Student Evaluations
ECE 391 Student Comments:
Winter 2001
For modern semiconductor industry, it is a very effective course./ Ismail is probable one of the better ECE professors I've had. He made a class I was uninterested in interesting and teaches very well./ A very interesting course and an amazing professor./ Ismail is an amazing professor. All his courses are recommended. He has a lot of knowledge and stimulates interest in the course. Also he motivates a lot and he is very understanding. Recommended course, well taught./ Good teacher. Take this class./ This course broadened my understanding of VLSI physical design. As a computer engineering student, I truly appreciate having taken this class!/ Ismail is a great professor and a cool guy. Class is a must for any ECE major that wants a job. (take pre-interviews)./ This is a very challenging class, but Ismail is the best ECE professor. He actually knows the material and is able to communicate it to the rest of us. Be prepared to work lot of hours./ Excellent class You should know this material if you are going to work as a computer Engineer. Good professor.
Winter 2002
Ismail is awesome. He know his stuff and the course is well structured. Project work is time consuming but very rewarding and a great learning experience./ More practical than 357, you get a good basic knowledge of VLSI./ Great professor. Knows the material and takes the time to teach it to you. Take this class with Ismail. Grading is fair and the workload is decent./ Good class with very interesting material taught by great professor./ Probably one of the most relevant courses to industry today. I feel I can "talk the talk" in interviews now./ Good practice for industry./ Professor Ismail is a talented lecturer. Take this course./ Instructor very interested in material, expects students to be serious too, but is remarkably enjoyable and will teach you real-world implications of your design decisions./ Wonderful class, very interesting. Ismail is a great teacher, very nice, know his stuff. I would definitely recommend this class to all ECE students. Some parts are difficult, but Ismail is good at making hard subject matter not as difficult./ I think this is a good class, but it take a lot of time./ Professor Ismail teaches you a lot and teaches well. The homeworks aren't especially well planned out./ Interesting class for EE's, not just compEs./ Ismail is a good prof. Lectures were a necessity, since the book was worthless. Tests and homework were very fair./ This is a great class if you're interested in this stuff. You'll learn a lot, the instruction is good, and you'll spend a lot of time in the lab./ Ismail is a very good professor; he explains things very well. Good class, but the book is horrible./ Hard, but good./ Ismail shows a genuine concern for his students and spurs excitement about the course information./ Challenging course; only true ECE lovers will enjoy./ More design competitions would be better than tests. Great course./ Best class I've taken in the ECE department. Prof. Ismail does a great job in stimulating interest for the subject./ Great prof. Take 391 with Yehea Ismail. Great, awesome instructor. Explains over and over again. Very good./ Good course, lots of homeworks./ Good class. Not too much homework but lots of time for the project./ Ismail is definitely back in Heismann form!/ If you like this kind of junk (VLSI), you'll like this class; if not, it'll be wack./ Great course and a prof who give a bigger picture as well as relates to students./ Great class lots of work; prof know his material./ Course demanded a lot of time in the lab, but I learned a lot./ It was such a pleasant surprise to take this class and find out that the professor was so good. This is one of the few ECE classes where I actually really learned something-and enjoyed it!/ The prof is great and you learn a lot./ Go to class; do the reading and it's not too bad./ This is a pretty decent Tech elective for CE's if it's with Ismail.
Winter 2003
Prof. Ismail does a great job explaining the important real-world concepts while leaving out the proofs from physics that aren't necessary. I left the course with a far greater interest in the subject than when I began./ Ismail is an excellent instructor. If you attend class, you will understand the material well. Gives a good view of limits of current technology./ This was a very encouraging and interesting course-gave a good introduction to VLSI systems design./ Challenging, but a very good course overall. The main problem was Mentor Graphics. Do not take this unless you are willing to spend long hours debugging./ Prof. Ismail's VLSI course is fantastic. His knowledge is unprecedented, and his instruction unparalleled-beware of the Mentor Graphics CAD tools though./ Great course. But project is huge and devastating, though useful./ Best class I've ever taken. Ismail is the best-he really cares and wants students to learn. Projects can be frustrating, but material is interesting and is doable. Don't miss this class!/ This was a great course to take. It was very interesting and actually has direct relevance to industry. Ismail is a great prof./ Excellent course! I was a bit nervous about taking it at first, but it was made more than manageable by the tremendous teaching skills of Ismail./ Ismail's great, but this class has a lot of overlap with ECE 353. If you've taken 353 you might be bored. Also Mentor Graphics is a pain./ Class is interesting and challenging. Final project is huge and takes a lot of time to complete./ Prof. Ismail is a very good prof. He knows his stuff. Makes course bearable. Cares about students progress./ The course should motivate an excitement toward learning./ He teaches the course in a comprehensive manner./ One of the best teachers I ever had-great course./ Be prepared to spend a good chunk of time on the final project. Class appears to be much harder than it is. Teacher and TA seem to grade fairly easy./ Prof. Ismail is a very dedicated, approachable person, but keep in mind that you will be challenged./ Good class, ties many different areas and topics together. Somewhat time consuming.
