Cooper, Mark  

Dr. Cooper was an okay prof. She pretty much just read the exact same stuff to us in lecture that we were supposed to read during the week. Homework takes a long time and she gives a quiz almost every class. In office hours she is very helpful, though. So if you are struggling go talk to her and she'll be very helpful

I had prof Cooper for IME 156 lecture and lab. He really knows his stuff, but doesn't really know how to teach. He brought many examples into the lecture (which is a plus), showed some really neat videos, and really tried to keep people from falling asleep. However, he presented the information in a way that it was very hard to keep up. His midterms and finals are in the format of what I call "ultimate multiple choice". Questions are put in group of 5. The left hand consists of 5 numbered terms. The right hand consists of 5 other terms. You are supposed to match the left hand to the right hand. However, you don't have to use all the terms on the right hand, and terms can be used more than once. Sometimes you have to imagine what he's thinking to match up the terms. Finally, I strongly suggest you to NOT take IME 156 during your freshman year. I did so and was hit hard. My test scores were always average or below average while the person next to me got full score because he was a junior and actually worked with the stuff we're getting tested on before. He gives very little As, a majority of Bs, and some Fs. Even though I learned alot from his class, I feel it would have been more effective if I waited till my 2nd-3rd year before taking it.

Cooper...just isn't a good teacher. He may be nice at times, but his view of this class (that it is like the workforce, therefore effort does NOT matter; it's the quality of work done that counts) is just horrible. His tests are always ambiguous and the material is so hard to learn because it's soooo boring. His outlines do help a lot though, so always print those out before his lectures. As for lab goes, that was the fun part. Make sure you meet every requirement and your all set to go. Just beware the lecture; I would honestly recommend a different teacher. Oh, and he curves...which sucked for me because a few people had Xeroxed notes for the final and shared them with each other...and since those people got A's because of their notes, the curve was all jacked up. Beware the lecture, and beware stupid people.

I had Professor Cooper for both the lecture and lab portions of IME 156. The lectures were not very informative, neither was the assigned book reading. There is no homework to turn in so the only things you are graded on are two tests and a final. The format of these tests sucks. They are kind of a 'word association' type test. Even if you do know the material, you can do horrible on the tests just trying to figure out what he wants. The lab part of the class is actually really fun, but again the grading leaves something to be desired. Professor Cooper is a really nice guy and friendly, but not a good teacher.

I definately recommend taking IME from Professor Cooper. I enjoyed this class enough to convince myself that I actually had chosen the right major with Electrical Engineering. Mr. Cooper was knowledgable and willing to work with students, which I appreciated in a lecture class of 200+. Overall, no complaints with this course.

The lectures were based mostly on videos, though they were a good choice of video. The lab, IMO, didn't allow much freedom and I would personally have perfered to take IME157. In all honsety, I think the IME156 class needs work, not the professors. The lecture is nearly pointless with a handful of tests and 50 minutes a week.

He presented the material well in lecture and gave good examples in lab, but it was a lot to keep up with. The tests cover tons of material from a TERRIBLE textbook, and the lab deadlines will require you to go to at least 10 hours of open labs if you don't know how to build a power supply very well. Not a good filler class for the already busy quarter!!!

Cooper is a decent teacher for IME156, Basic Electronics Manufacturing (Lecture and Lab). The lecture requires only rote memorization of the "textbook" if you want to do well on the tests. However, some parts of the book are not tested on, even within assigned chapters, so its hard to know what exactly to study for. He doesn't let us ask questions during the test, due to the testing environment. Despite these minor flaws, I learned a lot in lecture, but not as much as in the lab. The lab is the real part of this course. You get to build a dual variable power supply, from bending sheet metal, etching the circuit board, soldering on the components, assembling, and wiring--from start to finish. Just make sure NO part of the fuse and plug metal is visible through the heatshrink; cover it with liquid electrical tape, BEFORE grading. He'll mark you off otherwise, and make you cover it with liquid electrical tape anyways. So do it before. On the last day of lab, Cooper took us to the SMT lab behind the Welding Department (which will be in Engineering IV next year) to let us gain a glimpse of the machines. We didn't get to use them, but I found the tour interesting. The hand's on nature of IME-156 is very valuable. I may consider becoming a TA--they have unlimited access to the lab at all times for their own personal projects, even after finishing TA'ing. I would have also liked to take IME157 instead and build my own device, but overall this class was fairly interesting and informative, and Cooper was a good teacher.

