Comments from students about M475 - Industrial Math course


"Dr Alexiades is an excellent instructor who focuses on providing the class with real-world examples of how mathematics applies to industry. I highly recommend this teacher as he has decades of experience both in industry and in academia and research and knows as a result firsthand is pertinent. One of the most well-known professors within mathematics. His teaching style is also focused on providing relevant examples. Furthermore, his notes are available conveniently on his website."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2022

"Thought this was a very interesting course, loved the intersection between math and computer science. Feedback on each assignment turned in was great, and allowing resubmissions of assignments provided an opportunity to better learn from mistakes. Loved the freedom to choose whatever language you wanted for assignments, gave me a chance to improve at a different language."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2022

"This is the best class I have taken this semester. I have grown as a mathematician and as a programmer. The assignments you made us do were difficult but I enjoyed them nevertheless. Thank you for the projects as well, I found them to be difficult but fair and they helped me understand the Ostwald Ripening Model and helped me understand more about what it meant to be in mathematics. Overall this class was very interesting and I appreciate you for letting me take this course."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2022
"Thank you so much for your enthusiasm for this class. I estimate I have learned/enjoyed this class the most out of any class I have taken throughout my undergraduate math career. I can tell you care for the material and it makes it so much easier on students. It has been a gift to learn from you"
                  Bennet Miller, via email, spring 2021

"Dr. Alexiades was an incredibly kind, understanding, and passionate professor. It was easy to put a lot of work into this class when you saw how much work he put into his teaching, grading, and communication. I learned so much from this class, and genuinely feel that this was one of the only classes that prepared me for the real world. I now know where to find software, how to use it to solve problems that cannot be solved by hand, and how to write a report I would be proud to turn into my boss. I can't say that about many of my classes. Since I am not an auditory learner, I believe the lectures were too long. However, I appreciate the time Dr. Alexiades put into teaching us."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2021

"I mean this with all of the kindness in my heart, this class taught me that I do not want to code in my career. I believe that Dr. Alexiades did an incredible job showing us how coding can be applied in the real world, the patience and attention to detail it takes even when you have careful, detailed instructions. I learned that coding is not intuitive for me, and without those instructions, I would pull my hair out. But I'm so grateful to have learned that!! That knowledge saved me years of working in a field that would not have been fulfilling for me. I now have a great amount of appreciation for those who have the patience and work ethic to code, especially to code efficiently (as I learned those are two very different things haha). I really appreciate that I got to take this class and learn all that I did! I would recommend this class to any Math Major!"
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2021
"Dr. Alexiades is amazing! He's always willing to help you understand something, and even when you do good work, he provides you with feed-back to help you improve."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2020

"Dr. Alexiades is an absolutely incredible professor. He is very talented in teaching and branching the gap between physics and mathematics"
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2020

"This was one of the most useful courses I have ever taken."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2020

"This course gave a really interesting and broad look at relevant problems in the realm of computational math, which was super interesting."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2020

"This course was awesome! Dr. Alexiades is very passionate and knowledgeable about the subject, and I really enjoyed taking a deep dive into more complex computational issues."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2020

"I learned so much from this course. I will take what I learned about finite volume methods and apply them to my own research (same with super time-stepping)."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2020

"liked: Struggling with new concepts and then working through the debugging process and seeing my code work. Very satisfying feeling."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2020

"I really appreciate all your help and teachings in the class. I learned a lot, regarding code and modeling in mathematics and computer science. So once again, thank you so much for a great enjoyable experience and semester."
                  Forest Chen, via email, spring 2020
"Fantastic class. Easily my most favorite math class in all of college."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2019

"Dr. Alexiades did an awesome job explaining the background on these materials and creating well thought out coding assignments."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2019

"Dr. Alexiades was superb at providing feedback about assignments. He would always respond to inquires and emails about homework assignments, and gave useful information on how to correct any mistakes being made. Furthermore, I found his teaching style to be both engaging and informative."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2019

