Historical instructor

STEPHEN WRIGHT

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.20/5 from 10 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

COMPSCI/ECE/ISYE 524
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Steve is providing really great lecture and is really nice to talk to after class. He is really knowledgable and gives very great introduction to how optimization works. This is a class that you don't want to miss if you are interesting how optimization works. The project are in julia code, which is super nice to use.
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COMPSCI/ECE/ISYE 524
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
If you just want to get an A in this course, then the difficulty of this course is 2-3, but the content and the topics of the lectures are more difficult than average. Those topics are insightful and will help you succeed in future CS learning (especially for algorithm and machine learning). Prof. Wright is very kind and generous in grading.
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COMPSCI/ECE/ISYE 524
Quality 3/5Difficulty 5/5
This class was so much more difficult than it needed to be. That being said, aside from general disorganization in lectures, he does a good job of presenting the material during lectures. My only qualm with this prof is that his grading criteria is very (and unnecessarily) harsh.
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COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726
Quality 2/5Difficulty 5/5
Professor Wright's lectures involve little more than transcribing the textbook on the board. Their focus is on rigor over intuition. Logistics are not managed well. TA contact information and grading criteria were never provided. This is a notoriously difficult course. In a class full of math and CS PhD students, the average grade is about a B.
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COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Stephen is a good teacher and certainly is respected by every student. He has written several books and usually lectures from them, which makes it easier to catch up if you missed lectures. The assignments were graded in an insanely harsh way, though, and the professor doesn't seem eager to answer questions during office hours.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with STEPHEN WRIGHT

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

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Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2026COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2026COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH 730Nonlinear Optimization II
Fall 2025COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2025COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2025ISYE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2024COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Fall 2024ISYE 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2024COMPSCI 702Graduate Cooperative Education
Spring 2024COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2024COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Spring 2024ISYE 890Pre-dissertator's Research
Fall 2023COMPSCI 702Graduate Cooperative Education
Fall 2023ISYE 890Pre-dissertator's Research
Fall 2023MATH 990Reading and Research
Spring 2023COMPSCI 702Graduate Cooperative Education
Spring 2023COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2023COMPSCI/ECE/ISYE 524Introduction to Optimization
Spring 2023ISYE 890Pre-dissertator's Research
Fall 2022COMPSCI 702Graduate Cooperative Education
Fall 2022COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2022COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH 730Nonlinear Optimization II
Spring 2022COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2022COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2022ISYE 890Pre-dissertator's Research
Fall 2021COMPSCI 702Graduate Cooperative Education
Fall 2020COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2020COMPSCI 900Advanced Seminar in Computer Science
Spring 2020COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2020COMPSCI 900Advanced Seminar in Computer Science
Spring 2020COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Spring 2020COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH 730Nonlinear Optimization II
Fall 2019COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2019COMPSCI 900Advanced Seminar in Computer Science
Fall 2019COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Fall 2019COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726Nonlinear Optimization I
Spring 2019COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2019COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2019COMPSCI 900Advanced Seminar in Computer Science
Spring 2019COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Spring 2019COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH 730Nonlinear Optimization II
Fall 2018COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2018COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Fall 2018COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Fall 2018COMPSCI/ECE/ISYE 524Introduction to Optimization
Spring 2018COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2018COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726Nonlinear Optimization I
Fall 2017COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2017COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2017COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2017COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 525Linear Optimization
Fall 2016COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2016COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Fall 2016COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726Nonlinear Optimization I
Spring 2016COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2016COMPSCI 999Dissertator Research
Spring 2016COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH 730Nonlinear Optimization II
Fall 2015COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2015COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Fall 2015COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 525Linear Optimization
Spring 2015COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2015COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2015COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Spring 2015COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH 730Nonlinear Optimization II
Fall 2014COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2014COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Fall 2014COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Fall 2014COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 525Linear Optimization
Spring 2014COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2014COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Spring 2014COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 525Linear Optimization
Fall 2013COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2013COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Fall 2013COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Fall 2013COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726Nonlinear Optimization I
Spring 2013COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2013COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2013COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH 730Nonlinear Optimization II
Fall 2012COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Fall 2012COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 525Linear Optimization
Spring 2012COMPSCI 790Master's Thesis
Spring 2012COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2012COMPSCI 999Dissertator Research
Fall 2011COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2011COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2011COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2011COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2011COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Spring 2011COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH 730Nonlinear Optimization II
Fall 2010COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2010COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Fall 2010COMPSCI 999Dissertator Research
Fall 2010COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 525Linear Optimization
Spring 2010COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2010COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Spring 2010COMPSCI 999Dissertator Research
Spring 2010COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH 730Nonlinear Optimization II
Fall 2009COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2009COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Fall 2009COMPSCI 999Dissertator Research
Fall 2009COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 525Linear Optimization

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
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