Idk who will actually read this since all MSE majors have to take this class, but it might as well be documented how much of a mess this class was in winter 2022

This class needs to be redesigned. Pozuelo basically said hurry up and pick a project with little guidance whatsoever, but we quickly learned that if you're not characterizing something metallic or alloy-based, there is pretty much no equipment available to do the necessary tests to identify your materials. However, if you pick something not containing metals, she seems to be much more chill with presentation feedback since apparently if she doesn't have much experience with your topic, she won't have much criticism for you (or helpful feedback). Since my group was analyzing a polymer structure, we basically suggested wildly complicated and lowkey bunk characterization methods that she didn't have enough knowledge about to question, and we did pretty alright lol. If you pick metals, which she knows very well, she will probably rip your presentation apart regardless of quality, picking apart the most meaningless things. The papers end up being stupidly long and you will likely end up with absurd levels of criticism for formatting things that don't even stay consistent between the mid-quarter and final report. Your final report will basically be the same thing as the mid-quarter report except with way more sources and maybe a bit more data

Ultimately, the department is trying to get this class accredited by ABET after it lost its accreditation a couple years ago, so if the prof is pushing for things that seem trivial and meaningless, that's probably why. This class needs more clarity and direction if she's going to be so picky about everything