Materials Fundamentals

MS&E 550 is an accelerated introduction to materials fundamentals, focusing on the materials paradigm for problem solving and research.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Daniel Rhodes3.5/5

Summary

1 / 2

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.25 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.67 GPA, 83.3% A/AB (n=12 letter grades).

Grade history

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

Prerequisites

Course map

Graduate/professional standing. Not open to students with credit inM S & E 350, 351, or 352.

MS&E 550

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

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.00/5 from 4 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 — Fall 2023: 3.25 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.67 GPA, 83.3% A/AB (n=12 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DANIEL RHODES is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Fall 2024. 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

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 003Classroom Instruction9 / 250

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

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.25 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.67 GPA, 83.3% A/AB (n=12 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Atomic structure, defects, phase diagrams, diffusion, and phase transformations.

Skills

  • Applying the materials paradigm approach to problem solving and research.
  • Analyzing micro/nano/atomic-scale structure-property relationships.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2024— 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 Fall 2024

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Fall 2026 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.

Selected offering source records
MS&E 550 · Fall 2026

Materials Fundamentals

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
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  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:636:026519",
    "course_id": "MS&E 550",
    "course_uid": "course_0ecbb4b118af97981c980479",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "026519",
    "source_subject_id": "636",
    "title": "Materials Fundamentals",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
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Madgrades

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Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "17d2bb15de5aa42905e38d65828d69c0d951ea21858c4148b89908a97e8650f9",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}