The problem with IME 156 wasn't so much the teacher as it is the material. The material presented in lecture is very technical and pretty much went way over my head as a Q1 Freshman in Electrical Engineering. Our two TAs (who are very helpful) told us that we probably wouldn't even be able to really understand the material until our junior year. There is no text-book for the class; Cooper has a running agreement that if you can find a text-book suitable for the class and he uses it, he

Wow, exactly what the guy below me said. No one is expected to understand anything in lecture; it's almost a waste of time. Don't bother getting the book; I found myself doing better on tests studying material covered in class than studying book material. The tests are pretty overwhelming, and practically impossible if he didn't let us use cheat sheets. The lab is where you actually learn stuff by doing the power supply project. Use the open labs, and get done with it as fast as you can. Be sure to check the grade sheet to see how your power supply will be graded, and look for faults in your PSU. Overall, lecture sucks, and lab was pretty fun.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I worked very hard for my grade. The tests were difficult because I had never seen this material before. He's a very nice teacher. He genuinely cares about his students. Study for the tests, and don't get behind in labs. Go into open hours, it helps.

Mark Cooper loves to blow sunshine up your ass with his cheery attitude and upbeat outlook on circuit fabrication. It may seem like he's just the NICEST GUY in the world, but it will make you sick after the first week. Everything is "just wonderful" and the IC is "the neatest thing you'll ever see". Too bad you'll never understand it by going to lecture. You cover in 1 week in IME 156 stuff that entire courses could be based on, in detail far too deep for the amount of time spent on it. Don't get me wrong, you can still pass the tests with a cursory understanding of the material, but don't expect to really understand much of what is going on in the lectures. I guess to an extent the IME 156 lecture is designed poorly, so it's not all Coop's fault. However he still doesn't present the material clearly, so if you can get the notes from somewhere else don't worry about going to lecture. The lab is alright. You learn some basic manufacturing techniques but there are a lot of steps in the process where Coop has to show you the finished product and explain how it was done. Too fast to really comprehend it, but you can get by by simply following the lab manual. Bottom line is you probably won't have a choice in IME instructor, but Coop is so happy it's fkin annoying. You'll have no trouble getting by if you put any amount of work into the class, just don't really expect to understand 90% of what is said when you're done.

Lemme just start off by saying: lecture is a big f*cking joke. You're better off not buying the heavy textbook at all, and studying just your lecture notes. I just borrowed my friend's copy and I don't even recall reading more than even 5 pages out of the textbook. The midterms are both multiple choice (50 questions), as well as the final (100 questions). To be perfectly honest, you are best off just blindly guessing the ones that you have no clue about; it's what I did and I ended up with Bs on both of them, as well as the final. Lab, though, is pretty fun, though it can get frustrating at times. I recall going to almost every open lab on Saturday and just barely got my project done by the beginning of the 10th week. It's a good experience though; you cut sheet metal, bend it, learn to solder components onto a PCB, and all in all, assemble a power supply from scratch. Cooper's a nice guy and all, but for the most part, the TAs are the only ones who seem to help in lab. Although I can say that I enjoyed this class, getting the project done was my main frustration and I feel that this class should be worth wayyyyyy more than just 2 support units.

