The professor is really inspirational. This is the best course I have ever taken at any university. The course is tough but the professor breaks down the concept systematically and provides a number of learning opportunities. Amazing

Prof Goyal is the best instructor in the department and probably all UCLA. This is the toughest class in MAE, yet he us able to breakdown the concepts in a manner that allows absorbing the material easily. I hope one day he is awarded the teacher award.

Having done BS and MS at UCLA in mechanical engineering, I can say that MAE 261a is all of the following at the same time: 1) the best and most important class in the department for ME's who want to do structural work, 2) the hardest class in the whole department, and 3) the most exciting class in the whole department.

1) This class has a lot of content for structural ME's that I feel should have been introduced in undergrad but isn't. e.g. structural theories and how they are approximations of the "true" 3d field theory, how approximation theories behind FEA work, how to do structural optimization, and buckling theory.

2) Prof Goyal doesn't play around and has high expectations. In the end, basically everyone gets an A, but the caveat is that ~25-50% of students get weeded out (drop out because of workload and difficulty). The homeworks and tests are extremely long and difficult.

3) I felt like this class opened a whole new world of techniques for structural analysis. The optimization techniques are very exciting for someone who wants to design parts with high structural efficiency.

Prof Goyal cares deeply about his students learning and understanding the materials. The lectures are very good and he is very accommodating in helping you outside of scheduled lectures and office hours.

If you want to be a structural component designer/analyst in aerospace or some other performance application, this class is a must-take.