Winter 2004
Wilkenson
will become your second home, but Ismail is a great prof. Friendly and answers questions in and out of class./ Great course. Great instructor.
Requires significant amount of effort but not more than what should be expected./ Working on the projects using the information and
knowledge I gained in this course opens up new and promising opportunities in
this field./ Ismail is a great instructor! Be
prepared to spend a lot of time out of class on this course. You will live in
the Wilkenson lab when taking this course, but it’s
worth it—you’ll learn a lot./ Very good course.
Instructor did a great job of introducing us to the subject. Projects were long
and spend lots of time in the lab, but they were also interesting./ This is a good course. It gives me an overview of digital
IC design which is very helpful for more advanced courses./ The instructor
makes things easy to understand./ Would like to see mandatory TA session; takes
through mentor graphics—tutorial not comprehensive enough./ Fairly good prof, but moves too quickly at times. Don’t get on his bad
side or you will be doing twice as much work. And believe me, you get a lot of
work!/ Ismail was a very
good professor. Good class if you like VLSI.
Fall 2004
decent
course. def better than 303. ismail is good. nothing to
write home about.../ I find this course to be very entertaining and satisfying.
The projects showed me how things learned in past courses and in this course
are applied in designing something useful such as SRAMS and flip flops. Upon
completing each project, it gave me a sense that I actually learned something
that will be useful in the future./ Fun VLSI course.
Good instruction and lectures. Ismail is a great prof./ Nice course to introduce VLSI concepts./ This is
cool material given to an unfortunate prof.
Everything I learned in this course was from other students and the TA, which of
course left some things uncovered. The book is useless (understatement). The
professor makes a big deal of coming to class, but he fails to provide any
incentive such as, oh, I don't know, useful and/or
engaging lectures? But god forbid you oversleep - he will remember exactly how
many lectures you missed and act like it's personal. I felt spit on every time
I talked to him - if you asked him for help, he would comment on how easy this
stuff is and he can't believe you still don't get it; if you came to his office
for handouts, he would make a discouraging comment about your perfomance. / This is a very good course to take. Ismail is an awesome professor. The work load is reasonable
and if you have taken ECE 353 before, the first couple of lectures will be a
review for you./ Course is good, Ismail
is a good teacher, if Chirayu is still the TA... find
someone else knowledgable to ask questions./ As I was
a computer science major I was not very familiar with physical aspects of VLSI.
For pursuing my intersts in VLSI CAD it is very
important to understand the physical aspects of VLSI. Professor Ismail's style of teaching is great and it had motivated me
to take all courses that will be offered by him. I hope that he will continue
to help students like me to understand the subject in the near future. / This
was a great introduction to VLSI design course, where prof
Ismail covered almost everthing
you had to know for further classes or research. Also the exams and homeworks were just the right amount and toughness to make
you learn the concepts covered in class in depth. Also the final project was
fun to work on.
Fall 2005
Good class, a good start point to learn VLSI design. / good class, easy assignments, easy projects, easy A / Good class. Prof. Ismail teaches the material very effectively, and the workload is manageable. Be sure to ask him to clarify his requirements on all the projects, or else you could unexpectedly lose points. / Awesome course. I am not a fan of VLSI (especially since mentor graphics project took over my life this quarter) but take this course with Ismail. He is one of the best professors I have had and gives a great insight into design issues of the past, present and the future. / This course is a very good intro to VLSI and quite interesting. At first I seemed a bit lost, but once you start ploughing through the homeworks and projects, you actually learn a lot. The book is terrible, but Ismail explains most everything you need to know in the lectures. / Course materials are too simplified. It is like an easier version of my undergraduate course. The software used for the lab is very hard to use. Furthermore, the LVS does not check for the dimension of the transistors. It only checks the nets. From the way that the tutorial explained for doing LVS. The layout does not generate a netlist that can be used for timing simulation. This makes drawing the layout quite..... meaningless. / oh please, no more projects / Ismail, the demi-god of transistors, imparts his knowledge upon the fresh ECE minds. Ja-Chun, the apprentice in training, offers his assistance to the worshippers for the biddings of Ismail. / This is a good course if you are interested in VLSI. It takes a lot of work, but definitely worth it. However, if you go to Ismail for help, expect an answer along the lines of "You should just Google it." / I recommend this course and I recommend classes with Ismail. / This is one of the best ECE classes I have taken at NU. The material is very interesting and is very useful if you are going into industry. Professor Ismail gives fair exams and grading is relatively lenient. The final project took some time but it was a worthwhile experience. After this course, you'll become much better at Mentor Graphics. I would recommend this course to anyone who is interested in VLSI.
