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ME

Mechanical Engineering

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The department at a glance

All recorded grades
average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades

How grades break down

Grades over time

Red: department · Gray: UW–Madison

About these statistics

GPA and percentages are weighted by recorded letter grades. UW comparisons use the same terms. Cross-listed courses count once within this department and once across UW; department totals should not be added together. Grade counts are not unique students. Offering counts reflect captured records, not a complete historical schedule.

Fall 2026

Recorded this term
courses with offerings
instructors recorded

Grades have not been recorded for this term. Historical results remain in the overview above.

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65 courses

Historical grades cover up to five years through the selected term. Grade sorting prioritizes courses with at least 100 letter grades.

Covers the design process for orthopaedic implants, including joint anatomy, loading, materials, and preclinical testing.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Examines the solid mechanics of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular tissues, including their normal and pathological behaviors under physiologic loading.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Covers solid mechanics applied to soft tissues, including large deformation strain analysis, stress computation, hyperelastic constitutive modeling, tissue growth/remodeling, and failure theories.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

Covers engineering design principles for agricultural machinery used in crop production, processing, and handling.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample

CBE/ME 567 covers radiant energy transfer, solar exchanger energy balances, and the theory, economics, and practice of solar energy applications.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Sanford Klein: Homeworks are described as extremely long, tedious, and time-consuming due to debugging EES software, while exams are fast-paced with insufficient time.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Study of physical properties and mechanical behavior of various composite systems.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample

Covers hardware and software solutions for advanced computing in engineering, with hands-on parallel programming assignments.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Dan Negrut: Reviewers note the class involves significant work, particularly weekly programming assignments, but consider them doable with effort.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

MATRIX METHODS IN MACHINE LEARNING covers linear algebraic foundations and matrix methods for machine learning applications like classification, clustering, and data analysis.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Reviewers describe the workload as excessive, with heavy weekly homework and four exams. The course is considered difficult, featuring hard proofs and exams that are hard to finish.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Introduction to artificial neural networks and their applications in control, pattern recognition, and prediction.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Kangwook Lee, Pedro Morgado, Yu Hen Hu: The course is consistently described as difficult with a heavy workload, including extensive homework, group projects, and dense theoretical content requiring strong math backgrounds.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Introduction to Robotics provides a hands-on overview of key concepts and tools for understanding and developing robotic systems.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

One reviewer states that learning the topic requires significant effort outside of class because the classwork does not provide a good feel for the code.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2025

Study of dynamics in controlled mechanical, fluid, and thermal systems, focusing on deriving governing equations and applying analytical and experimental techniques.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Robert Nowak: The sole review indicates the course was extremely difficult, assigning a difficulty rating of 5 out of 5.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2024–Fall 2024 · limited sample

Mechanics of Materials Lab covers data processing and experimental testing of tension/compression, creep, fatigue, fracture, composites, combined stress, beam flexure, dynamic loads, and buckling.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course is rated as low difficulty by one student, but specific workload details or preparation requirements are not described in the available evidence.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ISYE/ME 510 teaches facilities planning including plant location, size, time phasing, line balancing, material handling, and layout models.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Reviewers rate the difficulty as moderate, with one noting a traditional approach that may require effort to navigate.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample

Covers inspection data, quality control sampling plans, process control charts, and reliability models.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Hantang Qin: Reviewers report varying difficulty levels, with ratings ranging from 1 to 5. The primary concern is the instructor's competence rather than specific workload details.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 201 introduces mechanical engineering fundamentals including modeling, analysis, design, ethics, and safety.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Gregory Nellis, Kristofer Dressler: The trolley project is the primary workload burden, requiring substantial time and early start dates. While lectures and quizzes are described as easy and collaborative, the group project can be challenging even for teaching staff.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 231 introduces geometric modeling and computer-aided design for mechanical design and manufacturing.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The class is graded on completion with a final group project. Students report needing to learn SolidWorks independently through YouTube or self-study, as lectures do not provide sufficient guidance for the CAD modeling portions.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 273 teaches advanced use of the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) to solve complex engineering problems.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample

ME 291 is an undergraduate mechanical engineering course focused on individual lab projects conducted under staff supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 299 is an independent study course where students engage in directed study projects arranged with an instructor.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

Introduction to polymer processing and engineering, covering material properties, manufacturing methods, design, performance, recycling, ethics, and modeling techniques.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Historical reviews of Tim Osswald: Reviewers report that exams are surprisingly difficult and studying is hard because labs differ significantly from lecture material.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 311 introduces metal manufacturing processes, design for manufacturability, automation, metrology, and engineering economics.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Introduction to computer-aided engineering, covering mathematical and programmable methods for modeling mechanical shapes, shape processing for manufacturing, and computer-aided analysis of physical properties.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Homework is described as easy, but labs require attention to NX software, and the final exam is noted as tough despite being open book.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 340 covers mathematical modeling and analysis of dynamic systems with mechanical, thermal, and fluid elements.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Thelen's homework is straightforward, but Xu's assignments require independent practice because exams often feature in-depth questions not covered in lecture.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 342 teaches the analysis and design of machine elements, covering loads, stresses, fatigue, and power transmission components.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Reviewers describe exams as incredibly long, super hard, or unclear, with one noting sample exams are useless. The group project is reported as time-consuming, and the course relies heavily on a textbook that students find bad.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 351 is the first course in a sequence where students design and fabricate interdisciplinary systems, focusing on planning, team dynamics, and conceptual design.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Interdisciplinary experiential design project focusing on detailed design, fabrication, testing, and modification of systems.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 361 covers the first and second laws of thermodynamics, properties of gases and vapors, and energy-systems analysis for power and refrigeration cycles.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

The course is described as challenging and homework-heavy, with some reviewers noting that exams can be difficult despite the instructor's preparation efforts.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ME 363 Fluid Dynamics covers mechanics and thermodynamics applied to fluid statics and dynamics, including potential, viscous, pipe, boundary-layer, and compressible flow analysis.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Workload emphasizes careful homework completion, as exams mirror assignments, though some find tests significantly harder than homework and grading harsh.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Across course levels

Recorded this term

No released grades for this term.

Recorded offerings over time

Offering snapshots currently cover Fall 2026. Earlier grade records do not provide a complete offering history.