Keller, Melinda  

Professor Keller does not deserve her low rating. My F came due to my lack of preparing for the last two sections of the quarter. She tries her best to prepare you for the final and I would definitely recommend her.

I took Professor Keller for my second time through statics. My first time through just hadn't been a good experience with a different professor, and I was relieved to have Prof. Keller. She is really good at explaining different parts of a problem, and she isn't one of those professors that just lectures, she really includes you in what she is doing. She counts participation as part of your grade, but all you need to do is ask or answer a question (usually a math related one) and she'll give you a "Statics buck" and then you turn them in at the end of the quarter. She assigns homework every night, but it's due once a week on Wednesday, and is worth A LOT of your grade, it's usually about 10-12 problems a week in general. You have one midterm and one project, which she is pretty generous on. Most of our class bombed the midterm, so she let everyone make it up. For the project you have to make up two of your own statics problems. I definitely screwed up and still got an okay grade on it. I really enjoyed her class, and so I definitely recommend her to anyone.

I really liked how this class was taught. Keller definitely goes the extra mile to make things understandable, relevant and evenly slightly entertaining to her students. She works in lots of jokes related to nerdy things and makes them relevant to the course material as examples. The course was hard, with an average of about 3+ hours a night of homework, but that was pretty clearly done to prepare us for the final. I came out of every class with information that was useful - I never felt like she wasted our time. Her participation system is innovative and inarguably effective. Aside from the long hours spent doing the homework (usually more difficult than anything else in the class), I enjoyed this class. Would recommend taking Keller again.

Keller is an extremely helpful teacher. At the beginning of statics, I had no idea what was going on, but after taking detailed notes and going into her office hours, it felt like a piece of cake. She is also the one of the few teachers I know of that encourages their students to work in their office. She teaches everything rather well, but expect to do assigned reading and visit her office hours regularly if you want to have it all down. She gives you the tools, but you get to use them how you wish. Be prepared to put time into her classes and to do good format. I would take her again for any of the classes she would offer.

She has red hair, loves game of something on fridays, has spongebob backpack, and a B***H(sometimes)... Here is the breakdown: Homework 10% , Quiz 10%, Midterm1 15%, Midterm2 15%, Final 30% Term Project 10% LECTURES: Her lectures goes over basic concept of Statics, but not enough examples. She gave only 1 examples and goes on next section FAST. HW: Homework is due every wednesday, You HAVE TO do schematic, Free-Body Diagram, write questions and all that bullshit & don't forget to write SECTION#! People get 0 for not writing it. (so much homework, which half the people use solution manual just to get the points) TERM PROJECT: is a waste of time/benefit: If you did well you get a good grade & get extra points, but overall waste of time because instead of doing term project, we should of went over Final Exam Problems. DETAILS: (you work on ch. 6 truss, frame & machine. You create your own question and solve everything out like the homework and create solution manual. You work with other person to get peer review and get points out of accuracy and ) Quiz: It was good because it was group quiz, which you can write other people's name to get extra points. Also, you were able to work together and ask questions to teacher. Midterm1 & 2: It was fair exam and not that hard, but i struggled because i guess i did not put much effort than I thought I did. * GO TO STUDY SESSION I FUCKEN REGRET IT AND NOW I GOT THE GRADE THAT I DID NOT WANT...

I did not like her teaching style. A lot of effort will go into doing the problems rather than understanding them. She was very busy the quarter I had her and lecturing did not seem to be her priority. With that being said, I should have studied more, but she presents an overload of information with her freestyle lectures. I'm retaking the course right now and having a much easier time with another professor. I think she makes you do extra work for the sake of doing extra work. Which is fine, but it will distract you from the concepts of the class. For example, i spent far too much time trying to do well on the project when I should have been studying.

I am pretty sure this teacher is different from the Keller that teaches CE classes. As for this Keller teaching ME212 she is problably the best option out there right now. This is my second time taking Dynamics and i was very happy to find out that i could read the writing on the board. She has a good pace for class and really enjoys when students get involved an ask questions. Midterm: One word, easy. A difinite plus for a dynamics teacher. If you know the basics you will do good on the midterm. Also she does a term project, in which you have to creat your own 4 dynamics problems; it a cool idea and gets me to relate dynamics to stuff around me. Some people complain about her character, she does seem like a goody-two-shoes, but if you can put your crappy jugmental self aside you will do good in this class and life.