Fall 2006
Vast knowledge of the material, moves at a very good pace, and teaches both for understanding of concepts and how to apply them. / Excellent teaching skills. Ability to simplifies the idea and explain it in a very pallatable way. / Professional. / Interesting lectures, very challenging, nice person / He was very clear with what he had to say and had a lot of experience in the field so he knew what he was talking about in several different levels: that of a researcher, a teacher, and an engineer. He was also fairly easy going which i always enjoy. He was also very willing to come down to the lab to help whenever we needed it. / knowledgable / Smart dude. Good lectures. Keeps thing interesting. / The instructor teaches very well and he has a good knowledge of the subject / Prof. Ismail is very enthusiastic, knowledgable, and his lectures are a pleasure to attend. / The instructor was able to communicate the main ideas of the course in a clear manner and ensured the students understood the concepts being taught. / he presents ideas in a very clear and concise manner. the lectures are very insightful. even though i thought the first few weeks would be a waste of time, i found his lectures on MOSFETs to explain concepts better than Wu in 225 and Sahakian in 353. i think the trick was to show the physical device and what we're actually doing to it under different conditions. he has a genuine concern for students, and it shows. it's not often that a prof stays late (9pm+) the night before a project is due to help students.
This is the best class I have taken so far. Very interesting, well-paced, makes you think but not overly difficult. Probably good preparation for more in-depth courses at the graduate level. / Very useful course. A must for every student in this area. Ismail rocks!! / Make sure you start the final project early. It takes longer than a week to complete. It may seem pretty easy and straightforward but you are bound to run into bugs and the complete layout is torture. Up until the final project, the class is pretty smooth and few homework assignments and another miniproject that can be done in 2 days. Professor Ismail does good job of getting topics across in his lectures. / Nice instructor. / Very hard course, but very educational and overall, worthwhile. Ismail is a good guy. / Prof Ismail is a good professor, but his lectures are a bit disorganized. This class is best suited to anyone who really wants to get into the field, and also read the textbook. / This is a really good course. Ismail is one of the best teachers I have seen / This is a great extension to what we've learned in 303. CEs come in thinking that it'll be a lot of high level information but it starts off on a very low, physical level that I appreciated as a EE. The class builds up in a very logical fashion, giving more insight into a lot of the major topics. The homeworks weren't too bad. Easier if you work with a couple other students but not that much work. The projects are the thing to take seriously. They're definitely doable and managable. The only thing is you can't put it off until the last week. Layout is always the trickiest thing but you never think that. Fortunately, Ismail gave those who weren't done an extension into Finals Week. The project was made more difficult cuz of Thanksgiving. You're still in a vacation mode and people don't like to do work at all that week. The exams weren't too bad either. They need to be out of more points cuz if you get only a part of a question wrong you're already down half a letter grade. Otherwise great class worth taking. / This course is a good ECE course. Get started on the final design project early! / Not too bad. Like 361 but w/ transistors. The final project was a killer. / The course is good. / This course is gernally fun and interesting. The exams are somewhat difficult, and the homeworks/projects can be very time consuming, but you will learn a lot and it not too painful. Make sure to clarify with Prof Ismail what formulas will/will not be provided on the exams, since he expects you to memorize some of them without warning. START THE FINAL PROJECT EARLY. My partners and I each put in an average of 60 hours on that project during reading week and into finals week. OUCH. / This is the perfect course if you're looking to get into the microprocessor industry. Ismail is a little quirky at times but overall a good professor and very easy to get along with. The material isn't too bad but watch out for the final project! / ismail is great. projects are in groups of 3. make sure you don't get stuck with lazy people. LVS can take a lot of time if you don't pay attention to all the rules and ordering things. i really enjoyed the topics discussed in class and am looking forward to taking more classes with him in the future.
