Students’ comments – Vu Thai Luan

Mississippi State University:

MA 8483: Numerical Solution of ODEs I ( a group of PhD students)

“4.15) Please share additional comments about this course.

I learned a great deal in this class, and the teacher was always very well prepared and enthusiastic about the coursework. I think the class would benefit from additional examples during class or provided for additional reference material.

First, he is very intelligent. My problem was he is fast explain the martial. Also many coding problem take forever.

Need more excises and more project work for this course. Besides that, the course is great.

“

MA 2743: Calculus IV

“4.15) Please share additional comments about this course.

Amazing professor and one of the best calculus teachers I’ve ever had. 100% would recommend him to anyone needing a cal teacher. Was always super nice, gave fair assessments of our learning, and seemed to genuinely care for his students. Also always made himself accessible outside of class and was always willing to answer questions and explain things.

Great class

Greatly enjoyed the course. I feel Cal IV really ties together the previous Calculus courses and shows practical applications for the subject material.

I had a great time this semester Professor Luan! I know that if I have you in any higher level math classes or if I have the chance to recommend you to any other students that you’d be a great teacher!

I have taken all four calculus classes at Mississippi State and I think this has been the best. I loved Professor Luan and would definitely recommend him and this course!

Thank you for helping to understand this course. I failed it last semester and I am extremely pleased this semester. Great teaching method.

Great teacher, but just goes through material too fast.

Demontrates great understanding. Only criticize may be to slow down his lecture.

“

University of California, Merced:

Multivariable Calculus (Calculus III)

“3.1) What do you like most about the course and instructor?

He goes through each concept very thoroughly and gives alot of examples, which are very helpful. Also at the beginning of each class he reviews what we talked about the last class so that we remember it better, and this is very helpful. Also the practice midterms were very helpful for reviewing before exams.
He is always available for consultation outside of the classroom. Also he understands that students have multiple classes so he makes the class not work heavy while still challenging us and making sure that the concepts are understood.
He was very good at giving us opportunities to do well in class.
I enjoyed his lectures very much. I haven’t had a math professor who is so well organized as he is. His notes are hand written (not just slides that are copy and pasted from the textbook like many other professors) and he makes sure he can teach us the concepts in the easiest and most effective way possible. Professor Vu Thai Luan is great at teaching calculus 3 and I hope he teaches more classes in the future because I highly consider taking him again. Calculus 3 has been by far my favorite class this semester and I am taking eng 155, physics 9 and writing 10 this semester too.
I like how helpful Professor Luan is. He wants his students to do well.
I like how the instructor tried to incorporate the topic we trying to learn into real 3-D.
I like that Luan is more than willing to help the students learn and truly want them to succeed. Also, Luan shows enthusiasm towards the material and wants the students to grasp the concepts conceptually, not just memorizing formulas and theorems. Overall, one of the better math teachers I have had, but the class is just difficult.
I liked how help was almost always available and I love how enthusiastic the instructor is about the course! He gave plentiful of examples and always clarified things that were unclear. He was extremely effective at teaching this course and explained the concepts extremely well!
I liked that he made a very hard class easier to comprehend. He did everything and a little bit more to make things clear as possible.
I liked that in this class I was able to use all of the math that I had learned prior and tie it all together. I also appreciated all the time that Luan took to make sure we understood the subject material in class and asked questions to emphasize certain topics.
I likes that the professor really cared about his students. He would go above and beyond to try to give students a lot of opportunities to improve their grade. He really cares about students passing his class. I enjoyed going to his lectures.
I really enjoyed the his way of teaching new concepts, he explained how this new concept tied together with other concepts.
Instructor was enthusiastic and cared about students doing well in the class. He gave everyone a chance to pass even though many struggled with the subject (myself included).
Passionate and enthusiastic about teaching the course. Knowledgable on the subject matter.
Professor Luan is a very good professor. He cares a lot about his students and he really wants everyone to pass, but you have to work hard for it. He is a good teacher; a lot of students say Math 23 is the hardest math class in this school. It is hard, but having Luan as a professor, I actually learned well and felt prepared. He gives a lot of opportunities for students to receive extra credit because he knows how hard the course is. He even posts the discussion quizzes a week in advance so students can work on them and study. I felt very prepared for all the midterms. It is just up to the student to jump at those opportunities. Going to his office hours help a lot. He is a very nice professor and cares about his students. I would love to have him as a professor again.
Respectful and very clear about subject matter needed to be known
The subject matter is interesting to me, and Luan is very nice. He works hard to engage the class during the lectures. He is also very fair in grading and his exams are never unexpected.
What I like most about the course was the new concepts that deal with triple integral.. A year ago I did not know there existed such thing as triple integral until I started hearing about Vector calculus. Although I heard its one of the most difficult undergrad classes one can take, the way the professor made things as clearly as possible in class helped me in my learning. The professor always came in lecture and tried to make us participate with him in order to see if we were understanding the past material. He always tried to make things as clear as possible and encouraged us to attend his office hours more for clarification on certain topics.
What I really like the most about Math 23 is that the professor provides sufficient amount of examples to understand the concepts of a topic and how to solve a problem. I also like very much that the professor gives the quiz a week before because it gives me time to think and solve it. Having the quiz a week before also gives me chances to go to office hours if I don’t understand the questions. The professor himself is great and I like how he encourage the class to remember what we learned from previous lectures in the beginning of the class. I also like how he tries his best to help the whole class which shows me that he really cares about his students. Overall, both course and professor are great !
professor Thai Luan was always willing to help during his office hours and offer many opportunities and tools to pass his class. Also he does really good good exam reviews.

