Professor
Wilbur Marner
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Professor Marner is one of the rare examples of a professor that cares about his students' learning and he is clearly very passionate about the subject. For him to come back to UCLA at his age and teach with a fervor that can rarely be found in many of his younger colleagues speaks volumes about his dedication. He lectures very clearly and always takes the time to answer every question in depth. He has a natural knack for knowing when the class is uncertain about a topic and will take the time to go through it again or in more detail. He is funny and likes to develop genuine connections with the people in his class, especially those that sit in the front row. Homeworks are optional, exams are exceedingly reasonable in difficulty and length. He does give quizzes in discussion, but they're in the first 15-20 minutes so you can leave after. If you are taking MAE 105A and want a great chance at an A while also having an entertaining lecture, Marner is your guy.
Fall 2019 - Professor Marner is one of the rare examples of a professor that cares about his students' learning and he is clearly very passionate about the subject. For him to come back to UCLA at his age and teach with a fervor that can rarely be found in many of his younger colleagues speaks volumes about his dedication. He lectures very clearly and always takes the time to answer every question in depth. He has a natural knack for knowing when the class is uncertain about a topic and will take the time to go through it again or in more detail. He is funny and likes to develop genuine connections with the people in his class, especially those that sit in the front row. Homeworks are optional, exams are exceedingly reasonable in difficulty and length. He does give quizzes in discussion, but they're in the first 15-20 minutes so you can leave after. If you are taking MAE 105A and want a great chance at an A while also having an entertaining lecture, Marner is your guy.
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Marner is the best professor that MAE has to offer. No question about it. He has a fantastic lecture style, a high level of organization and straight forwardness, and he involves the students in his lectures through his charismatic personality and humor. Don't graduate from UCLA MAE without taking this guy at least once. That being said, students considering taking his class should be aware that a high workload will be the norm. I also took him for MAE 133A, were there is a project which takes up a lot of time. During this time in the course the homework piled up sometimes even up to two homework assignments per week in addition to an approaching project deadline. Students should also not expect to pick their own groups; Marner wishes to make the class like industry so the TA's pick the groups according to a skills questionnaire. Great professor, great man...take his class at least once.
Professor Marner is the best professor that MAE has to offer. No question about it. He has a fantastic lecture style, a high level of organization and straight forwardness, and he involves the students in his lectures through his charismatic personality and humor. Don't graduate from UCLA MAE without taking this guy at least once. That being said, students considering taking his class should be aware that a high workload will be the norm. I also took him for MAE 133A, were there is a project which takes up a lot of time. During this time in the course the homework piled up sometimes even up to two homework assignments per week in addition to an approaching project deadline. Students should also not expect to pick their own groups; Marner wishes to make the class like industry so the TA's pick the groups according to a skills questionnaire. Great professor, great man...take his class at least once.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Marner's 131 was an amazing course, even though heat transfer is my least favorite topic. He is a very smart professor and is very good at simplifying the complex. His class is tough and it is a lot of work, but Marner is by far the best professor I have had at UCLA. He makes you fill out notecards with your name and some facts about yourself and uses them to call on students during class. He does this so you pay attention, and so he can learn everyone by name. The questions he ask are not usually that tough and he is perfectly fine if you do not know the answer. There are two group projects, which are relatively easy, especially because the class was half graduate students and each group got one of them. Along with tons of engineering knowledge his brain is full of interesting life stories and wisdom.
Professor Marner's 131 was an amazing course, even though heat transfer is my least favorite topic. He is a very smart professor and is very good at simplifying the complex. His class is tough and it is a lot of work, but Marner is by far the best professor I have had at UCLA. He makes you fill out notecards with your name and some facts about yourself and uses them to call on students during class. He does this so you pay attention, and so he can learn everyone by name. The questions he ask are not usually that tough and he is perfectly fine if you do not know the answer. There are two group projects, which are relatively easy, especially because the class was half graduate students and each group got one of them. Along with tons of engineering knowledge his brain is full of interesting life stories and wisdom.
Most Helpful Review
This is my first review after completing 3 years here and deservingly so because like others said, I also believe he is the best professor in the MAE department. I took 105A with Prof. Amar, which got me interested in this course. And if you have taken a course with him, you know how effective he is at teaching since he teaches through examples with actual numbers, but had to deal with his tricky quizzes and exams. Prof. Marner is even more effective than Amar, without the tricky exams. Marner uploaded lecture outlines before each lecture so that class would flow more smoothly and save our hand muscles because he cares about his students. Just go to class and complete his lecture notes and that will be all you need in order to succeed in his class. He does simple and short derivations (the First Law of Thermodynamics will be used a lot), but then dives right into sample problems to help you understand the material because nobody likes being bored by derivations using countless variables. He also gets the class involved by calling on students to help him solve the problems to make the lectures less boring because if someone gets something wrong he will make fun of him/her in a non-condescending manner. Don't worry if he makes fun of you though, he is like a loving father like others said. You can read the textbook (Moran and Shapiro) for some clarification, but his notes are good enough to complete 90% of the homework problems. Problem sets consisted of 5 problems, usually 2 from the text and the 3 others from outside sources. You will do well on his exams if you understand the homework because the exams are at the same difficulty level as the homework problems, which aren't too difficult to begin with. And don't slack off on the design project. My group did and frantically put a 20 page report together all during 9th and 10th week, but luckily the TA, Mike, was a generous grader even though he seemed stringent about grading when I talked to him about the past reports. All in all, you will learn a lot in this class, not just thermodynamics but also life lessons. After the final exam, he shook everyone's hands, stated their names, and thanked them for being a part of his class. I wished he had thought me heat transfer as well.