ECE 392 Student Comments:
Spring 2001
Remember LEGOs? Have fun./ Great prof. Lots of work./ A great course. You see all issues associated with designing a big chip. Instructor is wonderful. Explains very well./ This is a good course for learning layout design./ Good class with lots of thinking and design./ Very good class. It is a lot of work, but it is very rewarding and taught well. Definitely take this class for your capstone.
Spring 2002
Had much practice with designing layouts. Very satisfying to know that we actually layed out a whole ALU and DRAM on CAD. I think what we did this quarter (designing DRAM and ALU) is much more feasible than designing the whole processor./ This was a great course. The choice of the DRAM and ALU gave a look at very different aspects of VLSI and helped make the lessons learned in 391 fit into the bigger picture very well./ This is actually a pretty good capstone to take. It is my second which shows how willing I was to take it. If you are too worried that there is too much work for this then try to find out what the project will be so you can get an idea of the amount of work expected./ Possibly the best class in the department.
Spring 2003
Its a sweet course if you know what you're supposed to be doing. If you get a group with very little experience, you spend most of the time trying to figure out what you're supposed to be accomplishing, rather than learning. Great capstone, though. I'd highly reccommend it. Its not too much work, and Ismail is the man./ One of the more useful and practical classes in ECE. VHDL synthesis is a topic that you will likely run into in industry. Also, great instruction!/ An excellent senior design course. Ismail is interested in your work and offers constructive criticism without being intrusive./ The course was a great learning experience and a great way to know the people in the group. The project was fine in terms of interest, application, and challenge. The best way to learn something is to do it. Great class overall, just needed more interaction between TA/prof and students in terms of lectures and help outside of lectures./ 392 is a lot of work. However, it is a design project class, so that should not be surprising. 392 this year has been refreshingly updated this year, focusing instead on designing systems for FPGA implementation rather than full-custom systems for simulation in AccuSim (something we really don't have the computing resources for anyway). Although it was a little rough this first time around, 392 gives you the opportunity to implement a meaningful system that you can actually test. It's definitely rewarding. Beware of slacking teammates though... it always seems that there's one in every group, and with a project this intense, you can't afford it.
Spring 2004
This class was very time consuming. Previous knowledge of VHDS would have been very helpful. Chirayu is the best ever. I love Chirayu./ A lot of work but you learn a lot too. Learned VHDL, project is close to real-world industry project. Good experience./ A lot to learn in ten weeks. Knowing VHBL prior would be useful. I love Chirayu!/ This course did not have much to do with 391. Interesting subject with speech recognition but need to know a lot of VHDL. Chirayu rocks!/ Wilkinson will become your second home and VHDL will become your religion. Chirayu is incredible, but most or the knowledge gained is from trying and testing your code—don’t expect to be taught much VHDL, you’ve got to learn it yourself./ Project was not very well defined until the end of the quarter but otherwise a good course./ Ismail didn’t teach us one thing the whole quarter, did’t know anything about the project at the beginning of the quarter and at the end of the quarter still didn’t know anything. Wants project due by end of finals week when no one is close by the end of reading week./ Plan on spending an amazing amount of time in the lab./ Ismail is an excellent prof and Chirayu is a great teaching associate. Two great people for one great class./ This class is the best class in the ECE Department. Chirayu was awesome!/ Very interesting class. Do not expect a follow up to 391. We did a VHDL project on speech recognition. Overall, great class but lots of work that could be eliminated if course was planned better./ Very interesting course but not structured efficiently. Had a lot of stuff to learn before the project could start, didn’t have enough time to finish./ This is a projects course, expect little instruction. Prof and Chirayu are very helpful when you go to them. Beware of synthesis.
Spring 2005
Eh/ It is an ECE capstone course, so it is a team based project. Currently, the class is using FPGA's and VHDL, so if you are expecting a direct continuation of 391, it isn't.// Excellent course - highly recommended if you are interested in FPGA or configurable computing. I would recommend at least brushing up on some VHDL before showing up for the first day./ Ismail is a great professor. He has deep understanding of what he says. Make you work but not tough./ This is the best ECE project class offered at NU. Unlike ECE 362, you actually learn something new (e.g. how to design a project in VHDL and implement it onto an FPGA) and unlike ECE 347 the project is doable (and you don't have to continue working on the project in the following quarter cuz you can actually finish it in one quarter).
