abercromby, kira  

Aerospace Engineering

3.22/4.00

9 evaluations


AERO 121


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Dec 2015
This was just an intro course but it made me glad I'm to know that I'm going space side where she is! Awesome teacher, great energy!

AERO 300


Sophomore
N/A
Required (Major)
Mar 2009
she's a new prof... she told us she worked at NASA, but wants to teach here because she wants to live CA... anyway. This woman doesnt know what the hell she's talking about in class, she makes a ton of mistakes on the board (im not exaggerating). very unreliable when it comes to responding emails and stuff. i havent gone to her office hours, so im not sure how she is outside of class. the only good thing--i guess--she's funny. avoid her if you can--take marshal for 300 instead


Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
May 2010
Awesome instructor. She explained everything so clearly and made the class enjoyable. During exams she gives you the benefit of the doubt. If you run out of time on a test, just write down how you would solve the problem and she\'ll give you most of the points! She didn\'t make as many mistakes as other people say. Make an effort to go to her office hours every once in a while and ask questions. She\'s very easy to approach.


Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Jan 2011
Dr. A is one of the best (if not the best) professors in the Aero department. She really cares about her students and goes the extra mile to make sure they full understand the material. Aero 300 is a tough class and she does an excellent job to make a very dry and boring curriculum exciting. I definitely recommend (not like you have a choice). Ask her about Armageddon or the bringing out the chains in football

AERO 351


Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Feb 2016
Dr A is perhaps the best professor in the aero department. Shes hilarious and extremely knowledgeable in her field (though a terrible speller so we love to make fun of her for it, shes a good sport though). She makes class something i look forward too and is of great help with anything else you might need help with.

AERO 353


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Apr 2016
Dr. A is by far the best professor I've ever had. She's extremely knowledgeable in the field and is very good at explaining complicated material. She is also a fantastic person and knows how to take a joke as well as dish them out. She makes class a fun experience that I look forward to every day. I wish every professor at Cal Poly was like her.

AERO 354


Junior
B
Required (Major)
Jun 2016
Dr. A's lab is the highlight of the AERO curriculum labs. I call it Dr. A's lab because it is her lab. She runs that place. Put in about 6 units worth of effort to get 1 measly unit, but its all worth it in the end, because it's a really fun lab (the "IED" lab stands out) and you learn a lot. Be excited. It's awesome. Also, she is the world's worst speller.

AGED 413


Sophomore
Credit
General Ed
Nov 2016
Thiasdfh adjfk aefsf

AERO 451


Junior
B
Required (Major)
Dec 2009
Abercromby seems to be getting a bad rep from the young Aeros via AERO 300. Everyone should know that she only has one quarter of teaching under her belt (Spring 2009), so lets give her a break. It was also her first time teaching AERO 451, Spaceflight Dynamics I, in the Spring and while I wasn\'t disappointed with her teaching style, I could easily see how some would be. Let\'s start with the positives: she has a sense of humor, her help in office hours is invaluable and she\'s a consistent and fair grader. Negatives: relative inexperience (this will likely fade), is very much a \"regurgitator\", that is, she basically taught us right out of the Orbtial Mechanics book by Curtis, and she does occasionally make mistakes. She provides an example every time she explains a new concept, which is really helpful. Usually the example comes from the text, or perhaps it\'s an unassigned HW problem, but to me it didn\'t matter. It helped a lot to have her explain the concept and then do some kind of example. Anyways, I don\'t find fault in her inexperience...she\'ll get the hang of things without a doubt. Teaching us out of the book...that\'s not so bad either, because Curtis is a good book and whenever she felt Curtis was wrong, she wouldn\'t hesitate to say so and provide her own insight. The mistakes in class come from being under-prepared in my honest opinion. I think that problem will likely be remedied in future classes where she has past experience to build upon. If you dislike being taught out of the book and don\'t want to go to lecture and would rather read and just learn from the book...you could probably do that in this case, at least, that was my experience. The grading structure was split up into HW/1 Midterm/Project/Final. The homework was probably the most important part of the class because it prepared you for the midterm (which I did miserably on, but still pulled a B - a testament to her fair grading because I showed improvement), the project and the final. You really learn all of the fundamentals and concepts through the HW, so don\'t think about not doing it. Also, there is a pretty heavy reliance on the Aero\'s mortal enemy MATLAB in this course. You could probably scrape by without touching MATLAB, but I don\'t recommend it. Get friendly with it and write some code. Not only will it make your homework and project easier, but you\'ll have some good code to use in the future. Abercromby will not hesitate to look at your code if you\'re having trouble with it either and she will help you debug it line by line if necessary. All things considered, I have hope for this woman. I think she\'ll come into her own and become a very good professor. Just give her a chance. At this point, I think she has more redeeming qualities and potential than anyone else in the department. I do believe she\'ll be the go to professor for 451 from now on, so you won\'t have a choice but to take her. You kids looking at your options for 300 should think a bit more carefully, but take what I\'ve said into consideration - she\'ll only get better.