If at all possible, do NOT take this class with Shawn Russell. He's not a bad person, but you will not learn anything aside from a very surface level overview of the course content (and NOTHING about the actual applications of the course). The lectures consist of Prof. Russell scribbling on a pdf in barely legible handwriting, at a pace way that's way too quick to copy, for 50 minutes. The course started off by following the book (Signals, Systems, and Transforms - Prentice Hall) up to Laplace Transforms, and then we seemingly started covering random topics in systems modelling. Taking notes is almost useless. I highly suggest going to the YouTube channel that has been mentioned in another review and learning the class from there. The only good things I can mention about this class are that the material we covered wasn't too hard, and that the midterm and final were take home. #tCFF23
MAE 3710
Mechanical SystemsLast taught: Fall 2026
1.3 Rating
2.5 Difficulty
3.40 GPA
Instructor
1.5
Enjoyability
1.5
Difficulty
2.5
Recommend
1.0
Reading
1.0
Writing
0.0
Group Work
0.0
Other
1.5
Total Hours / Week
Hours 2.5
Grade Distribution
Average GPA 3.40
Students Measured 370
Sections
12 Reviews
1.67 Average
Instructor 2.0
Enjoyability 2.0
Recommend 1.0
Difficulty 3.0
Hours/Week 2.0
1.00 Average
Take this class with Knospe if you can. His youtube can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@KnospeUVA. Russell is just not good at teaching. His handwriting is illegible, and he taught topics in an order which made no sense. #tCFFall23
Instructor 1.0
Enjoyability 1.0
Recommend 1.0
Difficulty 2.0
Hours/Week 3.0