The course itself was not that difficult; in my opinion it was quite easy to get an A with consistent textbook reading and attending lecture. The exams are very fair and based off prior homework. Professor Branicio is the kind of professor that would give all his students A's if he could; he's very caring towards his students.

Prof Branicio was a really great and nice guy! He was always accessible outside of office hours, which is good because oftentimes the first explanation of the material is a little confusing. Truly wanted students to do well and will work with you to get a good grade.

Professor Branicio is very kind and caring for all students. The class material itself is very extensive though not too hard, but the professor would like each one to know all the material. Be prepared for some reading and early class, but as long as you follow his lectures, nothing on the exam would be hard. Get a cup of coffee if necessary.

The class is very straightforward and Professor Branicio is very friendly and helpful. Class needs a small amount effort but is somewhat interesting. Lectures can be quite monotonous but are not entirely necessary to attend. Gave an enormous amount of extra credit at end of semester to help as many students as possible to get an A .

I really have a great time in his class, his class is very useful and interesting. He is also a good teacher who can make tough things very easy and clear.

You can learn thermodynamics easily through the clear explanation of professor and the detailed notes.

Professor Branicio is a very decent and respectful man. His class is not mandatory to attend, but it's a loss of you for not to do so.

With helpful handouts and notes, This course isn't hard to understand. The contents are fundamental but important for chemistry and material science students. Strongly recommend.

great professor ! he teaches very well ! if u study hard, getting A is possible.

good teaching method

Professor Branicio is very well versed in the material, and willing to answer any questions in class or via email. His lecture notes provide a good outline of the material and are available in class and on Blackboard. He really wants everyone to do well and gives you opportunities to do so through extra credit.

He is one of the best professors I have ever had in my graduate level courses at USC. He is well organized and his tests are pretty much fair. He gives you a practice problems prior to any test which is really helpful. His tests questions are straight forward from the notes and the practice problems. I highly recommend him

Patient and nice prof!

There will be 3 midterms and one final with a open book quiz. Midterms are well compliant to the note as well as practices. No homework at all. The good news is youre gonna be able to waive the final and the professor is super nice.

Professor is nice and kind. The detailed notes for the class are helpful for study. If you study hard and do well in all the midterms, you can have the temporary as your final.

Prof. Branicio is well respected lecturer who will help you to understand & appreciate the concept of materials thermodynamics in a well-structured way. His lectures are very interesting, and you will really enjoy his classes as it will add huge value to your educational experience.

Excellent

Branicio is a great professor! He is nice and patient, who is willing to discuss with students and cares about students' feeling. The topic of this course is kind of theoretical but he tries to make it clear and enjoyable. He gives most students A on the course!

Professor Branicio is very kind and loves to help every student in his class. This course is hard, but exams are mostly from the lecture. If you want to get a good grade, make sure to go through the detailed notes he posted online and the practice questions before the exam.

Prof. Paulo Sergio Branicio is a very great professor I've ever met. The course Prof taught is Thermodynamics, and it is a very fundamental content of material science but not very easy at all. But Prof. Branicio can explain the knowledge so progressively and carefully that I can understand the difficult points very smoothly.

Prof. Branicio is a caring professor who explain his notes very well during classes. He even write detailed notes to further answer students' questions. Best thermodynamic course I have ever had.

I took MASC-503 and for me this course is very impressive. Prof. Branicio really made all the stuff very clear. And I really like the quiz he gave, which is like a small project that you can learn some researches in practice. Actually, I think this is one of the most important thing for students who may take into science and engineering research.

Professor Branicio's class is awesome. He makes difficult and abstract concepts and equations easier to understand. Very patient and kind teacher.

Prof. Branicio is very nice and patient. He gives you both well-organized class notes and detailed notes. And you may find detailed instructions and mathematical derivations corresponding to difficult concepts and equations, which really helps you to understand and remember them.

Thermodynamics itself is not easy, but Prof. Branicio makes it clear. Detailed notes will be uploaded by professor after each class, so panic is unnecessary if you miss a point in class or even miss a whole class. Professor will ask questions during class (no extra credit), so feel free to parcipitate.

Excellent thermodynamics class and nice professor. Professor Branicio was a good lecturer who made the material accessible. The provided notes and practice problems were extremely useful for practicing the material.