This is my first review after completing 3 years here and deservingly so because like others said, I also believe he is the best professor in the MAE department. I took 105A with Prof. Amar, which got me interested in this course. And if you have taken a course with him, you know how effective he is at teaching since he teaches through examples with actual numbers, but had to deal with his tricky quizzes and exams. Prof. Marner is even more effective than Amar, without the tricky exams. Marner uploaded lecture outlines before each lecture so that class would flow more smoothly and save our hand muscles because he cares about his students. Just go to class and complete his lecture notes and that will be all you need in order to succeed in his class. He does simple and short derivations (the First Law of Thermodynamics will be used a lot), but then dives right into sample problems to help you understand the material because nobody likes being bored by derivations using countless variables. He also gets the class involved by calling on students to help him solve the problems to make the lectures less boring because if someone gets something wrong he will make fun of him/her in a non-condescending manner. Don't worry if he makes fun of you though, he is like a loving father like others said. You can read the textbook (Moran and Shapiro) for some clarification, but his notes are good enough to complete 90% of the homework problems. Problem sets consisted of 5 problems, usually 2 from the text and the 3 others from outside sources. You will do well on his exams if you understand the homework because the exams are at the same difficulty level as the homework problems, which aren't too difficult to begin with. And don't slack off on the design project. My group did and frantically put a 20 page report together all during 9th and 10th week, but luckily the TA, Mike, was a generous grader even though he seemed stringent about grading when I talked to him about the past reports. All in all, you will learn a lot in this class, not just thermodynamics but also life lessons. After the final exam, he shook everyone's hands, stated their names, and thanked them for being a part of his class. I wished he had thought me heat transfer as well.
Most Helpful Review
I've had the pleasure of having this professor for MAE 105A and 136. I will have him next quarter for 133A and I wouldn't doubt if I'll have him again for 131A. He is such a great professor and genuinely cares about his students. Sometimes I'd go to his office hours just to talk. If you have the chance, take him. You won't regret it.
I've had the pleasure of having this professor for MAE 105A and 136. I will have him next quarter for 133A and I wouldn't doubt if I'll have him again for 131A. He is such a great professor and genuinely cares about his students. Sometimes I'd go to his office hours just to talk. If you have the chance, take him. You won't regret it.
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Most Helpful Review
One of the most caring professors I've had as an undergraduate. Marner worked at JPL before retiring a few years ago, and now teaches as an adjunct professor at UCLA. For MAE 162M, all the team members are chosen by the TA and Marner provides a list of topics you can work on. There are 1-2 hour lectures before group meetings with Marner and the TA. The lectures were on topics related to "things you don't learn in engineering courses" such as communication techniques, IP, economics, safety, teamwork, etc. There is also a quiz towards the end of the course, which is relatively easy as long as you study all the notes. In the weekly group meetings, Marner can give you suggestions and motivation for your project, but most of the work has to be done by the team and outside of class. He is not a total expert in the assigned project topics so if you need help you should seek outside sources. For example he (and the TA) can't tell you where you went wrong in the analysis or what you need to do to make a designed component more creative. But he can suggest some ideas. Marner expects tons of progress each week, so be prepared to work hard. At the end of 10 weeks, expect to design a thermo-mechanical system/product, write a 100-200 page report discussing all the aspects of the project, and deliver a 20 minute presentation. Regarding his character, Marner is a very honest and conservative professor. Very easy to approach and remembers everyone's name even though he is over 65. I would recommend Marner as he teaches MAE 105D, 131A, 133A, and 162M.
One of the most caring professors I've had as an undergraduate. Marner worked at JPL before retiring a few years ago, and now teaches as an adjunct professor at UCLA. For MAE 162M, all the team members are chosen by the TA and Marner provides a list of topics you can work on. There are 1-2 hour lectures before group meetings with Marner and the TA. The lectures were on topics related to "things you don't learn in engineering courses" such as communication techniques, IP, economics, safety, teamwork, etc. There is also a quiz towards the end of the course, which is relatively easy as long as you study all the notes. In the weekly group meetings, Marner can give you suggestions and motivation for your project, but most of the work has to be done by the team and outside of class. He is not a total expert in the assigned project topics so if you need help you should seek outside sources. For example he (and the TA) can't tell you where you went wrong in the analysis or what you need to do to make a designed component more creative. But he can suggest some ideas. Marner expects tons of progress each week, so be prepared to work hard. At the end of 10 weeks, expect to design a thermo-mechanical system/product, write a 100-200 page report discussing all the aspects of the project, and deliver a 20 minute presentation. Regarding his character, Marner is a very honest and conservative professor. Very easy to approach and remembers everyone's name even though he is over 65. I would recommend Marner as he teaches MAE 105D, 131A, 133A, and 162M.
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