“

Linear Algebra and Differential Equations

“3.1) What do you like most about the course and instructor?

Professor Luan is very, very knowledgeable about Linear Algebra and Differential Equations. His research uses it, so his lectures are very accurate. He has a structure to his lectures and a student can predict how each class will go. He spends about 15 minutes reviewing previous material, 20 minutes doing “Motivation” which introduces a problem where the new concept could be used to solve it, then about 15 minutes giving new material. Occasionally there is also a quiz. Students know how the class is going to run and it helps everyone follow along.
Professor Luan explains things very logically, and always follows up his explanations with examples and opportunities for class participation to make sure we understand each new idea. He also put an emphasis on attending office hours and is always willing to go through homework or in-class problems there.
The instructor honestly wanted everyone to learn in his classroom; he even went out of his way to wake up those who were asleep during lecture. The instructor made sure we understood the material before proceeding to the next section.
He has very good mastery of material and it aids in the clarity of his explanations.
I like how much the instructor knows about math. The work he does outside of the course is really cool. Office hours are a good tool to better understand material.
I liked that he offered very interacting lectures, where students are able to obtain extra credit from answering questions. In general, all the extra credit opportunities were great. I have taken this class twice, and both times it proved to be very difficult. This time, however, Professor Luan managed to incite my interest in the material and therefore (hopefully) pass this class the second time around.
I liked the applications that were taught. The class was very interesting.
The instructor was overall effective in both showing the examples and the theorems. He also showed enthusiasm in teaching the class and how it could apply in the real world. He also attempted to help the people in class who did not understand.
This is the second time I have had professor Luan for a math class. Last semester was vector calculus and I truly enjoyed his class. I have so much respect for him and admire him as a teacher because he truly cares about us being able to understand the curriculum. Instead of copying and pasting slides from the textbook, he uses his own notes that are concise and straight to the point on how to solve the problems. His method is to start a section in the chapter by explaining how the method came about and then highlights the aim of that day which is what we need to understand by the end of the class. The way he explains the sections is very straightforward and often asks us if we feel comfortable to move on to the next step. I enjoy his teaching a lot, as I said in the past semester, I would definitely want him as an instructor for next semester in a math class.
What I like most about this course and the instructor is how organized the lessons were and how they all connected with one another. Dr. Luan did an excellent job making the topics easy and clear most of the time.
Dr. Luan is actually one of the most outstanding teachers for this course. He gives us real life application that he used from this course and showed us how practical this course was to the real world. If the projector was working at least. Would recommend anyone to have him as the math 24 professor.