Dr. Branicio is a great professor who teaches thermodynamics using very clear and linear notes and examples. He also completely derives formulas and posts all notes and derivations online for students to review. His thoroughness is what makes him such a great professor and is definitely the exception and not the standard for engineering professors.

The lecture is clear and understandable with detailed notes uploaded, however, the course itself is difficult. Three midterms are not easy and could be kinda overwhelming, but the good news is you do not have to attend the final.

This course is easy to understand and no homework, professor Branicio provides everything in the lecture, and all midterms based on the lecture notes. Welcomes to choose professor Branicio's course!

Prof. Branicio is very nice and teaching very well!

Professor Branicio has been one of my favorite professors at USC so far. His class is challenging in an appropriate way. He provides the everything you need to study, just don't expect to breeze through without paying attention. Some of these concepts can be very difficult, but he makes them a breeze. Highly suggest taking his course.

He is super helpfil

The course is very straightforward, and the professor is a really easy going guy. Don't forget to do the WileyPlus Assignments and wouldn't recommend purchasing the textbook.

The material was taught clearly in class, and the assignments really helped me understand the material. He also has little hands-on, in-class labs that drill in the concepts, which not many teachers do. He cares for his students, and is always seeking ways to help us learn better. I highly recommend Professor Branicio.

Professor Branicio is a great lecturer. His lessons were always clear and manageable. I would highly recommend taking him given the opportunity. The homework was always relevant to the day's lecture, and his tests were very fair and directly related to problems and activities done during lecture.

Professor Branicio is an excellent teacher. His lectures are always well-prepared. Frankly, this course is not easy because there are many derivations, but he always makes it simple for students to understand and master. As for exams, as long as you follow his lectures and do his assignments, you won't have trouble with the exams.

I think this course is not too difficult to learn but it is really very helpful for the major of materials. Actually, I really like the class notes of Professor Branicio, which is detailed, systemetic and very clear to help understand this course.

Professor Branicio was an incredible thermodynamics teacher! His lectures are extremely organized, and they contain all of the necessary information to do well on exams. He leaves no derivation unturned, and he managed the online class format extremely well (tech competent, etc). I would highly recommend taking his thermo course.

A great professor!

I like his teaching style. During the course, the investigation on samurai swords is my favourite. What's more, Professor Branicio assigned no homework in the course. This maybe very happy for we students. But I still strongly suggest Professor Branicio to assign weekly homework in the course. (I am not a demon hahah)

Prof Branicio is very nice and friendly.

Prof provides detailed lecture notes so you won't need a textbook at all. Does all the derivations in class which is very helpful for a course like thermodynamics. Explains the concept clearly. The course is very well organized so you would never feel lost. Take this course before MASC-504.

The class is very useful and Professor Branicio is very friendly and helpful. If you pay attention to the class and try your best to learn it, at the end of semester you will definitely get a great grade (many students get an A).

The professor is very approachable and his teaching style is very interesting. The content of the class is also very clear and easy to understand. As long as you review the notes in class in time, you can easily get an A.

I would recommend this class to students who would like to learn more about thermodynamics/brush up their knowledge. The course covers classic thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and phase diagrams. Those are all very useful topics and Prof. Branicio did a great job explaining them logically and clearly. The exams are fair.

Professor Branicio made our online experience engaging and enjoyable. Every week, we had collaborative labs that were a decent portion of our grade and were easy to do well on if you asked him for help and/or checked the lecture material. Homework was not hard and was relevant to the exams. There were no surprises in how we were tested and graded.

Class was structured well, everything aligned and there was always a sense of what's next and what was occurring content-wise. Grading was fair and only one midterm. HW was reading and problems through wiley plus.

I had a good time in Professor Branicio's course. He was very considerate and accommodating during COVID. His lectures and slides are very helpful especially for his exams. The course content is not that difficult and if you do all the assignments, you'll do well in his course. Overall, one of the nicest and fairest professors I have had at USC!

Prof. Branicio explains difficult concepts very well, and will happily further clarify if you ask him. He was very understanding during online classes as well, seriously one of the nicest and most caring profs I've had. Homework is straightforward and relevant to class material. Exams are very fair, especially if you do the HW and show up to class.

