Every class includes an evaluation of the students by the instructor and an evaluation of the instructor and the course by the students. This page presents summaries of these two evaluations to help students understand what to expect when taking this course. In particular, the feedback and comments provided by your peers could be useful towards making a more informed decision if in doubt as to whether to take or not this class. Data from ECE 442 - Spring'16'17 and '18 follow.

Past grade distributions

The stated grading policy for the class is that everyone that wants an A, gets an A. Of course, wanting an A means that you do your work and learn. It can be observed from the ECE 442 (formerly ECE 492) - Spring'15 grade distributions tabulated below that, consistent with stated policy, a majority of students got As in the class. I can confidently say that those grades are not a consequence of lax grading, but testament to the fact that students at the University of Rochester are hard working, smart, and well qualified.

Spring'16

Spring'17

Spring'18

For additional details on the University of Rochester's graduate student grading scheme, please check this page.

Numeric evaluations of the instructor and course

The first part of the optional evaluation done by students includes a group of numeric ratings according to the following scale: "Not at all" (1), "A little" (2), "Somewhat" (3), "Quite a bit" (4), and "A lot" (5). Numeric student evaluations for the Spring'16 course follows, and ratings for future courses will be added in due time. Note that student evaluation data was not collected during Spring'15, since the class was offered as a special topics course (ECE 492 code). Not all 15 students that took ECE 442 during the Spring'16 semester completed the evaluation, and those students that did complete it in some cases did not answer all questions. The same is true for those 14 students that took ECE 442 in Spring'17, or those 20 students registered in Spring'18.

Spring'16

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Mean
Teaching skills            
Instructor explained and emphasized important points clearly 0 0 0 2 9 4.81
Instructor used examples that helped understanding the material 0 0 0 1 10 4.90
Instructor noticed when students did not understand and adjusted 0 0 0 3 8 4.72
Rapport with students            
Instructor demonstrated sincere respect for students 0 0 0 1 10 4.90
Instructor was willing to listen to student questions and/or opinions 0 0 0 2 9 4.81
Instructor made himself/herself available for extra help 0 0 0 1 10 4.90
Quality of exams/assignments            
Exams/assignments covered important aspects of the course 0 0 0 1 10 4.90
Assignments were helpful in understanding the material 0 0 0 1 10 4.90
Exams/assignments were clearly worded 0 0 0 1 10 4.90
Organization            
Lectures/class discussions were well organized or well managed 0 0 0 1 19 4.90
Instructor tended to be well-prepared for class 0 0 0 2 9 4.81
Classes tended to stay appropriately on topic 0 0 0 1 10 4.90
Stronger interest            
I have a stronger interest in the subject because of the instructor 0 0 0 2 9 4.81
Overall instructor rating            
What overall rating would you give this instructor? 0 0 0 1 10 4.90
Value            
I feel the class was valuable 0 0 0 3 8 4.72
Overall course rating            
What overall rating would you give this course? 0 0 0 2 9 4.81

Spring'17

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Mean
Teaching skills            
Instructor explained and emphasized important points clearly 0 0 0 1 8 4.90
Instructor used examples that helped understanding the material 0 0 0 3 6 4.70
Instructor noticed when students did not understand and adjusted 0 0 0 2 7 4.80
Rapport with students            
Instructor demonstrated sincere respect for students 0 0 0 1 8 4.90
Instructor was willing to listen to student questions and/or opinions 0 0 0 1 8 4.90
Instructor made himself/herself available for extra help 0 0 0 2 7 4.80
Quality of exams/assignments            
Exams/assignments covered important aspects of the course 0 0 0 3 6 4.70
Assignments were helpful in understanding the material 0 0 0 2 7 4.80
Exams/assignments were clearly worded 0 0 0 2 7 4.80
Organization            
Lectures/class discussions were well organized or well managed 0 0 0 1 8 4.90
Instructor tended to be well-prepared for class 0 0 0 1 8 4.90
Classes tended to stay appropriately on topic 0 0 0 2 7 4.80
Stronger interest            
I have a stronger interest in the subject because of the instructor 0 0 0 2 6 4.60
Overall instructor rating            
What overall rating would you give this instructor? 0 0 0 1 8 4.90
Value            
I feel the class was valuable 0 0 0 2 7 4.80
Overall course rating            
What overall rating would you give this course? 0 0 0 2 9 4.81

Student comments and feedback

Comments below are attached to the numeric evaluations received at the end of the semester, and categorized as in the evaluation questionnaire. These comments have not been edited, selected, or censored.

Teaching skills

  • perfect
  • The course is very math-intensive. Still the professor was able to motivate us with examples from real life applications. He showed a lot of fascinating study results throughout the course, which helped me understand the ideas better.
  • Instructor almost never asked if students understood the topic that as being taught. This is contrast to his attitude towards emails where he is probably the most responsive professor ever (no kidding!). Other than this he is very good at teaching. He can teach successfully at x2 the speed of other professors.
  • The professor explains during the lectures very well and gets his point across very well.
  • Does an excellent job of explaining the concepts in ways to make them easily understandable, even if the math was not very easy to comprehend.
  • very good!
  • Fantastic lecturer
  • Exceptional teaching skills! Not one class I attended was unclear.

