Spring 2027

Momentum and Heat Transfer Operations

Analysis of chemical engineering operations involving fluid flow and heat transfer, covering flow through ducts/porous media, particulate motion, and conductive/convective/radiative heat exchange with/without phase change.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Ross Swaney2.8/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Homework and exams were heavily lecture-based, with the textbook serving mostly as a reference. Students recommended heavily utilizing the textbook and TA office hours to prepare.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Apply thermodynamics and transport phenomena to analyze and design process equipment used for fluid transport and heat transfer

  • Explain the theory and design equations that describe common process equipment used for fluid transport and heat transfer

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
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F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(CBE 310 and 320) or member of Engineering Guest Students

CBE 326 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.32/5 from 34 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 2.6/5 raw quality · 3.5/5 difficulty · 11 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Ross Swaney’s lectures were often described as unorganized, late, or lacking in worked examples, with students finding it difficult to complete homework using class material alone. Exams were heavily lecture-based and fair, though some students found grading harsh on incorrect answers despite correct processes. Swaney was generally available for questions, but many recommended relying on the textbook and TA office hours for better problem-solving strategies.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.14 GPA, 43.1% A/AB (n=72 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.05 GPA, 46.2% A/AB (n=39 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.94 GPA, 45.2% A/AB (n=31 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · James Miller, Quentin Dudley

Historical students found Professor Miller organized and clear, though they consistently reported that exams were too long for the allotted time. Professor Dudley, whose first semester teaching the course was described as unorganized with late-posted materials, was nevertheless viewed as kind and fair. His homework and exams were straightforward, and he offered extra credit, suggesting potential for improvement with experience.

JAMES MILLER is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

QUENTIN DUDLEY is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ROSS SWANEY is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 680
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 400
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 400

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Ross Swaney’s lectures were often described as unorganized or slow-paced, with some students finding them confusing, while others noted that exam content was clearly explained in class.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.02 GPA, 41.2% A/AB (n=51 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.94 GPA, 45.2% A/AB (n=31 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.03 GPA, 47.4% A/AB (n=57 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Homework and exams were heavily lecture-based, with the textbook serving mostly as a reference. Students recommended heavily utilizing the textbook and TA office hours to prepare.

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Swaney did not typically work through examples in lecture, though he was available for questions outside of class. Some students felt exams were graded harshly on process errors.

Topics

  • Fluid flow through ducts and porous media, motion of particulate matter, and design/operation of fluid-flow equipment.
  • Conductive, convective, and radiative heat exchange with and without phase change, and design/operation of heat-exchange equipment.

Skills

  • Applying thermodynamics and transport phenomena to analyze and design process equipment for fluid transport and heat transfer.
  • Explaining the theory and design equations describing common process equipment for fluid transport and heat transfer.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.13 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
CBE 326 · Spring 2027

Momentum and Heat Transfer Operations

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:220:002680",
    "course_id": "CBE 326",
    "course_uid": "course_9dff714354560d61ad9bade9",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "002680",
    "source_subject_id": "220",
    "title": "Momentum and Heat Transfer Operations",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "c06d8c570897d768329d5c267099743fa1f49d48ce8e6dc72541739a021c0fa2",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}