Great professor and a great semester during covid. Very caring too! Homework took a few hours a week and labs were lengthy.

He's very communicative and very fair. For MASC310 at least, he did a very good job of connecting the things we learn to the "real world" and to industrial realities, even before it became the focus of the textbook towards the end of the course .

The professor carefully led us to deduce complex thermodynamic problems in class. Simplify complex knowledge through the professor's explanation. After class, the teacher will patiently answer our students' questions. I highly recommend this course.

The lecture is very useful, and the professor is very nice!!

Exams come directly from the lectures and notes. He does not try to trick you. If you understand the notes you will do well on the exams. The course starts derivation heavy but towards the end becomes more practical. Useful practice materials are provided prior to each exam.

This was not a very hard class, but it was a great one. Prof. Branicio genuinely cares about his students. If you are diligent and work hard, you will be successful in this class. The knowledge of the statistical thermodynamics section might help you understand some concepts in deep learning like RBM or something like that. In a word, 5/5.

The prof is very kind and enthusiastic and I learn a lot of useful knowledge from this course. Really really recommend

Thermodynamic used to be complicated but very important for engineering majored students. However, it becomes much understandable under professor Branicios clear instruction. As long as you follow with the regular instruction and practice the exercises after the class, you can make it in this class.

Just follow everything Prof. Branicio taught during the lecture, you will get an A. He is nice and the notes are step-by-step clear.

Professor Branicio taught this class so clearly that even I could follow, and the tests were almost entirely based on things done in lecture, word for word. We had 3 midterm exams and 1 take-home group quiz, which sounds like a lot, but was very manageable with his teaching and testing styles. Kind and understanding professor, highly recommend!

Super straightforward class with a lot of opportunities to succeed in class. Prof Branicio makes every effort to make sure that students do well and is a very clear lecturer.

Amazing professor! Clear grading criteria and gave lots of chances to improve grade. Highly recommend!

Masc310 with Professor Branicio is an excellent choice. He teaches very clear lectures, he's very accessible in and out of class, homework assignments are helpful and reasonable, and above all he wants his students to succeed!

Branicio is a wonderful professor. He has awesome color-coded lecture slides that are very straightforward. He really wants his students to learn and succeed in the class; he is willing to provide practice exams, extra credit, homework help, extensions, etc. if he believes it will help. He is easy to reach and is very caring toward his students.

Very straightforward class and professor. Short homeworks after every class due the next week. Tests come from course material and are very manageable if you study. Very nice professor, we watched a movie on forging and he brought in coffee and doughnuts! Overall great class and would highly recommend taking it!

Prof. Branicio made this course very clear and easy to learn. The pace of this course would not be in a rush, learn in every lecture but would not pour too much things in your brain. Provide both textbooks and detailed notes. Using traditional hand writting and slides when necessary. The samurai sword documentary makes great connection real world.

Professor Branicio gives clear explanation on the concepts and helps you gain a solid understanding of them. His practice exercises also prepare you well for the exams. He is very accessible outside of class and helpful during office hours. Overall a great course!

It was a wonderful learning experience taking the MASC 503 course in Fall 2022. Professor Branicio is very accessible and put a lot of effort into teaching things in interesting ways. The exams were exactly what was taught in the class and the grading policy was very clear and just.

Prof. Branicio is a great teacher, his explanations of concepts are easy to follow and understand. The grading criteria are clear, and he includes extra-point questions on his tests, which can be helpful in gaining a max score if you flop a question. He provides textbook and practice exercises to help his students better prepare for exams.

Professor Branicio teaches thoroughly during his lectures and is very helpful in terms of discussion during the class and office hours. He also has a clear grading criteria and also provides a lot of practice exercises, which help the students for the exams.

Professor Branicio gives great lectures and provides more detailed notes that are a great source to clear up anything that was not clear. The material could be quite challenging, but he explained everything well. He gave practice problems before exams, which were very helpful. There is no homework, though, so test grades are very important.

The MASC 503 that professor Paulo taught is so good and clear. I suggest that students who major in material engineering should take his class. It will help you find out the way to deal with metal.

If you are interested in taking a low-stress but still fulfilling AI course at USC, consider MASC520. This course strikes a great balance between theory and projects, and Paulo Branicio is an amazing instructor. He provides ample opportunities to earn back missed points on exams and projects.

