Steven Mitchell

This professor has taught: ENME350, ENME351, ENME392, ENME435, ENME462, ENME489Y, ENPM701, ENPM809T, GEMS296, GEMS297, GEMS396, GEMS397, GEMS496, GEMS497

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Steven Mitchell ENME351 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/15/2024	Dr.Mitchell seems like a super nice man and he's very clearly super passionate about the course. He connects almost all of the material to real-world application which was super cool to see. He uses a "flipped classroom" for ENME351 where the students watch lecture videos and do a quiz before lecture and then do in-class examples. I didn't learn well with this method. The in-class examples were typically old exam questions, so a lot of times it was hard for me to even attempt them after just learning the basics of the concept. Additionally, we were typically 1-2 lectures behind in-class, so we would do in-class examples about topics we had learned the week before which made it more difficult to grasp the concepts. His exams were really difficult and I felt like the content of them was pretty different that what I anticipated while studying. He included a lot of real-world connection onto the exam by testing us on specs of various motors/sensors/microcontrollers we had talked about once or twice in lecture (he also cited what lecture he spoke about the hardware in so you couldn't say we never talked about it). I think I could have been a bit more successful in this course if he had been a bit more transparent about what we were expected to know for the exam. Overall, he's a good lecturer, but his exams/assignments are brutal. Just a tip, but the labs have to be 100% completed BEFORE your lab section time even though the lab is posted for everyone at the same time. I HIGHLY recommend picking a lab section later in the week so you have more time to work on it.
Steven Mitchell ENME351 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 10/23/2024	Smart individual, clearly knowledgeable on the subject. However, as some of the other commentators have mentioned ,one on one time with him is a bit different than what he portrays himself to be. He can be incredibly vague and somewhat patronizing. There's just something beneath the facade he puts on that gets revealed ever so often. Exams were tough, there's a lot of material so some of the questions felt as though they were nitpicking. Make sure to prioritize time management because the labs take forever.
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 ENME435 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/31/2023	435 with Dr. Mitchell was fantastic. For most of you this will be your only exposure to Python in the mechanical engineering program. The class was interesting, the homework assignments were fun, and the grading overall was pretty lenient. There's only 6-7 homework assignments for the whole class, no exams, no in-class, nothing else. If you do all of the homework with an honest attempt, you'll walk out with an easy B or better. This is one of very few classes I took at UMD where I thought what we learned is useful to our future careers. If this class is being offered, you should absolutely take it. You'll make some cool projects that you can talk about or show off for interviews in the future.
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.
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.
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.