Excellent course. Vinay Goyal has extensive background in finite element methods in the aerospace industry and is probably the best person imaginable to teach the course. He is able to teach the material in a very practical way through many Abaqus tutorials while still getting you knowledge of all the theory. He is an engaging lecturer. For anyone desiring to work as a mechanical engineer in the aerospace industry, or as a stress analyst, this class is a must take. The workload can be a bit more than average, but there is a ton of extra credit offered and it isn't difficult to get an A.

Definitely the best mechE class I’ve taken at UCLA so far. Professor Goyal is extremely knowledgeable on the topic and I think the fact that he is still working in the industry means that he has interesting and applicable examples for all the concepts that he teaches. I think the class is structured in a way that you are constantly being refreshed on past concepts. Additionally, the projects are long and tedious but they really make you understand the concepts behind your FEM algorithms. He also records all his lectures and they’re posted on YouTube, which is nice because you can reference them in the future as well. He is very understanding of student circumstances, and the quarter I took it he gave us extra credit for watching inspirational videos and writing down what we learned from them. He is overall a great and caring professor.

By far both the greatest class I've taken at UCLA, but also by far the most workload. Many of the concepts can be pretty "mathy" but the projects that he assigns (1 project every other week) are really awesome projects ranging from aircraft wing analysis, fuselage buckling, launch vehicle analysis, composite analysis, all of which are straight from his connections with industry. If you want to learn something useful that will conglomerate all of what you've learned in your undergrad thus far, take this class without a doubt, but be sure you're seriously willing to put in upwards of 10-15 hours of work a week.
PS No final or midterms, just 5 homeworks, 5 projects, and alot of extra credit

Goyal is such a great professor! Definitely requires a lot from students but I have learned so much about engineering in general and how to set up problems and what to look for. how to question results. analyze results. why safety is important. Goyal is funny, witty, and interactive with students. sometimes intimidating. a lot of work in the class but you'll definitely feel that rewarding feeling after taking his course. great that he provided many extra credit opportunities to help us students manage time and earn that A.