“

Numerical Analysis I

“3.1) What do you like most about the course and instructor?

He was always prepared and ready in all the lectures and assignments.

– He had office hours after every lecture, and sometimes let students stay after his office hours were supposed to end, and ask questions. And his office hours were after lecture (instead of before lecture) so that when we had any questions about a concept explained in lecture, we would follow him to his office hours and ask.
He extended a few of our assignments that were long, which was very helpful near the beginning of the semester, because we were still learning to use MATLAB, and the basics of using numerical methods.
He was really nice and easy to talk to. His explanations were thorough.
He was very good with his online notes.
The course was challenging but the instructor was good at presenting the material.
I loved this class because I have always had such a passion for archery. The arrow is truly a beautiful piece of engineering, and I never knew it had so many applications in the higher levels of math. This teacher and class will always hold a special place in my heart as I venture on after college in pursuit of my Olympic dreams to become a gold medal archer for Team Croatia. Thank you Math 131, may the arrows forever be in your favor.
Lectures were very clear and everything was well explained.
The instructor was clear with his expectations.
The instructor was very enthusiastic about the subject. Very passionate.
This course was a great introduction into numerical analysis. During lecture, the professor conveys the information well.
Very friendly and easily approachable. Definitely my favorite professor of the year.
Fantastic semester, would have no problems with Luan as my professor in the future. Keep doing the awesome work!

“

Intermediate Differential Equations

“3.1) What do you like most about the course and instructor?

Explanations were clear, concise and the notes were helpful.
He cares about students learning and is dedicated to helping them understand material.
I like how the course meshed well with my Quantum mechanics course. It was able to give me a formal mathematical introduction to the concepts that I was learning in quantum.
I like that this course ties in with many engineering applications and the professor relates both very well
I like the enthusiasm and clear explanation.
I like when he derives formulas or shows where formulas come from as opposed to making us memorize them and when he gives students opportunities to answer questions during lecture.
I love the math in this course and the professor was always enthusiastic
I really enjoyed learning about the various methods for solving differential equations throughout the course. Especially seeing how we can use Fourier Series to approximate functions and then use that approximation to find the solution of a nonhomogeneous differential equation. In terms of teaching, the instructor did a very good job of presenting the topics and giving examples to make the material clear.
I really enjoyed the instructors enthusiasm for the subject material. Professor Luan knows his stuff and truly wants us to be able to learn. I was also impressed with how committed the professor was with helping each student succeed.
The applications towards engineering that was learned in this math class The class is very interesting. Lots of real world examples.
The course is very fun. The material is interesting and the professor knows what he is talking about. Some lectures may be a little unclear at times but it is easy to follow along and the typed up notes are very organized.
I think the instructor can teach really well. His classes were well taught. especially in the beginning of each section or chapter he would go over a preview or motivation why its important. His lecture notes were also well written and easily accessible to the class.
The course showed some very interesting real-life applications and we had a homework assignment that allowed us to explore a real-life application as well. The instructor seemed to be passionate about the course and I like that he did what he could to see us succeed and help us if we did not understand the material taught in class.
The instructor had a great deal of knowledge about the subject and was enthusiastic about teaching. The instructor is very nice and welcoming. Material is very useful.
The instructor made time for his students, and the course was well organized.
What I like the most about this instructor is that his explanations were great and the way he structured his class was helpful. He was very fair with his exams and also provided a lot of help for us to do well in his class. His eagerness to make sure we did well in his class is unbeatable. He wanted everyone to be successful in his class and this ease of any tension in his class. He made sure that anyone who was struggling wouldn’t feel pressured or depressed about their grades. To be concise, professor Luan has being one of the best professors I’ve had so far.

“

Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX:

Calculus II

“4. Did any particular aspects of this course enhance your learning?

Examples, homework/quizzes, class studying.