Advise for dynamics students: Professor Keller DOES NOT PREPARE YOU FOR THE FINAL. My story is simple, I went into the final with a B+ in her class. I ended up not getting enough points on the final and therefore FAILING THE COURSE COMPLETELY. I spoke with her after, she said all my hard work (B+ in her class and A on her quarter project) DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING. She makes you jump through all these hoops throughout the quarter with her team quizzes, outside of class "labs", and quarter long "project" that does not teach anything but being able to put old dynamics problems into your own words. WASTE OF A LOT OF TIME. Useful note: dynamics at Cal Poly is ALL ABOUT THE FINAL. If you pass the final, you pass the class. I would rather have a professor grill me with tons of problems and be ready for the final rather than Keller's method. Wasted an entire quarter of hard work.

This is not an easy class. You need strong foundation on Physics and Statics. If stuff like vectors, free body diagrams, equations of motion, energy, work etc are not very clear to you, spend the break before the quarter starts to refresh them. The lectures are short (50 min) and the pace is fast. However, the grading system is very fair and Dr. Keller has a lot of positive energy and she is willing to help. There are group activities, a Term project and HW due for every single meeting but...hey, you are at Cal Poly, College of Engineering...deal with it.

I have mixed feelings about Keller. She really wants her students to succeed (hence the stupid dyno-bucks, extra homework points, and makeup points, huge project) but there was like a 30% curve on the midterm so that shows you why she has to give out extra points everywhere. Her in class example problems are pretty clear when she can get all the way through them. I would say make sure you have a chegg account and study like crazy for the common final.

Keller will assign you a lot of homework, sometimes it feels unnecessary. However, if you do all the homework, quizzes, and other assignments thoroughly (try it yourself before looking at solutions/chegg) you will get an A hands down. I got an A in dynamics, and a C+ in statics. I really tried to follow her advice and do problems on my own before looking at solutions and try to struggle with material. Thats how you'll learn it. Because at of the day, nothing matters except the common final, and trying to cram a week before the final, you'll probably fail it. Take her, but the path to an A is a long hard road. good luck in dynamics

One thing I really appreciated about Keller is that she really pushes collaboration within her class. I think a lot of engineering classes can feel very show up to class, do take notes and leave. Being encouraged to collaborate with the people around me really helped my understanding. Unfortunately, since Keller does teach a ton of dynamics classes she is kinda terrible at recognizing students difficulties. She moves very quickly and rarely completely finishes examples in class. I think part of this could be attributed to a poor use of time, and the other part could be attributed to the complexity of dynamics problems that take a long time. Also. That final project is what saved me so I can't really hate her for assigning it haha.

Keller is here to help you. I promise. Her grading system benefits all of those who put forth the effort to learn the material and better themselves. Whatever category you do the best in gets boosted by 10% and the worst category gets reduced by 10%. Midterms are curved to a B. No one will finish the midterm and that's ok, it teaches you skills in time management and pushing yourself. PLEASE ATTEND HER TEA TIMES and OFFICE HOURS. Keller is a killer professor!

Keller in two words. Raging Thundercunt. One of the worst professors i have ever had here at cal poly. she cant convey any information whatsoever without getting confused herself. She teaches to the board and rarely explains what she is doing while she is working out a solution. Her graders are usually ass kissers and grade the homework like it has to be the exact same as the solution or its wrong. bunch of retards in my opinion. Anyways she also makes you do a term project which turns out to be the biggest waste of time you will ever experience in your life. Avoid her if you can, unless you like shitty teaching styles like hers.

Keller is the statics queen, but the thermo bitch. Take her for statics stay away for thermo.

Keller is terrible during lectures... but you have to pay attention because her midterms have a lot of material based on notes from her lectures. Good luck to anyone doing the term project. It blows haha. The only good thing about Keller is that you can change you grade distributions around so you can make the project worth a higher % of your grade for example. Don't even bother going to office hours. There's way too many people there everytime you go and her TA just sits in the corner drinking coffee talking to Keller. I would recommend studying with other people in the class because it's very difficult to learn this stuff on your own... which is essentially what happens in any Keller taught class. Hope this was helpful :)

I think I got a B in the class because I was very meticulous with the homework and the project, but I did not learn much about thermodynamics. The homework load is overbearing and the tests are curved. The only reason I passed is because everyone else did as poorly as I did. She says she makes the tests super hard, anticipating a big curve, but they are all "open notes," so if you bring your notebook in and virtually copy a similar problem onto the test then you can get a few points on the test, which is all you need to get a B in the class.

