James Reggia

This professor has taught: CMSC289I, CMSC389F, CMSC421, CMSC422, CMSC727, CMSC798, CMSC828K, CMSC828Q

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James Reggia CMSC421 Anonymous 12/30/2021	Dr. Reggia is an easygoing professor and cares about his class a lot. It's basically a survey class for a wide range of ML and AI techniques. I recommend this class if you don't know anything about AI/ML. Many of the topics are taught at the surface level, but to teach anything above that would require significantly higher math prereqs which would get in the way of the spirit of the course. If you already have extensive experience in ML this class is probably not for you.
James Reggia CMSC421 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2021	CMSC421 with Reggia is an extremely disappointing class. The first month you spend learning search algorithms (yes, exactly the same ones you already did in CMSC132). Then you spend 1 month on propositional logic (yes, exactly the same stuff you already did in CMSC250). Next, you cover the same bayes rule you already did in STAT400, and the following month and a half is just a watered down version of CMSC422 (and yes, you learn the exact same ML models, absolutely nothing new). You spend the remaining 15% of the course learning niche, obsolete (in both industry and research) topics like programming in LISP and Prolog. Topics that would be an actual extension of anything you've previously learned, like say Reinforcement Learning, are barely touched upon beyond a single lecture. Beyond the class being wholly underwhelming, Dr. Reggia is actually an incredibly reasonable professor. We did not have a single lick of programming assigned in the class, had 3 homework assignments and 3 take home quizzes (graded on effort not correctness) which you could easily find answers to on the slides and the midterm and final were both identical to the homeworks, if not easier. The only thing to keep in mind is that there is a semester-long group project worth 30% of your grade that you must complete in groups of 6 that involves writing an academic paper on a topic in AI (not an essay, you actually have to do something new in the field). So if you're a senior looking for an easy, low-effort class take 421 with Reggia, but if you actually want to learn something I suggest you look elsewhere.
James Reggia CMSC421 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2021	I took this class Spring 2021 (online semester). This class is definitely one of the lighter workload 400 levels, and Reggia has major grandpa vibes. It's not necessarily the most engaging course, but you do get to learn a few cool things. The exams were actually pretty difficult given the time contraint, but he has an extremely generous curve (I think a 60 on the midterm counted as an A). I wish he recorded the lectures, but overall Reggia was approachable and cared about the students.
James Reggia CMSC421 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2021	This class and this professor were alright. Kind of unremarkable. CMSC421 isn't as interesting as it sounds, and there's a solid month of the course where you're spending time on stuff that you wouldn't really associate with artificial intelligence. An annoying portion of this course was basically a repeat of information from CMSC250 and STAT400, and neither of those things were very interesting or really what I was thinking of when I took this course. The class does end strong, focusing on neural networks and machine learning and those kinds of interesting things. Reggia is just a very bland professor, I guess. His slides are a little bare bones, and he doesn't record lectures. So I felt that going to class was more or less necessary. I couldn't learn anything just by reading his slides. If you go to class, you'll get a lot more out of what Reggia is actually saying. His lectures didn't blow me away or anything, but he's solid. The exams and homeworks were kind of tough, but they weren't graded very harshly, so that's fine. There's a group project. That's no fun, but whatever. Anyways, I would recommend this class if you're looking for a lower workload class. If you're in the unfortunate position of taking three 400 levels in one semester, as I was this semester, this class isn't a bad choice because the workload is fairly minimal and not particularly challenging. But overall I wouldn't call it a super interesting class, and I don't feel like I got all that much out of it.
James Reggia CMSC421 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2021	Although he's a nice guy, he's sort of a grandpa if you know what I mean. Doesn't record his lectures, which was annoying. To be fair the class is still easy with only the slides that he posts and a friend or two that does go to lecture (for when a concept is unclear). I would just knock out in class so I completely stopped going after the midterm and still did alright. I personally wouldn't take him again, but only because there are definitely better professors at UMD.
