Professor

Liang Gao

AD
4.5
Overall Ratings
Based on 2 Users
Easiness 3.0 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.0 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 3.0 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 3.5 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (2)

1 of 1
1 of 1
Add your review...
Dec. 20, 2024
Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A

This isnt really like your other class, as there isnt really any lectures or exams just your senior year project. The biggest thing that matters is what project you select at the beginning. This year there was a lot of CS/Coding based projects and alot of poeple who didnt want to do CS stuff. At the beginning of the class you rank different projects and the way it worked this quarter was that people who were solo got priority over people who wanted to be with others. This resulted in people who were in groups to get screwed over (they got their lowest rank project) since pretty much majority of people went solo. I suggest that if this is the method for next year, to go solo so you get projects you are more interested in. Additionally in my own opinion in BE department we are not that proficient in CS to be doing fully CS projects so if possible they should cut down on those as well.

The class had multiple reports and biweekly presentations so you dont need to be present in the class every day but some days are "lectures" where they will be taking roll (however most people would just leave after signing the Sign In sheet). These lectures are just mostly updates and directions by the professor.

There isnt much to say about this class as the exact detail depends on your specific project, TA, and team members that you have.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 25, 2024
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A+

This review is from Winter 2024, which was the first and last time this class was offered as an elective, in the future this class will be a core class so a lot might change with it.

Logistics:
Discussion was not mandatory and it was essentially just office hours
4 HW assignments graded on correctness
1 Midterm
Take-home final
92 for an A, 95 for an A+ (all other grades were lowered respectively, and he curved so that the mean of the class was an A)
He posts the slides after the lecture

Overall I very much enjoyed this class and I feel like I learned a lot, professor Gao is a great person and is always willing to help you answer any question. He is very approachable after class and even with setting up extra office hours. However, I had some problems with this class (I assume this is mainly because this was his first time teaching the class and this isn't really his area of research/expertise).

The main difficulty of this class was that the HWs seemed somewhat disconnected to the lecture, his lectures were overall pretty good but he never really covered any sample problems (although the was very helpful in office hours). He also can sometimes be very messy when using the whiteboard and he might start writing all over the place which sometimes makes it hard to follow.
I took this class at the same time as BE 120 and that made it much easier as there was a lot of overlap of content which in a way helped "double reinforce" what I learned in each.

I am not sure as how this class will be structured in the future, but I 100% recommend going to office hours and actively participating in lectures and if you don't understand something definitely don't be scared to ask (in class or outside). You should also skim the book and use YouTube as there are a lot of great videos. His lectures are very long and detailed and contain ALOT of information, however, for exams he only cares about the main ideas and not all the small details.

Lastly, this isn't something that he can control but sometimes his accent might make it hard to make out certain words. However I am personally used to this as I am not from US and I have an accent myself, and you will get use to it pretty quickly.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
BIOENGR 177A
Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A
Dec. 20, 2024

This isnt really like your other class, as there isnt really any lectures or exams just your senior year project. The biggest thing that matters is what project you select at the beginning. This year there was a lot of CS/Coding based projects and alot of poeple who didnt want to do CS stuff. At the beginning of the class you rank different projects and the way it worked this quarter was that people who were solo got priority over people who wanted to be with others. This resulted in people who were in groups to get screwed over (they got their lowest rank project) since pretty much majority of people went solo. I suggest that if this is the method for next year, to go solo so you get projects you are more interested in. Additionally in my own opinion in BE department we are not that proficient in CS to be doing fully CS projects so if possible they should cut down on those as well.

The class had multiple reports and biweekly presentations so you dont need to be present in the class every day but some days are "lectures" where they will be taking roll (however most people would just leave after signing the Sign In sheet). These lectures are just mostly updates and directions by the professor.

There isnt much to say about this class as the exact detail depends on your specific project, TA, and team members that you have.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
BIOENGR 122
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A+
March 25, 2024

This review is from Winter 2024, which was the first and last time this class was offered as an elective, in the future this class will be a core class so a lot might change with it.

Logistics:
Discussion was not mandatory and it was essentially just office hours
4 HW assignments graded on correctness
1 Midterm
Take-home final
92 for an A, 95 for an A+ (all other grades were lowered respectively, and he curved so that the mean of the class was an A)
He posts the slides after the lecture

Overall I very much enjoyed this class and I feel like I learned a lot, professor Gao is a great person and is always willing to help you answer any question. He is very approachable after class and even with setting up extra office hours. However, I had some problems with this class (I assume this is mainly because this was his first time teaching the class and this isn't really his area of research/expertise).

The main difficulty of this class was that the HWs seemed somewhat disconnected to the lecture, his lectures were overall pretty good but he never really covered any sample problems (although the was very helpful in office hours). He also can sometimes be very messy when using the whiteboard and he might start writing all over the place which sometimes makes it hard to follow.
I took this class at the same time as BE 120 and that made it much easier as there was a lot of overlap of content which in a way helped "double reinforce" what I learned in each.

I am not sure as how this class will be structured in the future, but I 100% recommend going to office hours and actively participating in lectures and if you don't understand something definitely don't be scared to ask (in class or outside). You should also skim the book and use YouTube as there are a lot of great videos. His lectures are very long and detailed and contain ALOT of information, however, for exams he only cares about the main ideas and not all the small details.

Lastly, this isn't something that he can control but sometimes his accent might make it hard to make out certain words. However I am personally used to this as I am not from US and I have an accent myself, and you will get use to it pretty quickly.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 1
ADS