I hate this class. It's one of those classes where you hate it or are ok at it. I don't know many people who enjoy the class. Floro is awesome though and is a great teacher. But the book is terrible filled with mistakes.
Grade Distribution
10 Reviews
Floro is an excellent professor. He tries very hard to help students understand the material.
This class is deceptively tough. However, the information is essential if you plan on moving forward with other MSE classes and Floro is the bomb. Be warned that the class is being changed up for next Spring when he is set to teach again...apparently, it's this strange peer learning deal where you just work out critical thinking problems in groups in class instead of a conventional lecture. Who knows how that will work out? In short, skipping class/sleeping in will no longer be an option here if you want to do well.
Floro is an excellent teacher who makes a class that could easily be boring and challenging much more fun and enjoyable. He is a little strict but very fair, highly recommend him for MSE.
Professor Floro told us he would be using a new teaching style for at least 2 years called Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL). This basically means that you and three partners use a workbook to learn MSE for the entire semester. Floro will give mini lectures and help groups with the questions in the book. I know he has probably changed the class structure a little bit, but it was mainly groupwork with light homework. The tests were pretty hard, mainly because you had to apply a lot of what you learned with the workbook during the test, on the spot. You were allowed to make a cheat sheet on every test, which helps a little bit. Overall this was a weird class. Didn't really enjoy the material, but Professor Floro is one of the nicest professor I've ever had.
Needless to say, this class was very enjoyable. Professor Floro presented the material in a very logical and understandable fashion. He implements groupwork instead of lectures, which makes class interesting. His exams are fairly tough and requires good analytic thinking, but nothing is unfair. You can obtain the grade you want if you put in the work. Highly recommended if you need these credits for your major or just an elective.
The course is not too difficult if you're willing to put the time and effort into the class. There is Mastering Engineering problems due about every other week and a few group projects, so the work load is reasonable. The course goes relatively quickly and is easier for those who have background knowledge in chemistry. The tests are difficult and they definitely test your analytical skills, but Professor Floro gives out a lot of extra credit throughout the year to help boost your grade back up in the case you don't do too well on a test.
Great class. The material just seemed to click for me. If you're willing to put in the work, you'll learn a lot about crystals, phase diagrams, material properties, and general problem solving. Floro is also a great professor.
This class was very satisfying. The beginning is basically what I wished Gen Chem was like and the entire course, really feels like a reteaching of the applications for chemistry, though with extra bits tossed in and relations being made to physics too. Floro is an excellent lecturer and always makes sure that everyone understands every concept and tries to "dumb things down" for the rest of us. Homework was just Wiley Plus (~2-5 questions per week) and reading (~1 chapter a week, though it isn't all too necessary since Floro goes through virtually all the material). The tests are fairly graded, with ample time being given, and a cheat sheet being allowed (during Covid-19, they were open note). The tests require deeper thinking and are mostly conceptual, and are challenging, but there are plentiful extra credit opportunities given throughout the semester which balance them out. Floro and McDonnell both do "Guided Inquiries" which means most of the class is a weird hybrid of group-work and lecturing, but its effective (much more than the nightmare that was Chemistry Expo).
Floro is a great professor. As someone who was kind of dreading this class (my major has nothing to do with it, I just needed a science elective), I actually ended up enjoying it mostly because of Floro. He is a great teacher and explains things very well. While it can be hard to focus for the whole 75-minute class, Floro tries to keep it interesting and makes some jokes. If you can, go to office hours, he is always kind and excited to help (and he gets lonely sometimes).