Spring 2006
great course! fair amount of workload! Teacher and TA are very nice&helpful!!! / Good class, manageable workload. The trick is to find a good team and stay on track from week to week. / Professor Ismail is the man. He is one of the top 5 profs in the EE/CE department. I recommend taking any class that he offers. You will learn A LOT. Unfortunately the Prof's best strength is his lecturing and 392 is not a lecture course. In this class he kind of takes a back seat as it is a design class. / Take ECE 394 before this class. Its not a requirement but it would have been really helpful if i had taken it. /
ECE 393/493 Student Comments:
Fall 2000
Outstanding course for teaching real issues of VLSI which don't appear in text books yet. A must of all EEs!/ This class is very important to understand the VLSI industry. However, there is a lot of EE skills needed in this class that Comp Es don't have. If you're a Comp E, you'll realize how lacking the major is in this field! Take 353 first./ Good class for anyone interested in VLSI, but a little dry at times. Very EE, only should be taken by Comp Es if they are good at EE fundamentals./ Interesting material. Lots of difficult reading from IEEE journals. Definitely an EE class. With be tough if you're a Comp E./ Don't be fooled; this class is heavy towards EE material.
Fall 2002
Great class, manageable workload. Most interesting class in ECE./ Great prof! He really seems to care about his students and makes every lecture fun and interesting. Ismail not only teaches, but he also focuses on showing you how to innovate./ Ismail is an awesome teacher; this class was a very interesting class touching on real-life subjects that we haven't been exposed to in other classes. A lot of material is covered but it's a good investment./ Excellent course and given a nice overview of VLSI design./ This increased my interest in the subject matter. Read lots of technical papers-more interesting than it sounds. Ismail is very knowledgeable and good at explaining things./ Take ECE 391 first. Take this course. Best course for ECE I've taken and best prof in ECE by far./ This course covers a great deal of material. However, the prof makes it easy and simple to understand./ This is an excellent course if you have any interest in VLSI and Prof. Ismail is an awesome prof./ Great class! Interesting, not too hard if you did well in 391/392. Papers were awesome and presented a lot of pertinent issues in modern tech.
Spring 2004
Excellent course. Must-take for all students in VLSI research./ Ismail is the best teacher I ever had. He goes into the fundamentals and stimulates interests. A great course./ Great instructor, very knowledgeable, must for those in industry./ Good course, makes me learn a lot of stuff. Good instructor./ The instructor uses all educational tools extensively to motivate the students to learn more about the VLSI circuits in depth.
Winter 2005
The course structure was pretty
laid back and the emphasis was more on getting a good overall understanding of
the course than it was on specifics. The structure of this class is much
different than 391, so if you loved the way Ismail
taught that class, you may not necessarily love this one. I still enjoyed it
and got a gained a pretty good understanding of issues in IC design today./
This was an extension to the high standards set in the VLSI System Design
course by Professor Ismail and I wish there are more
courses like this offered by Professor (Including the relativity part...it was
great :-)/ Nice course that displays a lot of aspects and concerns in
integrated circuits design in a quick way./ It would be really helpful if we
can have an extension to this course, like having 493-II or so./ This is the
greatest class I've taken at Northwestern. Anyone in ECE should take this
course no questions asked. I learned more in 10 weeks in this class than the 3
years before taking it./ dont
mind if this is a graduate class. if u've taken ece 391, and ece 392, this is a GREAT complementary class. it discusses the problems with VLSI/ULSI circuits.Prof
Ismail is passionate about it, and his TAs are awesome.and dont be late, hehehe, he'll bully u about it/ This is a good course to
take if you are interested in VLSI. Ismail is a good prof to take this course with. He's da
man.
Winter 2006
This course helps a lot if you are going to do some research in timing analysis and interconnect analysis./ Excellent seminar course. Covers a lot of concepts more in depth, very useful for anyone going into VLSI. Homeworks don't usually take very long each week. The paper/presentation is great practice for a future in academia/research./ two thumbs up
Winter 2007
Prof. Ismail is the best teacher at Northwestern (at least what I've seen so far). He stimulates a lot of insterest in the subject. / he's an authority on the material, lectures extremely well, gives meaningful homework assignments / Very good course. We read many classic and fundamental papers in IC design area. Prof. Ismail is a very good instructor, you learn a lot from him. / I enjoyed every moment in the class. The professor helped us to brush the required mathematical skills like Fourrier transform and backward euler. This stuff is also helpful in other circuit courses. 493 rocks!! / this course introduces students to many advanced topics in VLSI. it's good preparation for a successful research career, with focus on what makes a good research paper, what makes a bad research paper, how to give a good presentation, etc. that said, the professor is very busy, so don't expect a lot of feedback from him. /