You can tell Professor Branicio cares most that you, as a student, understand the material. He encourages open class room discussion and participation (w/ open office hours). Professor Branicio is very knowledgable on the material and lectures covering both the depth of the subject matter all the way to the practical aspects; theory to real world.

Great prof. and class. Gives the basics for machine learning that can be applied in different fields. Highly recommend prof. Branicio for this course and other courses he teaches. Don't leave the project till the end of the semester; make sure to start early enough so that it is not overwhelming.

Professor Branicio's classes are the best I have taken at USC. He cares deeply about seeing students succeed and he makes the grading criteria very clear. The homework and projects in this course are very useful in gaining more knowledge into the subject matter. I highly recommend you take his classes!

Professor Branicio made MASC 515 an engaging and insightful course. Provided clear explanations, practical project guidance, and willingness to help students excel made this class one of the best experiences in my academic journey. Was always approachable and provided valuable feedback that significantly improved our projects.

It is a wonderful learning experience in class MASC 515 under the guidance of Professor Branicio. He explained the principles behind machine learning algorithms clearly and meticulously. Moreover, he is always willing to support us students and has provided many valuable insights and approaches for my final project.

He is knowledgeable and responds to emails promptly. The assignments are manageable and beneficial. However, be sure to dedicate significant effort to the final project, as it accounts for half of the grade and is reviewed thoroughly. A high-quality presentation and report are essential for achieving an A.

MASC 515 was a very insightful course that opened the door to applying Machine Learning to Material Science research. Professor Branicio is a very knowledgeable professor who is more than willing to help students. I highly recommend taking this course!

The professor is a tough grader but he makes sure that all his students understand every concepts he teach, not like other teachers who give only the notes and ask students to study themselves. I took the class online, so was not able to ask doubts during the lecture, I kept on mailing him and he replied promptly to every mail of mine.

Really great professor. Would def. take a class again with him. He was really easy to access and would answer questions. I did bad on a midterm and he allowed for some corrections to get my score up a bit. Class was a little tough but he really makes it possible to do well as long as you pay attention

Super helpful professor who shares past exams and replies to emails quickly. The past exams are really similar to what's on the actual tests, so they're great for studying

Prof. Branicio takes his time with the lectures and provides notes and resources to improve understanding. Anything he teaches is fair game for midterms/quiz but there are no surprises whatsoever. Encourages asking for help.

Great Class. Everyone please take it.

Prof. Branicio makes sure that what ever is taught in the class is what will appear on the exams/quiz, there are no surprises with him. Encourages students to seek help and to ask questions. Grading can be tough but he offers plenty of supplementary material and even helped students improve their grades, definitely recommend.

Paulo Branicio is the best professor I have ever seen. I would definitely take his class again if possible.

Graded on 2 exams, 1 take home quiz, 1 final. All exams are similar to practice problems he provides, you can do well if you study those in depth. The class is math heavy, but Dr. goes slow and makes it understandable even never been exposed to this type of material. Class is three sections: classical thermo, statistical mechanics, phase diagrams.

Class doesn't take attendance and only one home quiz as HW. The professor taught the material clearly with detailed notes, though it's math-heavy. All exams are covered in the lecture notes, and he also provides past exams for preparation. It's not difficult to get a good grade if you understand the content and repeatedly practice the questions.

The professor was exceptional, knowledgeable, and communicated the intricate details of the subject in the simplest and engaging way. I can whole heartedly say that the classes have made me much more confident in the subject so as to I feel very comfortable in using the knowledge I gained in my research endeavour.

Clear and well-organized Lecture, and professor offers very helpful practice exercises that reinforce the key concepts. The assessments are fair, with a balanced combination of closed-book and open-book sections, and the exams even include optional extra questions that help reduce stress. Overall, this is a worthwhile and well-designed course.

The notes were very detailed, easy to follow, and understand. The practice problems and past exams that he posts are very useful. He is a great professor and it is not difficult to get a good grade if you go through the notes and practice problems and really understand the what is going on.

This course is derivation heavy and full of lots of complex concepts and topics. However the exams are very fair. As long as lock in on the practice exams you should be fine. Also Dr. Branicio is very understanding and cares about the students so go to office hours and don't be afraid to ask questions.