"Loved the material of this course. Helped give me a great intuition for the fundamental conservation law, the diffusion section was probably my favorite part."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2019

"t is a heavy workload in terms of the projects, but with good time management and bookkeeping. Very manageable. The content was wonderful. I learned a lot about setting up numerical schemes for ODE's and PDE's."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2019

"I really enjoyed this course. I got to expand my numerical analysis skills, get better at a second coding language, and got to do some real, physical problems numerically."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2019

"I really appreciated the feedback provided! I would email questions about homework, and the feedback I received always was very helpful."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2019

"liked: Exposure to all parts of the modeling process. Starting with the example system's scientific theory, making the mathematical physical formulation, then implementing a discretized expression into code."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2019
"I always enjoy learning from someone who is enthusiastic about the material. You were enthusiastic and engaging in the presentation of the course material.
I enjoyed the way you consistently tied the math back into the physics and showed how it could be applied. You have a positive talent for explaining the material in a clear fashion.
This has been one of the most useful and enjoyable math classes I have taken."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2018

"Professor was wonderful! Helpful and friendly. Very useful skills developed. One of the best courses I've ever taken."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2018

"There was a clear interfacing of industrial mathematics with physical phenomena and real world problems, and more so with the group projects.
I was also extremely impressed at the instructor's speed of responding to questions via email, even at late hours of the night! Also, he grades homeworks
with constructive feedback and shows that he actually pays great attention to the work done by his students. He's an exceptional instructor!"
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2018

"Clear presentation of ideas, meaningful and applicable programming experience provided"
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2018

"This has been one of the most interesting courses I have taken. I have learned more physics in this course that in some of my physics courses (my major is physics!!).
  Lots of good tips about good practices in programming and really interesting projects and labs. Also, Professor Alexiades gave us tons of additional reading about
  modeling, programming and more. I didn't like the class time, but Professor Alexiades is such a passionate teacher I never got bored during class."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2018

"I enjoyed your obvious enjoyment of, and enthusiasm for, computational science. I was also impressed with the way you tied in first principles
  from the physical sciences/engineering with the math. You have a talent for explaining the use of the math in describing the physical world.
  The presentation of some of the advantages and limitations inherent in numerical solutions was extremely useful. I found this course to be
  incredibly useful with applications in my workplace as well as in my research. This course has been one of the most useful and enjoyable
  courses I have taken. Thank you for the time and energy you put into teaching."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2018

"Thank you for this course. This course truly helped me understand a lot better the concepts that i have been trying to under- stand for a long time. Thank you."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2018

"Fantastic class. You can tell the professor truly wants his students to learn something in his class. Even extremely complicated concepts were explained in great detail
  in a way anyone could understand. He was always willing to discuss anything even remotely related to the class. One of the best classes I have ever taken at UT."
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2018

"He's an amazing teacher. Great course, very respectful and helpful"
                  Comment on course evaluation form, spring 2018
"My internship at ORNL is phenomenal, and I am constantly being challenged and learning something new every moment.
  Your Math 475 class has really prepared me for this opportunity!"
                  Abbey Johnson, via email in July 2018 (a year later)

"This is really an awesome class to learn how to code and analyze a given Mathematical model numerically and analytically,
  and Instructor is really extraordinary at teaching. I really get benefit of the class. Thank you Dr Alexiades"
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2017

"Very passionate about the topics discussed, and clearly wants students to learn the material.
  Definitely cares more about the student taking the time to learn each topic than just evaluating performance."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2017

"This is probably one of the most interesting courses I've ever taken. I thoroughly enjoyed the subject and
  the way it was presented. I had no trouble finding time to ask him for answers if I was having trouble."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2017

"He is really good at teaching, and knows how to teach. I belive that God created him to teach the class.
  I have learned a lot from the class. Million times thank you!!! Dr Alexiades."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2017

"Dr. V. is one of the most dynamic and caring math professors I have had the privilege of learning from here at UT.
  He consistently expresses his passion for the beautiful, physical nature of mathematics, and he avidly works
  to make sure that all of his students understand all the course materials."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2017