James Reggia CMSC421 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 03/09/2021	Spring 21 - Online - Doesn't record his lectures, has really vague slides and the exams are fixed for a certain time which makes it really hard if you're not staying in the US.
James Reggia CMSC422 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2020	pretty chill prof, understanding of personal issues. the class isn't too difficult for a 400 level class, but i took this class during the covid pandemic so that might have skewed the difficulty of class(making it easier). either way if he's teaching take it with him!
James Reggia CMSC289I charlieOne 02/02/2013	A truly wonderful professor. I'd heard mixed stories about CMSC289I beforehand, but Prof. Reggia made this class a great experience. He was always friendly, and very approachable via office hours and email. After every homework, quiz, and exam, Prof. Reggia took great pains to make sure we understood the content before moving onto new topics. Even if people had still trouble understanding the material, Prof. Reggia strongly encouraged students to "grab me or one of the TAs after class". The content itself was great. This class provided a great opportunity to see how broad a field it really is. One definitely doesn't need to be a CS major to get something out of this class. In short, excellent professor and excellent class.
James Reggia CMSC289I Expecting an A Anonymous 12/27/2012	One of the best professors I've had in my UMD experience. His slides were easy to understand, and he made sure that everyone understood the content before moving on. For example, he'd give ungraded quizzes from time to time, and always take time afterwards to explain what was going on. The same went for the exams. After each of the midterms, Prof. Reggia took a good chunk out of his lectures to make sure we got the content. Both in lecture and in office hours, he was very friendly and polite; in fact he encouraged us to stop by if we were worried about grades, homework, or a topic not clearly understood from lecture. If you have a chance to take a course under Prof. Reggia, do it.
James Reggia CMSC289I Expecting an A Anonymous 12/26/2011	This is from the perspective of a CMSC student. Reading the description, I was worried this class wouldn't be as suitable for Computer Science students, but was happily wrong. The class does not require mathematical knowledge beyond algebra(logarithms are briefly explained, and provided for you in many cases). The class also does not require previous knowledge in computer programming. While it will be easier to understand some of the concepts with a ComSci baackground, it is in no way required or required to do well. If you are a Computer science student interested in AI, you will enjoy this class as well. Many of the concepts, algorithms, and techniques taughts can be used in your other CMSC courses as well as CMSC421 of course. The grade is made up of 20% for homework and quizzes, 20% for each of two midterms, and 40% for the final. We had 9 homework assignments regularly spread out through the semester. Each homework took roughly a couple hours to complete, and plenty of time was given to complete them. Part of the homework would be 'randomly' selected and be graded, the rest wouldn't be graded. There was 1 quiz early in the semester, then a second quiz that wasn't graded. The two midterms were difficult, not cumulative, but thorough, and resulted in low averages, about 50-60%. The final was cumulative and mainly consisted of problems that were already reinforced through homeworks as well as trivia-esque questions. While the averages for some of the homeworks and the midterms were fairly low, there was a very generous curve, and Dr. Reggia revealed an estimate of how the curve would be done based on each of the midterms. Though not estimated in class, the curve also affects the homework and final exam. Essentially, if you finished the homeworks and understood them, paid attention in class and did the readings, you could get an A without it being a high-stress course. After every homework, quiz, and midterm, each question was reviewed in depth and Dr. Reggia gave numerous opportunities for students to ask questions. Dr. Reggia is very approachable after class and in office hours.
James Reggia CMSC289I Expecting an F Anonymous 12/20/2011	CMSC289I- Horrible class. Worst class I've ever taken at UMD. Was duped into thinking it would be an interested course to fulfill a CORE requirement. Turned out to be the hardest class I've taken at UMD. On top of that there is no discussion so you don't really have an opportunity to make sense of what you cover in class. If your looking for an easy CORE class, THIS IS NOT IT. Reggia- Nicest guy ever. Went to him a week before the final breaking down bc I had like a F in the class and he was so comforting, and reassuring. Told me if I got a C on the final he'd give me a C in the class. And I did:)