Spring 2027

Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

Introduction to mechanical engineering covering modeling, experimentation, analysis, design, ethics, communication, and shop safety.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Graham Wabiszewski4.1/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Gregory Nellis

The group project took lots of time outside of class to complete, and it was important to work ahead on it.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Measure an electrical signal using digital equipment

  • Design a component to execute a specified task

  • Construct a prototype based on a design

  • Interpret test data from a test or experiment

  • Solve a quantitative engineering problem using computer tools

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(Concurrent enrollment inMATH 113),MATH 114, 217, 221, or placement into MATH 221

ME 201

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

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Graham Wabiszewski

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.52/5 from 21 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: 3.74 GPA, 88.8% A/AB (n=170 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.87 GPA, 93.5% A/AB (n=216 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.68 GPA, 83.6% A/AB (n=165 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

GRAHAM WABISZEWSKI is recorded teaching in Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

GREGORY NELLIS is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KRISTOFER DRESSLER is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021. 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 / 1180
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 305Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 306Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 602Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 603Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 604Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 605Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 606Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 307Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 607Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 608Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 308Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 310Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 610Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 311Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 611Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 309Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 609Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 601Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 312Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 612Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 1350
LAB 313Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 314Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 613Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 614Classroom Instruction0 / 180

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 · Gregory Nellis

ME 201 served as an effective introduction to mechanical engineering, with lectures covering exactly the content needed for weekly activities.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.74 GPA, 88.8% A/AB (n=170 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.87 GPA, 93.5% A/AB (n=216 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.68 GPA, 83.6% A/AB (n=165 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Gregory Nellis

The group project took lots of time outside of class to complete, and it was important to work ahead on it.

Past student reviews · Gregory Nellis

Students completed collaborative quizzes during each lecture and took only one exam for the entire course.

Topics

  • Fundamental engineering concepts: modeling, experimentation, analysis, design
  • Career paths, ethics, technical communication, shop safety

Skills

  • Engineering modeling, experimentation, analysis, and design
  • Oral and written technical communication
  • Shop safety
  • Solving quantitative engineering problems with computer tools

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.

7 earlier forecasts · 0.08 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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ME 201 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

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": "1274:612:024851",
    "course_id": "ME 201",
    "course_uid": "course_b4b6d6eb3c002cb95a8dd959",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024851",
    "source_subject_id": "612",
    "title": "Introduction to Mechanical Engineering",
    "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
Download part 1
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": "4dabf73949d37787d8b69cf6334994cc15e57bacfc98a6f38fb8e49c883918fa",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}