the book I needed to read by a specific date. The homework problems aren't exactly like exam problems but it helps you understand how to solve the problems to prepare you for exams. I know a lot of people say Dr. Bigio isn't the best teacher but I think he is especially how he styles his exams. He doesn't make exams too difficult, it's just knowing the right formulas to use but he is not out to get you. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND taking Bigio in the summer or fall than taking 392 with the other professors who teach in the spring, they make stats more confusing. I tried taking stats in the spring but dropped it because the teaching was horrible and they make you use MATLAB to answer problems. Also, if he sees improvement in your exam grades he's likely to help you pass the class I HIGHLY SUGGEST: - USE THE SYLLABUS AS A GUIDE OF WHAT TO READ SO YOU ARE NOT BEHIND - READ THE BOOK (spend 2-3 hours reading/taking notes and trying to do the homework)
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/27/2021
Dr. Bigio is probably one of the laziest teachers I have had at UMD. That being said, this class can be done without ever attending lectures. Bigio cares and wants his students to succeed, but he is such a useless teacher that his lectures do not help. Barely anyone shows up to lectures, and he wonders why even though we have to learn the material outside of class through the textbook (flipped class). There are textbook reading questions that take much longer than he says they will, and the homework is confusing. He barely goes over the content in lectures, almost never does practice problems in class, and when he does, he skips steps and writes messy, so the work is unclear. He tried to change it up towards the end of the semester by asking the students what to do differently, but he did not adjust accordingly. Also, Bigio is very unorganized as he has so many lecture slides that are each 50 slides long. He picks and chooses which slides to show us and quickly goes over them without explaining in depth since he assumes we read the textbook before coming to class. My suggestion to be successful is to read the textbook, do the homework, and rewrite the homework with the solutions that appear after the homework is due. Lectures are a waste of time, but sometimes he takes attendance. He also applies a curve, but does not say the word "curve." Since the averages are low, the top like 20% get an A, the next 35% get a B, etc.
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
12/15/2021
Bigio is a very very bad professor. He cannot work through, and often refuses to work through problems without skipping over important details. He doesn't understand what confuses students, and spends way too much time telling us why we're wrong. Before the 2nd midterm, this dude gave us the worst review material i have ever seen. We got McGraw Hill homework problems instead of exam problems; McGraw Hill is barely even from the same class. The exam problems were unlike anything we had ever been given on homework or in class up until that point. Do not take Bigio, also avoid the other professors like Fuge.
David Bigio
ENME392

Anonymous
10/27/2021
As of Fall 2021, Professor Bigio is the most unhelpful professor I have had in my three years at UMD. Spends all of class going off on tangents and focusing on concepts deviating from the book. Super disorganized, misses class like its nothing and wonders why people skip his lectures. Complains constantly about students, when he could spend that time teaching or doing examples. He thinks his MIT degree qualifies him as a god or something. News flash, it doesn't. If you can, try to get a different instructor for 392.
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting a C
Anonymous
01/04/2021
Just here to say as of 2020, all these reviews for 392 are still accurate. He just simply is disorganized, not prepared to teach effectively, and just reads off slides. Bigio claims he tries, but in all honesty he should just stick to research. I feel for the guy, but man, he might have been the most useless professor I have had. Just make sure you do the HW's and all the practice exam material and you should be good. Also a fire formula sheet will save you, as they give out really nice partial credit on exams.
David Bigio
ENME466

Dasboot
02/19/2015
Don't take ENME466. The project was a huge pain in the ass, and nobody cares if you have a Six Sigma Certificate. It's not worth it.
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/19/2015
He initially seemed to be one of the better professors from the mech E department, as he appears to genuinely want students to succeed and learn the material. He is also one of the only professors to go through examples and really try to hammer in each step of the problem. Unfortunately he is also one of the most petty and egotistical professors. He took people skipping his class as some sort of personal grievance, and took it out on the rest of the class. He started spending more and more time complaining to the class, and made exams unreasonably long in order to punish students for skipping. This just resulted in more people skipping his lectures because they weren't useful. He asked for feedback on how to improve, and took any suggestions and threw them back at students' faces, refusing to take any responsibility on his end.
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting a B
parade
01/13/2015
Absolutely awful professor. Half the class ends up skipping his lecture and he will constantly whine about people skipping failing to realize that it is because of his terrible teaching style. You will learn nothing from his class and he has a bad personality. Do NOT take him!
David Bigio
ENME392

Expecting a B
cheesecake
12/15/2014
Horrible professor. His lectures are disorganized and rushed. He skips half of the material in the PowerPoints that he made and tell you to learn it on your own. He is smug, arrogant, and condescending to students. Constantly complains that attendance is poor in his lectures, but doesn't realize that it's because he is a bad teacher. Avoid if possible!
David Bigio
ENME489B

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/12/2011
Bigio is a character....I really liked him. He makes class fun. Good to chat with. Very smart. I also just loved the six sigma class. They gave us very real consulting projects. I learned a lot. I strongly recommend this class.
David Bigio
ENME201

Expecting a P
kvizzle321
12/12/2010
ENME201 is just a pass/fail class with very little work and guest speakers every week. Bigio only ran a few of the lectures, but is one of the friendliest people I have encountered in the ME department. Take this class if you want to figure out what you want to do with your ME degree