Easily one of the best profressors at Poly. She is an amazing teacher and can make even the most boring of subjects interesting and meaningful. Her homework is difficult, but she teaches the material in class well enough that even the most challenging of homework problems is solvable. Midterm (and test) were very very long and difficult, however, with the grade curve usually anything over a 40% is an A. Take her for thermo and you will learn thermo very well.

Great professor. She can be a little quirky, but she presented material clearer than most engineering profs. Tests are written so that you will never finish, so if you don't like that type of test, run away. She can barely finish reviewing the test in a class period. But then she normalizes the grades and its all okay.

Melinda might be able to teach with her note papers in front of her but the second she doesn’t have those, her knowledge is worst than a college student. She also seems to have a problem with girls as she always replies in a really bitchy way to any questions or comments from the women engineers. Engineers need to be inspired not shut up for correcting her wrong notes on the board. I would like to see a school where people who wanna teach TEACH and don’t just do it for money purposes. Melinda really has to review her notes and learn how to speak correctly to all students , no matter how poor their English is or their gender or what so ever.

I loved having Keller. She gets some bad rep because she is a quirky person and the class is really hard. Believe it or not this class is supposed to be hard! If you do all the homework, participate in lecture, and apply yourself you will end the class with a fantastic knowledge in thermo and a good grade. If you aren't wanting to learn thermo and just skate by I would not recommend taking her.

This woman is the worst teacher I have ever had. I was unfortunate enough to have her for lecture and lab. She was totally unprepared in lecture and lab. She couldn't answer any questions on material not covered in the lab manual and would get defensive or hostile if you want clarification on her incoherent explanations of concepts she doesn't understand. It seems like she gets her information from wikipedia. The labs would always go over the allotted time because she would interrupt the experiment to ask us all stupid questions that have nothing to do with anything. If you want to do well on lab reports, dont worry about content, your grade starts at 100 and deductions are made for punctuation, nomenclature, and other things that could be graded by a 3rd grader. she doesn't understand anything in the lab report so make sure you put in the buzz words, she just checks them off a list. Don't take this teacher if you are at all interested in learning the material, or you have the balls to slap that dumb ass smirk off her stupid face.

I took fluids with her over summer, and in summary it was a hard frustrating class, but in the end she gives you a ton of work, but if you care about learning the material it is definitely worth it because you will master fluids, we had to memorize all the derivations but it made me understand what the fuck was going on, yah shes nerdy and she does mess up sometimes with lectures, i legitimately thought i failed all the tests but i ended up doing well with a curve and somehow got an A, most important thing to write down on a tests are the assumptions and schematic(easy points), im currently taking her for thermo 1 and i believe its a lot easier since i know her grading scheme on tests

I have had professor Keller for two quarters, statics Fluids 1. Professor Keller is one of my favorite ME professors by far. She has incredibly thorough knowledge on everything she presents, and always comes to class with a clear lecture goal in mind. She goes above and beyond to help her students, including weekend office hours. That says enough right there about her character and her willingness to ensure success. Keller does go farther in depth than needed for most of her material, but it proves beneficial later. Her class term projects not only help save your grade, but truly help you to understand the material and apply theoretical knowledge to something real-life practical. Definitely take her for at least one of your ME classes, you won't regret it.

This class was probably one of the first, most applicable engineering classes, and I learned so much from Keller. Instead of taking the usual formulaic approach, this class actually forced you to delve into the fundamental understanding of where things come from. Keller, as a professor, conveyed material very well, and if you wanted to succeed in her class, you had to understand the material, and not just be a plug and chug robot. I give Keller an A+ for conveying material, but as a person, she was quite unapproachable. Her attitude towards answering questions was very dependent on her mood. I liked her on some days, but felt rather appalled towards her on other days. In addition to that, the class itself can be a lot of work. Homework took me 10+ hours a week on top of studying for her midterms. Her end of the quarter project sucked, but it forced you to apply fluids to a real life scenario, so even though the project sucked, I did get a lot of applicable experience out of it. She also does do this thing where she takes 10% of your lowest category grade and moves it to the highest, so that was nice. Other than that, she curves to the average aka you against the rest of the class. Would I take her again? Probably, but just know that you're going to be doing a lot of work.

