MECH&AE 107
Introduction to Modeling and Analysis of Dynamic Systems
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour; laboratory, two hours; outside study, five hours. Enforced requisites: courses M20 (or Computer Science 31), 82, Electrical Engineering 100. Introduction to modeling of physical systems, with examples of mechanical, fluid, thermal, and electrical systems. Description of these systems with coverage of impulse response, convolution, frequency response, first- and second-order system transient response analysis, and numerical solution. Nonlinear differential equation descriptions with discussion of equilibrium solutions, small signal linearization, large signal response. Block diagram representation and response of interconnections of systems. Hands-on experiments reinforce lecture material. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - Dennis was not a helpful professor at all. He writes way too fast on the blackboard, and his writing is often incomprehensible. When asked a question, there's never a clear answer from him. He also tends to throw in a lot of terminology and theory that has not been introduced in lecture yet, confusing students out of their wits. His homework always contains at least one problem about something which has not been taught in class yet. He even recorded students taking the midterm exam without any form of written or verbal consent, to prevent cheating (is this even legal??). The midterm solutions were never comprehensive, would only contain answers without any proper working. The material itself felt like it was being taught in an extremely disorganized fashion, out of order. Several students and faculty alike were surprised at the fact that the concept of Laplace transforms was moved to the end of the course, which makes absolutely no sense given that they are critical for understanding the purpose of the transfer function and frequency response functions. The only saving grace for my interest in the course was the TAs and the Labs that involved using MATLAB. Overall, though I gained a minor interest in further studying the subject on my own, I did not gain an appreciation or flavor for the applications of these concepts in the real world at all through the course alone and was largely clueless. It is my sincere plea to the department to remove this lecturer and only have Dr M'Closkey teach this course.
Fall 2024 - Dennis was not a helpful professor at all. He writes way too fast on the blackboard, and his writing is often incomprehensible. When asked a question, there's never a clear answer from him. He also tends to throw in a lot of terminology and theory that has not been introduced in lecture yet, confusing students out of their wits. His homework always contains at least one problem about something which has not been taught in class yet. He even recorded students taking the midterm exam without any form of written or verbal consent, to prevent cheating (is this even legal??). The midterm solutions were never comprehensive, would only contain answers without any proper working. The material itself felt like it was being taught in an extremely disorganized fashion, out of order. Several students and faculty alike were surprised at the fact that the concept of Laplace transforms was moved to the end of the course, which makes absolutely no sense given that they are critical for understanding the purpose of the transfer function and frequency response functions. The only saving grace for my interest in the course was the TAs and the Labs that involved using MATLAB. Overall, though I gained a minor interest in further studying the subject on my own, I did not gain an appreciation or flavor for the applications of these concepts in the real world at all through the course alone and was largely clueless. It is my sincere plea to the department to remove this lecturer and only have Dr M'Closkey teach this course.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - Professor M’Closkey is extremely knowledgeable on the subject and seems like he enjoys teaching. He transitioned to remote teaching pretty well and he definitely improved the quality of his instruction as the quarter went on. At first it was a little confusing because he teaches you concepts that you don’t see being applied, but these are applied in the second half of the class. I would say the labs are pretty easy but the homeworks were quite hard. He doesn’t curve his class, but he’s very helpful during office hours. He also records his lectures (during virtual instruction) but I would recommend actually attending them because he does make mistakes that he corrects during the live lectures. During live lectures he plays his recordings and makes comments here and there. The midterm was pretty easy (median was ~85%) but his final had a lower median (I think it was around ~70%) and since the class wasn’t curved I imagine his grade distribution wasn’t wonderful. But overall, taking 107 with MCloskey was a good experience.
Spring 2020 - Professor M’Closkey is extremely knowledgeable on the subject and seems like he enjoys teaching. He transitioned to remote teaching pretty well and he definitely improved the quality of his instruction as the quarter went on. At first it was a little confusing because he teaches you concepts that you don’t see being applied, but these are applied in the second half of the class. I would say the labs are pretty easy but the homeworks were quite hard. He doesn’t curve his class, but he’s very helpful during office hours. He also records his lectures (during virtual instruction) but I would recommend actually attending them because he does make mistakes that he corrects during the live lectures. During live lectures he plays his recordings and makes comments here and there. The midterm was pretty easy (median was ~85%) but his final had a lower median (I think it was around ~70%) and since the class wasn’t curved I imagine his grade distribution wasn’t wonderful. But overall, taking 107 with MCloskey was a good experience.
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