Spring 2027

Plasma Confinement and Heating

Covers principles of magnetic confinement and heating of plasmas for controlled thermonuclear fusion, including field structures, orbits, stability, transport, and concepts like tokamaks and stellarators.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Cary Forest3.3/5

Summary

1 / 2

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.14 GPA, 57.1% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Spring 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades).

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

E C E/​N E/​PHYSICS 525, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

  • take one
ECE/NE/PHYSICS 527

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of

Professors

Spring 2027

Cary Forest

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.73/5 from 11 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 2014: 3.42 GPA, 65.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades); Spring 2017: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Spring 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=11 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CARY FOREST is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Spring 2014, Spring 2017, 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 240

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

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.14 GPA, 57.1% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Spring 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Magnetic field structures, single particle orbits, equilibrium, stability, collisions, transport, heating, modeling, and diagnostics
  • Current leading confinement concepts: tokamaks, tandem mirrors, stellarators, and reversed field pinches

Skills

  • Modeling and diagnostics of plasma confinement and heating
  • Analysis of leading fusion confinement concepts including tokamaks and stellarators

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— 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 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ECE/NE/PHYSICS 527 · Spring 2027

Plasma Confinement and Heating

Recorded 2026-10-14
ECE/NE/PHYSICS 527 · Spring 2027

Plasma Confinement and Heating

Recorded 2026-10-14
ECE/NE/PHYSICS 527 · Spring 2027

Plasma Confinement and Heating

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "006410",
    "source_subject_id": "320",
    "title": "Plasma Confinement and Heating",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
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    "title": "Plasma Confinement and Heating",
    "credits_min": 3,
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  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:754:006410",
    "course_id": "ECE/NE/PHYSICS 527",
    "course_uid": "course_19313566069cba85edc98f02",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "006410",
    "source_subject_id": "754",
    "title": "Plasma Confinement and Heating",
    "credits_min": 3,
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]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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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": "43f9ec676628bbb93bb062050600d0056cda85ffddfb470b0e3e72015b8c2681",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}