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
Winter 2024 - Professor Franco is a great professor, and despite the difficulty of the class, I enjoyed the class quite a bit (or as much as you can enjoy a browbeating with control systems). Like M'Closkey (another great 107 professor) she uses a series of typeset notes, which are like a textbook but better and more concise. I read the textbook once the first week and never read it again, that's how useless the actual course textbook was. The hardest part of the course is the homework. Each week there is a series of 3-5 problems, each of which challenges your knowledge in unique ways, and very often includes MATLAB (so make sure you know how to plot and create basic for loops). A lot of the homework sets are interconnected (i.e. they contain a continuation of previous problems with new changes). It is clear Franco put a lot of effort into curating the problems to cover the most critical parts of the content. However, the homework is almost impossible without external help, most often through office hours (both TA and professor), so utilize those resources. Attending lecture is very important, not only because she does not record lectures, but there are also participation-based quizzes, which if you complete them all, will provide some extra credit for your entire grade. Fair warning that the exams are hard, but if you diligently do homework, attend office hours, and prepare adequately for the midterm and final, the course is very doable. Overall, I think Franco is one of the best professors I have had at UCLA. Her lectures, homework, and office hours are all helpful, and she is always willing to answer questions. (Notice I didn't mention labs... that's because they're completely useless. Shoutout Jimmy though, best TA!)
Winter 2024 - Professor Franco is a great professor, and despite the difficulty of the class, I enjoyed the class quite a bit (or as much as you can enjoy a browbeating with control systems). Like M'Closkey (another great 107 professor) she uses a series of typeset notes, which are like a textbook but better and more concise. I read the textbook once the first week and never read it again, that's how useless the actual course textbook was. The hardest part of the course is the homework. Each week there is a series of 3-5 problems, each of which challenges your knowledge in unique ways, and very often includes MATLAB (so make sure you know how to plot and create basic for loops). A lot of the homework sets are interconnected (i.e. they contain a continuation of previous problems with new changes). It is clear Franco put a lot of effort into curating the problems to cover the most critical parts of the content. However, the homework is almost impossible without external help, most often through office hours (both TA and professor), so utilize those resources. Attending lecture is very important, not only because she does not record lectures, but there are also participation-based quizzes, which if you complete them all, will provide some extra credit for your entire grade. Fair warning that the exams are hard, but if you diligently do homework, attend office hours, and prepare adequately for the midterm and final, the course is very doable. Overall, I think Franco is one of the best professors I have had at UCLA. Her lectures, homework, and office hours are all helpful, and she is always willing to answer questions. (Notice I didn't mention labs... that's because they're completely useless. Shoutout Jimmy though, best TA!)
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2023 - Great professor, not too sure why there aren't any reviews for him. I took him over summer so the course went by really fast but he honestly made it really manageable. Every lecture was clear and for what others say is one of the hardest undergraduate upper div in mechanical engineering, it was probably my favorite. That isn't to say his class was easy, the midterm and final average were in the mid 70's and low 60's respectively, but he obviously curved so it was nice. But the key to acing his exams is to just really understand the Hw and to do the practice problems he gives you. Overall, I felt like I learned A LOT from him. If I were to take this class I would definitely take it with him again.
Summer 2023 - Great professor, not too sure why there aren't any reviews for him. I took him over summer so the course went by really fast but he honestly made it really manageable. Every lecture was clear and for what others say is one of the hardest undergraduate upper div in mechanical engineering, it was probably my favorite. That isn't to say his class was easy, the midterm and final average were in the mid 70's and low 60's respectively, but he obviously curved so it was nice. But the key to acing his exams is to just really understand the Hw and to do the practice problems he gives you. Overall, I felt like I learned A LOT from him. If I were to take this class I would definitely take it with him again.
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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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