Gold
SilverPrinciples of Thermodynamics
Departments: Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Professors: Marco Castaldi and Christopher Durning
As a chem e, you have to take Castaldi's thermo course, no negotiating. But its better to be warned going in: he is not a good teacher. His lectures are jumbled and he rarely states his own assumptions going into example problems. He does not post answers to homeworks or past exams so it can be difficult to see where exactly you went wrong in the "assumptions" you made in solving the problems.
On top of this the professor is often absent from class for at least 4 classes and often times doesn't even answer emails about homework or exam questions. You can ask the TA's but if its about a previous exam, don't bet on it. On three separate exams the TAs were unable to help students on certain questions simple because Castaldi's wording makes no sense. Study hard.
weekly homeworks (pretty easy), 3 bs exams.
If you can, avoid this class. Prof. Castaldi can be entertaining at times, but entertaining doesn't always translate into a worthwhile class. The lectures come directly out of the textbook, making going to class pretty useless. But his tests are absolutely terrible. Or more precisely, the grading is ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, it's possible to do well in this class, but doing well means making "assumption" after "assumption" and hoping that you can interpret the vague questions that he presents. Some people benefit from this, but overall, most students don't. Also, the homework assignments have essentially nothing to do with the tests. He basically throws 5-7, sometimes insanely difficult, problems, and really doesn't address any of the questions at any point throughout the class.
I understand why some students enjoy castaldi. He's a nice guy, but his teaching methods and tests just don't work.
Weekly homework...even on exam weeks (seriously?). Three exams and a final, all worth the same amount.
For all ChemE's: this class, along with Transport I, will kill your GPA first semester of junior year, at least in my experience. Thermodynamics in general is just a tough subject, and Durning certainly doesn't make it any easier. He is a fairly nice man, although sometimes he comes off as an a**hole, but he just cannot explain the concepts very well. The midterm and final basically determine your grade in the class, and both are fairly difficult, but made even more difficult by his picky grading. My advice is do all the reading, all the homework problems, and most of all, do the practice problems he recommends before the exams. Many times they come up on the real exam, word for word! Text: ok, somewhat difficult to read.
Midterm, Final. Problems sets nearly every week, which are just checked for completeness (but make sure you do them). Average grade in the class probably less than a B.
Directory Data
| Dept/Subj | Directory Course | Professor | Year | Semester | Time | Section |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHEN / CHEN | CHEN CHEN E3010: Principles of Thermodynamics | Marco Castaldi | 2010 | Fall | MW / 9:10-10:25 AM | 1 |
| CHEN / CHEN | CHEN CHEN E3010: Principles of Thermodynamics | 2010 | Fall | M / 5:00- 6:00 PM | 0 | |
| CHEN / CHEN | CHEN CHEN E3010: Principles of Thermodynamics | Christopher Durning | 2004 | Fall | TR / 1:10- 2:25 PM | 1 |
| CHEN / CHEN | CHEN CHEN E3010: Principles of Thermodynamics | 2004 | Fall | T / 2:40- 3:55 PM | 0 | |
| CHEN / CHEN | CHEN CHEN E3010: Principles of Thermodynamics | 2003 | Fall | T / 2:40- 3:55 PM | 0 | |
| CHEN / CHEN | CHEN CHEN E3010: Principles of Thermodynamics | Christopher Durning | 2003 | Fall | TR / 1:10- 2:25 PM | 1 |
| CHEN / CHEN | CHEN CHEN E3010: Principles of Thermodynamics | 2002 | Fall | R / 2:40- 3:55 PM | 0 | |
| CHEN / CHEN | CHEN CHEN E3010: Principles of Thermodynamics | Christopher Durning | 2002 | Fall | TR / 1:10- 2:25 PM | 1 |
| CHEN / CHEN | CHEN CHEN E3010: Principles of Thermodynamics | Ben O'Shaughnessy | 2001 | Fall | TR / 1:10- 2:25 PM | 1 |