Rapport with students

  • love him
  • He did not throw us any unnecessary pressure, yet stressed the importance of high quality work and encouraged us to work hard.
  • Very relaxed professor. Bases relationship on trust, and builds rapport based on mutual respect.
  • a very nice professor!
  • Very open and helpful
  • The professor had an incredible rapport with everyone. I have often visited the Professor to discuss problems at various points during the semester, and he took extraordinary measures to accommodate our needs. We were able to arrange meetings even outside office hours, and he patiently answered all our questions with great detail.

Quality of exams/assignments

  • I primarily learn the best when I have constant homework assignments based on the class material every two weeks. While I felt that the homeworks we did receive were good indicators of the material, I think having more shorter homework assignments bi-weekly would keep me more engaged in the class materials and lectures.
  • great
  • The best part of the course: the assignments. I had this many 'aha' moments in doing the homeworks of only one other course: Random Processes, which not coincidentally is also offered by the same professor. These made us THINK and REFLECT on the materials. On the negative side, the first two homeworks took me two full days each to finish. I'd say, its worth the work!
  • All course material including HW's were meticulously prepared. They were carefully designed to effectively teach the subject matter.
  • helps to understand what we learned in class!
  • The assignments were top notch. They challenged us to explore the subject material without being overwhelming.

Organization

  • the best
  • Very well organized. I love the slides, they cover a lot of useful materials in a way that I can easily follow along.
  • Very well organized.
  • Really Nice!
  • I wish more classes were organized in this way, encouraging you to pursue your academic interests.
  • Every lecture presentation seemed like it had been prepared for an A grade academic conference (in a good way).

What are the major strengths of this instructor?

  • Very clear and concise, and probably the most well-organized professor I've ever had. Incredibly fast to respond to questions both in class and through emails, and very articulate when explaining concepts in lectures.
  • overall great professor
  • Student friendliness and giving great examples.
  • class material is rich
  • Organized, effective in teaching, well-crafted homeworks, most responsive professor ever, flexible.
  • Very expressive. Puts in a LOT of effort into the course. Listens to students.
  • Professor Mateos has a great in-depth knowledge of his subject. The best thing about him is that he emphasizes on learning than just submitting homework. He allows flexible deadlines. In this way, we students, tend to perform to our best as well.
  • Extremely intelligent, well-organized, and kind.
  • Explains everything very clearly.
  • very nice and patient!
  • Sense of responsibility
  • Always willing to help. Enthusiastic.
  • The Professor has incredible knowledge about the subject (strong fundamentals, along with a thorough understanding of complex, niche areas) and at the same time, delivers lectures in a lucid easy-to-understand manner. He is very helpful and understands the needs of the students. There is absolutely nothing that he should change.
  • abundant knowledge in the related field. Clear lecture organization and homework assignments are designed to help understand and apply classroom knowledge.
  • very helpful and helps you to pursue your interests

Please share any suggestions for improvement

  • Nothing off the top of my head
  • i'm sorry I missed your class, its me, not you <3
  • Perhaps speaking a little slower might help, but it is already good.
  • Almost never asked students if they understood the subject matter. This was not as crucial, because the topic is taught well most of the time. But at times I felt it would be better to be able to have a more interactive course on such an interesting topic.
  • Could slow down a little bit, although he does redo something if required. When its a complicated topic, the speed confused me.
  • None that I can think of.
  • Please try to make eye contact.
  • Everything is good
  • Maybe could show more real-life applications for a certain concept.

What are the major strengths of this course?

  • Very interesting material thats a bit different from other standard ECE classes. Can be applied to various statistical analysis tools.
  • very strong, all around
  • Great homeworks!
  • An emerging field with great importance. Very cross-disciplinary
  • Instructor and TA are top notch.
  • The structure of the course is very good.
  • Detailed contents
  • This is by far, the best course that I have ever taken. I have an immense amount of interest in this area because of it. I have thoroughly enjoyed everything from attending the classes, to completing the assignments, to working on the course project. I highly recommend it to everyone!
  • well organized, step-by-step lectures leading into deeper knowledge from basics.
  • the project

Please share any suggestions for improvement

  • As said earlier, I primarily learn the best when I have constant homework assignments based on the class material every two weeks. While I felt that the homeworks we did receive were good indicators of the material, I think having more shorter homework assignments bi-weekly would keep me more engaged in the class materials and lectures.
  • none
  • I have none.
  • homework can be more
  • I really liked the network of the day!
  • An incredible amount of material was covered which is a positive, but it felt like a rush at times. Towards the end of the course, the topics were covered without much depth. Instead professor can focus on just one selected topic and go in depth.
  • None that I can think of.
  • Everything is good
  • I would request the administration to cross list this course with other departments such as data science and computer science as it is extremely relevant for those programs. A number of people I know simply did not take the course because they were not aware of it, or that it was not listed under their program.