Current instructor

Michael Cardiff

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.73/5 from 22 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.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Hes very passionate about the subject which you want in a professor. Sometimes I wish he'd go more in depth on certain topics that do get covered in exams and quizzes, but overall his style of teaching is pretty solid. The exam structure is my biggest criticism as you have one midterm and one final which is too little imo, but not bad overall
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Quality 4/5Difficulty 1/5
Fun class, lots of cool rocks and natural disaster case studies. Prof. Cardiff gives good lectures with multimedia demonstrations. He uses in-class questions, and attendance counts towards your grade. Labs are the most difficult part of the class (they often run overtime). The textbook is easy to read, but it covers a lot each week- take notes!
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Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
This class was excruciatingly boring (one of those classes that everyone is playing the NYT games to ease the pain). He has very little grade transparency as well. Final grades were put in and they appeared much differently in grade letter than canvas had indicated all semester. This class is a definite no from me.
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Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
Some concepts and assignment expectations weren't made clear and the discussion section usually left students more confused. However, I think the course gives a good overview of many geological concepts and was an interesting class to take for General Education requirement.
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Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Cardiff is extremely passionate in his work. His course taught me a lot, despite some challenge with labs and the pandemic. I definitely recommend him.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Michael Cardiff

Environmental Geology applies geology to problems arising from the intensive use of the earth and its resources.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Past student reviews · Michael Cardiff

Michael Cardiff taught passionate lectures, often using questions to involve the class. Students described exams as straightforward, with one reviewer noting the course featured a midterm and a final.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026
GEOSCI 990

Research

1–12 credits

Research course in GEOSCI supervised by individual faculty members, requiring graduate or professional standing.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

No recorded grade history

Introduction to groundwater flow modeling principles, emphasizing regional flow system analysis, conceptual understanding of governing equations, finite difference techniques, and USGS packaged models like MODFLOW.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2012: 3.57 GPA, 85.7% A/AB (n=14 letter grades); Fall 2014: 3.85 GPA, 92.3% A/AB (n=13 letter grades); Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=1 letter grades).

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2027GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2027GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling
Spring 2027GLE 790Master's Research or Thesis
Fall 2026GEOSCI 699Directed Study
Fall 2026GEOSCI 777Electron Microprobe Analysis
Fall 2026GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2026GEOSCI/GLE 627Hydrogeology
Fall 2026GLE 790Master's Research or Thesis

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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