Keller was a less than ideal professor, in my mind. Starting out the quarter, she seemed nice enough, but became increasingly cold as we progressed. My final impression of her is not favorable. She is flippant at times, and once in a while can be outright rude. It may just be her personality, so I won't evaluate her on that. Academically, this course could have been taught much better. We would go through derivations in class, which is great. Homework was helpful and applicable to the material we studied. However, her grading scheme on exams is completely out of left field. There is no structure to her grading and she seems to be free form in that regard. All of her students get lower than usual grades on, then she curves to the average. Why not just grade everyone normally and change your point system? What really convinced me of her random grading was when I asked her about one of my exams and she could barely tell me what I did wrong and why I got marked off so much. She was using language like, "you must have done this" or "maybe you forgot this". The term project was an immense waste of time. It reinforced only one of the many concepts we had to learn and detracted from study time. She grades easy on it, so it was a nice boost. However, I think it was completely unnecessary. I'm not sure if she still does them, but hopefully not. I ended up with a B+ in the class. I will say that I could have performed better on exams. Especially one where I spent too much time on a problem I was blanking on, while ignoring the one I could have done completely right. That was on me and I had a lapse in judgment. However, her exams seem to throw time constraints out the window. 50 minutes for a LOT of sub-questions is unforgiving. Some questions will not be related to everything covered in class, so do your independent research and try to be prepared for anything. Keller is an average professor, at best. She does things her way, no matter what. That may or may not work for you. But judging from my own experience, and the impressions of others, the latter is more likely.

TL;DR If you can take a professor like Hans, Kean, or Westphal, take them instead of Keller, even if they’re going to be more difficult. You’ll have a much better experience. But if it’s between a prof like Patton vs. taking Keller, then take Keller. You’ll learn it better than you would with Patton. If you want more details: Pros: - Used some good analogies/examples to explain tough fluid concepts. Albeit she may have used non-fluid terminology a bit freely, some of the analogies were very helpful in understanding difficult fluids concepts. - Gave challenging homework, wasn’t just a walk in the park and really made you think. - Held often and varied office hours so students could more likely attend them within the constraints their class schedule. - You’ll learn Fluids 1 a lot better than if you took Patton or an easy professor like him. Cons: - The two midterm exams basically test who’s brain works the fastest, not who really knows the material. People who know the material don’t always score in correlation to their level of understanding the material. - Lectures are not organized enough. Often, she would last minute decide what to talk about and what to save for the next class period. Sometimes, it seemed like she was winging it. The feeling of lack of organization and control on her part affected the class negatively. - Sometimes, the tone/manner in which she addressed students felt condescending/judgmental. It also felt like she had favorites, and I am pretty sure these people got higher grades because of it. She has a weird way of grading exams where if you do some analysis or mention a thought that she likes she’ll give you points (kinda like “bonus” points) for that even if she isn’t necessarily looking for that on everyone’s exam. And if she likes you, you’ll be more likely to get that. This isn’t the right way to grade exams in my opinion. Grade everyone by the same standard/answer key. - She divided us up into teams in ways that felt like a middle or high school class. We had team problems or challenges assigned and then earned points. She had a cup for each team and would add colored glass beads to each cup as teams won points. The winning teams got various rewards throughout the quarter. This whole thing just felt immature and not at the college level of teaching. She did say that she might not be doing it in further quarters but who knows. - If you like her, you’ll probably really like her, and she will probably feel the same to you. If you don’t like her, you will really not like her and be on her not so good side. There’s not much in between, so if you don’t like her, it can be frustrating. One of the cool elements of Cal Poly is developing a personal connection to your professor, and Keller’s attitude can and will get in the way of that (I speak from experience). This really doesn’t help when you’re trying to ask her questions in office hours.

Fuck this guy. Id like to stick my tounge up his ass.