Current instructor

Mikhail Kats

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

Raw average: 3.57/5 from 7 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

ECE 220
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Very difficult quizzes that are tangentially related to what material is practiced in class. In-class exercises are of a similar difficulty, and his lectures don't go over anything past the basic principles and applications. At least he was very enthusiastic about the topics and quite helpful during class time answering any questions.
Rate My Professors ↗
ECE 220
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Class was pretty well organized and taught under Kats. His lectures give a good example or two and thus are useful, but the variation in their length (20 to 70 minutes) can be frustrating since there are 3 a week and he is sometimes late to posting them. Very accessible & helpful during the in-class exercises, however. Very kind and wants to help!
Rate My Professors ↗
ECE 220
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Its clear he really cares about students' understanding of material. Lectures are in-depth and paced well - he takes time to review concepts frequently and provides conceptual background. He often stays behind in class to help students.
Rate My Professors ↗
220 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
quizzes are tough and his lectures had 0 examples. Real hard to learn from him. not terrible to BS but that doesn't make him good at teaching.
Rate My Professors ↗
ECE 219
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
Mikhail wasn't there every day, but on days that he was there he was very friendly and willing to help. This class is pretty easy, and is mostly just review from calc 3. You have to show up to work on small assignments every day, and most days you can leave class after around 15 minutes. There is weekly homework and lecture videos and some quizzes.
Rate My Professors ↗

Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Mikhail Kats

ECE 399 is an independent study course where students engage in directed projects arranged with an instructor.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ECE 699 is an advanced independent study course where students engage in directed study projects arranged with an instructor.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Fall 2023 · limited sample

Nanophotonics covers EM waves, waveguides, resonators, nanofabrication, plasmonics, and metamaterials at nanoscales.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.85 GPA, 94.1% A/AB (n=17 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.58 GPA, 67.7% A/AB (n=31 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.22 GPA, 55.6% A/AB (n=9 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample
PHYSICS 990

Research

1–12 credits

PHYSICS 990 is a research course where students conduct supervised research projects with individual faculty members.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026ECE 399Independent Study
Fall 2026ECE 699Advanced Independent Study
Fall 2026ECE 747Nanophotonics
Fall 2026ECE 790Master's Research
Fall 2026ECE 890Pre-dissertator's Research
Fall 2026ECE 990Dissertator's Research
Fall 2026PHYSICS 990Research

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

Instructor identity & provenance
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_94103dfcf8d35c9cf34e40f7",
  "source": "enrollment",
  "source_instructor_id": "mkats",
  "identity_basis": "netid",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "Mikhail Kats",
  "email": "MKATS@WISC.EDU",
  "first_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "last_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "ratings": {
    "review_count": 7,
    "quality": 3.57,
    "difficulty": 2.71,
    "quality_count": 7,
    "difficulty_count": 7,
    "profile_id": "rmp:2473440",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2473440",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:17:01.681062+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_74cd44b712b933771f43380b": {
        "review_count": 2,
        "quality": 4,
        "difficulty": 1.5,
        "quality_count": 2,
        "difficulty_count": 2
      },
      "course_a27257a294facd369497b276": {
        "review_count": 3,
        "quality": 3.67,
        "difficulty": 3,
        "quality_count": 3,
        "difficulty_count": 3
      },
      "course_0fe7f84f9b6408104d512ff6": {
        "review_count": 1,
        "quality": 5,
        "difficulty": 3,
        "quality_count": 1,
        "difficulty_count": 1
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 3.6364339137382187,
    "prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "current": true,
  "courses": [
    {
      "course_uid": "course_30c52650d108195dce89908a",
      "course_id": "ECE 747",
      "title": "NANOPHOTONICS",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 3.684
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_65c8c357ed6414dafbcf8c1e",
      "course_id": "ECE 699",
      "title": "ADVANCED INDEPENDENT STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": 3.893
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_6bdb43fa4ad7d835066b602c",
      "course_id": "PHYSICS 990",
      "title": "RESEARCH",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 12,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_8314f6c3c11c07e3af900848",
      "course_id": "ECE 790",
      "title": "MASTER'S RESEARCH",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 9,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_86704b8d79a2d7a74e555851",
      "course_id": "ECE 990",
      "title": "DISSERTATOR'S RESEARCH",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 12,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_baa78ce67ecb5953b469ae3e",
      "course_id": "ECE 890",
      "title": "PRE-DISSERTATOR'S RESEARCH",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 9,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_d2bce5a8cd159f6237d5d01f",
      "course_id": "ECE 399",
      "title": "INDEPENDENT STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 3.915
    }
  ],
  "revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/MIKHAIL_KATS"
}