Spring 2027

Fundamentals of Electrical and Electro-mechanical Power Conversion

Covers electromagnetic induction, transformers, Lorentz forces in DC/AC motors and actuators, and power electronics for motor drives and converters.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Patrick Flannery3.7/5

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Daniel Ludois

The workload was described as very manageable, though the final exam was noted to be significantly harder than the regular quizzes.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Formulate theory underlying energy conversion between electrical and mechanical systems

  • Determine physical laws for electromagnetic actuators and motors

  • Utilize magnetic concepts including magnetic equivalent circuit analysis to model transformers, actuators and electromechanical energy conversion devices

  • Evaluate power electronics circuits used for actuators, motors and power supplies

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
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F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(MATH 234 or 376), (PHYSICS 202, 208, or 248), andE C E 376, or member of Engineering Guest Students

ECE 377 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: 4.33/5 from 3 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.

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

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.29 GPA, 42.9% A/AB (n=7 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DANIEL COLIN LUDOIS is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

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

STEVEN FREDETTE is recorded teaching in Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2020. 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 / 1000

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 · Daniel Ludois

Students found the instructor personable and supportive during in-class exercises and homework sessions.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.25 GPA, 49.4% A/AB (n=77 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.56 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.29 GPA, 42.9% A/AB (n=7 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Daniel Ludois

The workload was described as very manageable, though the final exam was noted to be significantly harder than the regular quizzes.

Past student reviews · Steven Fredette

Past students appreciated the flipped classroom option and the abundance of worked examples provided by the instructor.

Topics

  • Electromagnetic induction, transformers, and induction heating.
  • Lorentz forces, DC and AC motor operation/control, and linear actuators.
  • Electrical power conversion, power electronics, motor drives, and direct power converters.

Skills

  • Formulating theory for electrical-mechanical energy conversion and determining physical laws for actuators and motors.
  • Modeling transformers, actuators, and energy conversion devices using magnetic concepts and equivalent circuit analysis.
  • Evaluating power electronics circuits for actuators, motors, and power supplies.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

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 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

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
ECE 377 · Spring 2027

Fundamentals of Electrical and Electro-mechanical Power Conversion

Recorded 2026-10-29
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261029T213040-0fa85c20",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:320:006351",
    "course_id": "ECE 377",
    "course_uid": "course_2fbf046eb59ff8fb9ecaa348",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "006351",
    "source_subject_id": "320",
    "title": "Fundamentals of Electrical and Electro-mechanical Power Conversion",
    "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 2026-10-29

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": "031aceb8f5cfa7d42a0b4b4957afcb81f68fee951ee7b26d32d88c42a2c54efd",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "c9cd06eaa45f9ddf7e69faa38b89ff3d3dd995dd",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00"
}