Professor Luan’s availability outside of class and his sharing of notes on Canvas were extremely useful. • The overly frequent explanations of reasoning helped understand why a process works

He held many office hours and stayed after class to answer questions which was very nice

Homework problems are well-chosen to help practice all ideas learned in class.

Prof. Luan was extremely accessible. He provided a variety of examples to demonstrate what was being taught.

Although no one likes an in class quiz. I actually appreciated them as they were stress free and purely designed to see if you payed attention to the day’s lecture. It was a welcoming wake up call for understanding the material especially for someone not enthusiastic about math.

I really enjoyed how Mr. Luan got our class involved with lectures. Him encouraging participation increased my understanding of the course.

I enjoyed Mr. Luan’s teaching style and effort he put into the class. A very nice teacher that I should have spoken to since the beginning. I believe Mr. Luan (and any teacher in fact) should continue working on class relations. I failed to approach him throughout the semester but towards the end Mr. Luan made a gracious attempt to acknowledge me. Sometimes a simple acknowledgment is all a student needs to give them the courage to speak up… Thanks

All good for this class. Professor, Vu Thai Luan is a good professor.

Very well taught, got me into continuing math.

“

Calculus I

“4. Did any particular aspects of this course enhance your learning?

always always always available outside of class
Lecture Notes posted online did a good job as a secondary outside source with the textbook.
I learned the concepts of Calculus. They enhanced my understanding.
Professor Luan did a great job of writing notes and examples on the board which made it very easy to write the notes to use for help on the homework. He was also very helpful in office hours explaining the material. I liked having the homework and quiz due every week. It helped me practice and understand the material better and it helped increase my grade.
Professor Luan was very good about uploading extra materials such as study guides, practice tests, and extra homework problems that helped me not only achieve better results, but understand the subject material more.

“

I learned a great deal in this class, and the teacher was always very well prepared and enthusiastic about the coursework. I think the class would benefit from additional examples during class or provided for additional reference material.

First, he is very intelligent. My problem was he is fast explain the martial. Also many coding problem take forever.

Need more excises and more project work for this course. Besides that, the course is great.

“

Great class

Greatly enjoyed the course. I feel Cal IV really ties together the previous Calculus courses and shows practical applications for the subject material.

I had a great time this semester Professor Luan! I know that if I have you in any higher level math classes or if I have the chance to recommend you to any other students that you’d be a great teacher!

I have taken all four calculus classes at Mississippi State and I think this has been the best. I loved Professor Luan and would definitely recommend him and this course!

“

University of California, Merced:

Multivariable Calculus (Calculus III)

“3.1) What do you like most about the course and instructor?

He is always available for consultation outside of the classroom. Also he understands that students have multiple classes so he makes the class not work heavy while still challenging us and making sure that the concepts are understood.

He was very good at giving us opportunities to do well in class.

I like how helpful Professor Luan is. He wants his students to do well.

I like how the instructor tried to incorporate the topic we trying to learn into real 3-D.

I liked how help was almost always available and I love how enthusiastic the instructor is about the course! He gave plentiful of examples and always clarified things that were unclear. He was extremely effective at teaching this course and explained the concepts extremely well!

I liked that he made a very hard class easier to comprehend. He did everything and a little bit more to make things clear as possible.

I liked that in this class I was able to use all of the math that I had learned prior and tie it all together. I also appreciated all the time that Luan took to make sure we understood the subject material in class and asked questions to emphasize certain topics.

I likes that the professor really cared about his students. He would go above and beyond to try to give students a lot of opportunities to improve their grade. He really cares about students passing his class. I enjoyed going to his lectures.

I really enjoyed the his way of teaching new concepts, he explained how this new concept tied together with other concepts.

Instructor was enthusiastic and cared about students doing well in the class. He gave everyone a chance to pass even though many struggled with the subject (myself included).

Passionate and enthusiastic about teaching the course. Knowledgable on the subject matter.

Respectful and very clear about subject matter needed to be known

The subject matter is interesting to me, and Luan is very nice. He works hard to engage the class during the lectures. He is also very fair in grading and his exams are never unexpected.

professor Thai Luan was always willing to help during his office hours and offer many opportunities and tools to pass his class. Also he does really good good exam reviews.