Cooper is a really good guy. the lecture is ridiculously hard with tests that make no sense but the lab portion is awesome. you build a dual variable power supply. just dont get caught off guard with how nice cooper is. he doesn't grade as nice as he acts. he only gives a few A's with a majority of C's

Cooper is alright. If you have a problem in lab he loves to rub it in your face that it was all your fault you lost a piece or that you're not an expert with a soldering iron, but overall he can be a nice guy. Lecture and lecture tests are ridiculous, the material covered in this class far exceeds the scope of what the class should be, an intro class to IME. Try approaching him about some obscure topic of IME, he's a very excitable guy when it comes to that stuff.

He's a real nice guy. He knows some stuff but a lot of the times you'll be asking the TAs for help in the lab rather than him. I think he genuinely likes his job though. The lecture goes into some depth that you wouldn't need to know anyway. He gives you a workbook or whatever with blank spots in the back that correlate with his lecture notes. It seems like a lot to know and memorize. Just fill out that part of the workbook and do what I did: I typed the entire workbook section on sheet of notes using three columns for each test. He allows one sheet of notes during the test. So I basically had the book with me during each test. The lab was the most fun I had in class for the first year at Poly. He has you build a dual variable power supply step-by-step, from creating the circuit board on CAD to manufacturing the circuit board to cutting the frame to building the frame to soldering parts on the board to mounting the board in the frame to plugging it into the wall. It was really interesting stuff but by the end of the class you'll probably be lost as to what everything in it does. That's OK, you should feel that way. Just follow what the instructions say and follow everyone else's lead. And don't wait until the last minute to finish the project. I ended up shrink tubing the wiring on mine with a lighter in my dorms the day before it was due and caught it on fire because I waited so long. Still got a C on it though.

Professor Cooper is a great instructor. The lecture is pointless, but he really knows how to use the equipment in lab. He is very helpful and can clarify student difficulties. He is also very approachable and sympathetic to students.

I would definitely recommend taking Mark

Professor Cooper was great. He helped throughly with the projects and taught the lectures clearly. His tests were poorly set up, but most students did okay despite that. I would highly recomend Prof. Cooper; you will learn lots and have fun in his course.

This guy can't teach. His tests are horrible, word-association type multiple choice tests. In lab, he kept reiterating how the TAs would be more helpful than he is...he was right. My shitty grade is not his fault, it is because I saved everything for the last two weeks and didn't make it. But his shitty teaching sure as hell didn't help.

Cooper is a nice guy, but did not teach material well. I think he lectured twice the whole quarter. Most of the once-a-week lecture sessions were used watching videos on things that were irrelevent to lab. The book is a waste of money for this class, but later on, the book will come in handy. The midterms were horrid because they were some weird multiple choice format, however if anyone knows a tad bit about electronics, or watches the videos, they can get a decent grade on the midterms. The final was the two midterms together, so memorize the questions if you can (yeah, right.) You don't really have to go to class, so don't. Studying is a waste of time, and if you get a B or C+ in lecture, do good on your lab project, you can still pull off an A.

Cooper is a really nice guy and IME 157 is a great class. Definitly take Cooper. My advice is to make sure to always be on time, he gets angry with people showing up late. Also, when building your project if you want to get a really high grade, don't try making something cool or designing some weird chassis. Make everything as simple as possible and LOOK at the grading sheet. Whats on that sheet is all that matters, and you can get 100% if you make a boring project that has all the basic guidlines from that sheet.

Cooper's tests are needlessly difficult and totally ambiguous. The final is quite similar to the midterms so be sure to go to his office and review them. The book is worthless; all the reading in the world won't make up for blinking once during lecture. TAKE GOOD NOTES during lecture, even though it's extremely difficult to keep up with him. In lab, I made the mistake of focusing on designing my own device apart from the default project. Realize that your project grades are based 100% on the sheet. Do everything on that sheet, and do it well, and your project will get a good grade. My original, self-designed project took me nearly twice the time to make, $70 out of my own pocket, and earned me a disappointing C+. I lost points on things I thought were trivial, but in the end amounted to much much more than all my design above and beyond the scope of the class. Just be a robot, follow the list, and it'll turn out alright.

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