Review:
Dr. Karen Panetta is one of the professors I respect most here at Tufts. I?ve had her for both ES4 and EE14, and I learned an amazing amount of information in her classes. Her field experience from NASA and Tyco Electronics makes her a valuable asset for not only information, but also networking. Professor Panetta also has a great deal of concern for all her students, provided that they show her respect. Showing up for class, paying attention, and not talking during class are essential to learning the material because it is often complex.

Lab was challenging, but it built on itself well. Our first project was to write a simple ?hello world? style program. Next was a slightly more complicated ?Hello world?. After the 2nd lab a paper was assigned on the interrupt system on the 68HC12 (the processor used in the class). This paper made the 3rd lab very simple and easy to accomplish because it used the interrupt system which we had just written a paper about. The final project was very difficult because of memory issues with the processor. Luckily, Cedric, Loren, Matt, Linda, and James are all very competent TAs, and with their help, our group was able to finish the program early. If any group needed help on their project the TAs were there during every scheduled lab section to help them out by giving suggestions of how they (the TAs) implemented a particular aspect of their pong program. Cedric, the head TA, even went to the extent of knocking off part of the requirements because some groups were having problems implementing them.

Occasionally, Professor Panetta makes a minor mistake on the board (usually with binary numbers). This is almost immediately corrected by a number of people sitting in the classroom. Anyone paying attention when these corrections are announced can easily fix their notes.

Professor Panetta?s exams are very difficult, and if you don?t come to class and pay attention it is very easy to do poorly on them. Her exams are a learning experience because she takes something that you already know and applies it to something new. I?ve heard many people say that Dr. Panetta doesn?t know how to teach. These are often the people who do poorly on tests and quizzes and skip class. I can assure you that Dr. Panetta is an excellent teacher.

Professor Panetta is also a very easy person to get in touch with. She always answers her email promptly and has office hours after every class in case anyone has any questions or concerns.

I highly recommend her as a Professor and a networking tool for anyone who wants to seriously get into industry.

Workload:
Homework was busywork, but helped reinforce what as learning in class.

review a class you took with Karen Panetta! | view all reviews for Karen Panetta (16)