Fall 2026

The Science of Textiles - Performance & Properties

DS 251 introduces the science of textiles, covering fiber properties, fabric behavior, and sustainability in design.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 5

Historical reviews of Majid Sarmadi: Reviewers report high difficulty, noting that lectures move too quickly for note-taking and that the swatch kit is unnecessary. Success reportedly requires significant independent study using the textbook rather than relying on lecture content.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
DS 251 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
  • None

Professors

Fall 2026

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews for Majid Sarmadi describe a difficult course with fast-paced, lecture-heavy instruction that many found hard to follow. While some students felt the material was useless for their major or that lectures contradicted the textbook, others noted he tried to make classes interesting and that exams were manageable with book study.

MAJID SARMADI is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 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

Fall 2026

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

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

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Majid Sarmadi’s DS 251 is historically described as difficult and fast-paced, with lectures that often read directly from slides. While some find the material confusing or irrelevant to their major, others note that studying the textbook can make exams manageable.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.90 GPA, 93.0% A/AB (n=43 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.32 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=30 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.81 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=36 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Majid Sarmadi: Reviewers report high difficulty, noting that lectures move too quickly for note-taking and that the swatch kit is unnecessary. Success reportedly requires significant independent study using the textbook rather than relying on lecture content.

Historical reviews of Majid Sarmadi: Students found the lectures long and the instructor’s personal anecdotes distracting. One reviewer felt the content was useless for their major, while another learned a lot but found the experience not super enjoyable due to the instructor's pride in his achievements.

Topics

  • Textile construction, performance, and sustainability
  • Fibers, yarns, weaves, knits, and finishes
  • Sustainable design frameworks and case studies

Skills

  • Analyze fiber technologies
  • Understand textile impact on design and environment

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

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

1283 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

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
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 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "9b9156ac60bf714ef9a448d9f296c974fc2ed593899b7e0454dd570cb2ca4b1f",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}