“

The instructor honestly wanted everyone to learn in his classroom; he even went out of his way to wake up those who were asleep during lecture. The instructor made sure we understood the material before proceeding to the next section.

He has very good mastery of material and it aids in the clarity of his explanations.

I like how much the instructor knows about math. The work he does outside of the course is really cool. Office hours are a good tool to better understand material.

I liked the applications that were taught. The class was very interesting.

The instructor was overall effective in both showing the examples and the theorems. He also showed enthusiasm in teaching the class and how it could apply in the real world. He also attempted to help the people in class who did not understand.

What I like most about this course and the instructor is how organized the lessons were and how they all connected with one another. Dr. Luan did an excellent job making the topics easy and clear most of the time.

“

Numerical Analysis I

He was always prepared and ready in all the lectures and assignments.

He extended a few of our assignments that were long, which was very helpful near the beginning of the semester, because we were still learning to use MATLAB, and the basics of using numerical methods.

He was really nice and easy to talk to. His explanations were thorough.

He was very good with his online notes.

The course was challenging but the instructor was good at presenting the material.

Lectures were very clear and everything was well explained.

The instructor was clear with his expectations.

The instructor was very enthusiastic about the subject. Very passionate.

This course was a great introduction into numerical analysis. During lecture, the professor conveys the information well.

Very friendly and easily approachable. Definitely my favorite professor of the year.

Fantastic semester, would have no problems with Luan as my professor in the future. Keep doing the awesome work!

“

Explanations were clear, concise and the notes were helpful.

He cares about students learning and is dedicated to helping them understand material.

I like how the course meshed well with my Quantum mechanics course. It was able to give me a formal mathematical introduction to the concepts that I was learning in quantum.

I like that this course ties in with many engineering applications and the professor relates both very well

I like the enthusiasm and clear explanation.

I like when he derives formulas or shows where formulas come from as opposed to making us memorize them and when he gives students opportunities to answer questions during lecture.

I love the math in this course and the professor was always enthusiastic

I really enjoyed the instructors enthusiasm for the subject material. Professor Luan knows his stuff and truly wants us to be able to learn. I was also impressed with how committed the professor was with helping each student succeed.

The applications towards engineering that was learned in this math class The class is very interesting. Lots of real world examples.

The course is very fun. The material is interesting and the professor knows what he is talking about. Some lectures may be a little unclear at times but it is easy to follow along and the typed up notes are very organized.

I think the instructor can teach really well. His classes were well taught. especially in the beginning of each section or chapter he would go over a preview or motivation why its important. His lecture notes were also well written and easily accessible to the class.

The instructor had a great deal of knowledge about the subject and was enthusiastic about teaching. The instructor is very nice and welcoming. Material is very useful.

The instructor made time for his students, and the course was well organized.

“

“4. Did any particular aspects of this course enhance your learning?

Examples, homework/quizzes, class studying.

Professor Luan’s availability outside of class and his sharing of notes on Canvas were extremely useful. • The overly frequent explanations of reasoning helped understand why a process works

He held many office hours and stayed after class to answer questions which was very nice

Homework problems are well-chosen to help practice all ideas learned in class.

Prof. Luan was extremely accessible. He provided a variety of examples to demonstrate what was being taught.

Although no one likes an in class quiz. I actually appreciated them as they were stress free and purely designed to see if you payed attention to the day’s lecture. It was a welcoming wake up call for understanding the material especially for someone not enthusiastic about math.

I really enjoyed how Mr. Luan got our class involved with lectures. Him encouraging participation increased my understanding of the course.

All good for this class. Professor, Vu Thai Luan is a good professor.

Very well taught, got me into continuing math.

“

always always always available outside of class

Lecture Notes posted online did a good job as a secondary outside source with the textbook.

I learned the concepts of Calculus. They enhanced my understanding.

Professor Luan was very good about uploading extra materials such as study guides, practice tests, and extra homework problems that helped me not only achieve better results, but understand the subject material more.