Easily one of the best CS professors at this school, his explanations are very clear and its obvious he is really smart guy. In his lectures he is always checking in with students to make sure they understand the material and was ALWAYS open to students asking questions.

love this man

The goat. He explains everything extremely well. Best professor in the CS department.

Fred the cs540 goat

Honestly just a really clear professor, I highly recommend. A star player in the CS department

Prof. Sala is excellent. He has the ability to break complex concepts into smaller pieces and explain them very clearly!

I've honestly usually struggled with ML classes but he never lost patience with me. He is very available after class and speaks loudly, clearly, and at a reasonable pace. He also tends to summarize some of the more technical algorithms in such a way that the broader idea is understandable even if you've just been exposed to it.

Fred Sala is a legend. He explains the concepts very well and always listens to students. He likes to keep things focused on the big picture rather than getting bogged down with formulas, and he makes it very clear to students what is important. Projects and lectures are relevant and interesting. Exams are difficult, normal for a 500 level CS class

Fred is an amazing professor. CS 540 is a very difficult class, but he does a really good job explaining things and the grading it fair. 70% of your grade comes from projects (which can be time consuming) but you will usually be able to get 100% on these.

He is a good professor and has a strong understanding of the AI field, including both the theoretical foundations and practical applications. He also effectively communicates complex concepts to us and provide hands-on experience through projects and OHs.

Sala is just a legend. One of the nicest professors I have ever had and deeply cares about the content and the success of his students. Excellent lecturer that knows how to explain the content in a very clear manner. Additionally, he is very accessible outside of class and even willing to help with personal projects involving ML/AI!

Fred is a great professor. He actually cares about his students and will set time aside to help any student, usually for as long as they need. Great professor for a tough class. Exams are difficult, but they make up a much smaller proportion of your grade compared to the projects. Definitely recommend Fred

Fred is amazing. Explained the content very well. And also very knowledgeable about AI, ML, Probability, and Math. 540 is also nice class. Content very interesting and very easy to get A. I didn't do to well on final but still got an A since project are pretty much 100% if you follow directions and go to class.

Fred was the goat. Made lectures interesting and really cared about the success and wellbeing of students. Take him if you get a chance, you won't regret it.

Fred is a homie. He made challenging topics easy to understand and made sure to answer all questions people had during the lecture. I would definitely take a class with him again!

Best CS prof I've had and one of the best profs I've had overall at UW. Incredibly knowledgeable in the material and always gives clear answers to questions. Would highly recommend taking CS540 with Fred!

THANK GOD that CS540 is taught congruently between sections I would be soooo lost in this class if I didn't have access to Fred's lectures. Makes material very intuitive, explains concepts really well.

Very very nice guy. I would definitely to take his course again.

Definitely the best professor I had at UW Madison. Caring, passionate about what he teaches, explained course materials well.

Awesome professor, would highly recommend! Made AI really fun and intuitive.

Fred tried to provide intuition for AI algorithms, which was definitely needed. Grading on homework assignments is rough, and exams arent easy. Homework relies substantially on your ability to implement things on your own, and it can be quite challenging to know if youre doing things right. Overall, a friendly and paced profesor.

Sharon and Fred teaches in such an engaging way that really abstracts away the non important technical aspect of AI (that you can clearly learn yourself) and focuses on teaching you the theory and concepts of AI, which is fantastic. Really couldn't stand Comp Sci people getting too technical.

I think Fred is a great lecturer. The lectures are enjoyable and he's seems like a cool person. The class itself is poorly structured in my opinion, covering a ton of topics without going too in-depth but we are still expected to perform extensive computation during exams. But as a professor and person, he is very good and I would recommend.

Fred is a nice guy, but the lectures mostly amounted to memorizing surface facts about different approaches. I think this class should have been more technical. Also, the grading system suffers from a lack of partial credit on test cases and of test suites. In fairness, he is a new lecturer working in a new format but this was just my experience.

Made AI very interesting. Good at lectures even though he's a new prof. Definitely room for improvement given the lack of the course's pre-reqs, but already above average prof.

Fred was great. I was definitely not expecting him to be as good of a lecturer as he was since he's brand new to the university. He's energetic even in the online setting, he simplifies complicated content well and his slides are excellent. I would absolutely take another course from him if I could

New professor, Awesome at teaching, made intro to artificial intelligence really enjoyable!

New but phenomenal professor. Lectures were well structured and he engaged with students both during lectures and on Piazza. Some issues with their automated grading system, but otherwise a great class.