"Dr. Alexiades is one of the best professors I have ever had. As the course material was explained, he would draw
  connections to previous ideas either in this class or previous ones. This has greatly increased to amount of information
  that I have retained. Having to correct problems in the homework has also played an important roll in information retention."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2017

"Class was the most interesting and enjoyable I have taken thus far. Workload was manageable. Subject matter was
  interesting and intellectually stimulating. 9.8 / 10 Would definitely take a similar class in the future."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2017

"The subject matter was incredibly fascinating, and the instructor was clearly very passionate about the subject
  which greatly benefited the learning environment."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2017
"To attend Dr. Alexiades lectures is to witness the simultaneous unfolding of reason and passion in the form of partial differential equations.
  In addition to clear presentation of the technical aspects of the material, he incorporates historical placement of the theories and the methods,
  etymologies of the terms used to describe them, and verbal pictures of the lives of their developers. He does this all in such a way as to involve
  the student fully in the thrill of computational discovery and to inspire the student to his/her own innovation. I'll miss this twice weekly experience."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2013

"The topics discussed in class were very interesting. It gave me ideas that I might want to explore in the future.
  It also allowed me to learn new programming skills."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2013
"Thank you for a very interesting and informative class. I looked forward to taking this class and am incredibly glad I did."
                  Ilona Molotoka, via email, spring 2012

"You made this class very interesting, challenging, and (dare i say it) fun, which can be a rather difficult task
  at times in this area. I had never written an in-depth lab report before (as I'm sure you could tell),
  but I REALLY enjoyed the final project and feel more confident in my abilities because of this class."
                  Joseph O'Neill, via email, spring 2012

Instructor was really enthusiastic and he was incredibly reasonable. This was a really stimulating class!
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2012
"This class was one of the best, if not the best, of my college career. I really enjoyed it."
                  Gabriel Toban, via email, spring 2011

"this was the best math course I have ever taken!"
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2011

"Extremely relevant course material, broken down in a very understandable method by instructor"
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2011

"The course taught me a good deal about PDE's and programming that I did not previously have."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2011

"Interesting topics and well instructed and detailed material. Tell more people it's kinda fun!"
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2011

"... the best math class I've had so far.... I really learned a lot and plan to use it."
                  Elton Freeman, via email, spring 2011
"Loved it. It's the best class I've ever taken"
                  Josh Hoffman, via email, spring 2009
"LIKES: The material in the course is outstanding. It is refreshing to take a math course that takes the somewhat abstract ideas and techniques we have learned previously and uses them to analyze and make judgements about real-life problems. Dr. Alexiades is an excellent teacher who is enthusiastic about the material he is teaching, making it easy to stay interested in the course.
  DISLIKES: Just not enough time in one semester to get all the interesting material done.
  SUGGESTIONS: Do everything possible to let it be known that this course exists, so that students in the future have the opportunity to take it. They would not regret it!"
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2001

"(1) I enjoyed the experience of writing code to do highly advanced mathematical techniques. (2) For me this class requried a lot of attention because I am not an expert programmer, but the attitude of Dr. Alexiades toward getting the labs and projects turned in made me more relaxed, and I still learned from them even if they were late. Note: For someone going into mathematics as a career, this class is not one that you would want to miss out on."
                  Anonymous, via feedback form, spring 2001

... I guess I'm really just writing this email to say "thanks," because it is really the 475 course that has motivated me to try to get the graduate minor and take those courses. For someone who enjoys programming, and has a real desire to see what all this math can be used for, it has been a terrific course."
                  Robert Kiser, via email, spring 2001
"... looking back I know that I have really benefitted from the class. I would recommend the course to anybody.
  No computer science or mathematics student should graduate without taking the class. It is a real eye-opener."
                  Paul McMahan, via email, fall 1995
"... I personal think this class is the class every students should take before they graduate or they start think about looking for a job."
                  Chaoyu Liu, via email, fall 1994