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Richard La
ENEE469O Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2024 |
I took 324 and 469O with Dr. La. I think some of these comments are unfair. He is a great teacher if you make an effort and communicate with him at class/in office hours throughout the course of the semester. I'll admit, 324 with him was really difficult, but honestly that's because the content is pretty difficult regardless of who you take. The homework was really tough, but I felt as though it prepared you for the exams. For the seniors out there: take 469O with La if it's being offered. This is a really interesting class where you get to learn fundamental machine learning basics and how to implement them in MATLAB/Python. He's waaayyy more chill with his 400 level classes because he appreciates that you are likely a graduating senior. There were several weeks I was overwhelmed, and I asked him if I could turn in the homework a day late, and he would just move the due date for the whole class to the end of the week. He gave me an extra weekend for the final project when I told him I was overwhelmed with final exams. The exams were tough, but he was pretty lenient with grading them. All in all, great guy. Tough, but fair. Offers an interesting 400 level elective. |
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Richard La
MSML604 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2024 |
Professor Richard, who looks slightly vicious, is a lovely person who is highly knowledgeable in optimization, linear algebra, calculus, and probability theory. You may sometimes see him telling jokes with no expression during the lecture, and he is very patient with every student when you ask questions during office hours, class breaks, and class. However, I admit that some course concepts are hard to comprehend at first glance. Still, after reviewing the in-class material and combining it with the external video associated with that particular concept, the difficulty of the homework should be acceptable. As for the midterm and final, he will provide some review material and the review section. If you follow the pattern of the review materials, combined with some additional practice in linear algebra, both exams are good to go. Furthermore, for the final project, I recommend consolidating the topic and working on the solution as soon as possible; it may take longer than you expected. Professor Richard has the best mathematic expertise I have ever encountered at the University of Maryland. Eventually, he will automatically and dynamically adjust the grade scope according to the entire class's performance, so do not worry too much. As the final reminder, he will review the concept of linear algebra in optimization during the first several lectures; if you are not familiar with the relative concept, please try to catch it, which will make the rest of the lecture manageable. |
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Richard La
ENEE324 Anonymous 12/20/2023 |
This professor is what they call a “gatekeeper”. He takes simple concepts and explains them in over complicated ways. You’ll have to work hard to even survive in his class… Many like the idea that he’s curves heavy, but this doesn’t mean he makes things easier... I recommend avoiding this professor at all cost. |
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Richard La
ENEE290 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/05/2023 |
This was the first semester of ENEE290 and it went pretty well. It covered basic Differential Equations while also going into Linear Algebra. I will say, La did a lot of derivations in his lectures, just to end up on a formula that you didn't really need the derivation for. La definitely cared about our grades and would always ask to see if we were understanding the material. MATLAB's weren't that hard and the TA was always helpful. Homeworks were fair and not too complicated. The two midterms were very fair and not too challenging. I will say the final had a lot to do and it was hard to get everything done in time, but the class was pre-curved and an 80% was an A. I don't know what future semesters of this class will be like, but he first semester went pretty well and I think it was a bit easier than the MATH246 alternative and we learned all the fundamentals that we needed to. |
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Richard La
ENEE322 Anonymous 02/02/2022 |
Professor La is by all means a nice person who knows the subject material quite well. With that said, he was inadequate at teaching the material in a manner that was conducive to learning. 90% of your grade relies on two midterms and a final, the latter of which is worth 40%. As others have stated, the tests are stressful and difficult. For the final exam, we were not provided any study material nor given any supportive direction on the types of questions to expect. In addition, our only review session was cancelled; leaving students substantially unprepared and stressed. I had dedicated a great deal of time to review as much material as possible since my other exam grades were not great, but without a proper focus I wound up doing poorly. Overall, I did not find Professor La’s conduct regarding an exam worth 40% of our grade to be appropriate; the structure of the class, grading methods, and lack of content-accessibility all contributed to an awful learning experience. |
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Richard La
ENEE322H Anonymous 01/03/2022 |
Let me begin by saying 322 is likely the most difficult EE course, in my opinion. It's a tough class and requires a lot of computational knowledge. That being said, La didn't do a great job of making the material accessible. Lectures made sense and things clicked. However, exams and homework often seemed to be a lot more involved than the examples given in lectures. Very low exam averages (40s or so), but there is a large curve of the overall grade. I have no issue with his teaching style, but his assignments are stressful to do, especially under a time crunch. He also did leave the class in the dark toward the end of the course in regards to the final grade, final exam preparation, etc., which I don't think helps perceptions of him. |
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Richard La
ENEE222 Anonymous 12/26/2021 |
Not a very good lecturer. Gives students little in study resources, especially for the final, which is most of the grade. Stressful. |
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Richard La
ENEE322 Anonymous 12/24/2021 |
Instead of seeing how poorly his students do and changing his teaching style to better their education, he fails them and smiles. |
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Richard La
ENEE322 Anonymous 12/24/2021 |
The majority of his class will get Cs or lower, and there's a clear reason. Though 322 is one of the hardest EE courses, Richard La makes no attempt whatsoever to make the subject matter feasible. Wish I had never taken this professor, he caused the entire class unnecessary stress the entire semester, and the end of semester curve does in no way compensate for the terrible exams. |
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Richard La
MSML604 Expecting an A- msml_nerd 05/21/2021 |
He had to handle a difficult topic for a class which was honestly not smart (including me). He tried his best, but it wasnt easy because of the online lectures. Class averages were pretty low throughout, but he curved generously in the end. |
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Richard La
ENEE322 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/17/2021 |
He is decent at lecturing and is definitely really good at the stuff that he teaches. His exam averages were pretty low (around 40) so they are kind of difficult, but nothing too bad. |
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Richard La
ENEE322H Expecting a B Anonymous 12/07/2015 |
Dr. La is a pretty good professor. He teaches pretty well and sets a pretty large curve for the class, which he usually ends up lowering. The curve started at an 80% for an A, which was then lowered to a 75%. His tests can be hard, but from what I've heard of other 322 classes, all of the tests are hard. He tells you that he will only assign homework every other week with around 4 problems on them, but he has consistently been giving us homework every week with 6-8 problems on it, which are very time consuming. Also, for the first two midterms he gave us homeworks which covered material that was going to be on the test and set the due date to after the midterm, which meant we didn't have the solutions to study from. Overall I'd say Dr. La is a good backup to Papamarcou if you can't get him. |