ECE-542
HOLOGRAPHY & COHERENT IMAGING
Not in Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that teaching clarity stands out. Best for students who want a structured class rather than chaos. The sample is still thin, so treat this as directional rather than definitive.
DepartmentELEC&CMP
Terms offeredFall
Typical enrollment10–10
Semesters of data1
4.5
Hrs / week
6
Responses
10
Enrollment
60%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
5.0
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
5.0
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
5.0
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
3.5
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysislow
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 18 comments across 1 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that teaching clarity stands out. Best for students who want a structured class rather than chaos. The sample is still thin, so treat this as directional rather than definitive.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Lighter lecture burden
Student comments describe this as more discussion-, seminar-, or workshop-driven than lecture-dependent. The lecture burden itself does not sound like the main source of friction.
Strengths
• Teaching clarity stands out; students repeatedly say the material is explained clearly and effectively.
• Discussion is a clear strength; students repeatedly describe the class conversation as engaging and useful.
• Readings, films, or outside materials come up repeatedly as a real strength rather than filler.
Tradeoffs
• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who want a structured class rather than chaos.
Watch out for
• Most of the signal comes from a limited sample, so be careful about over-generalizing.
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
I had a much deeper understanding of Coherence, learned the principle of holography and how to generate CGH
Fall 2023 · Gehm, Michael
A foundational understanding of tradeoffs between incoherent vs. coherent imaging systems; history and progression of holography methods; hands on experience of concepts like speckle statistics and generating Fourier holograms via coding simulations.
Fall 2023 · Gehm, Michael
I learnt about basic holography techniques and how to build/demonstrate specific holograms. I learnt about the history of holography and about the most recent advances in holography.
Fall 2023 · Gehm, Michael
Holography- different types, history, theory
Fall 2023 · Gehm, Michael
We learned about coherent imaging (specifically comparing incoherent, partially coherent, and fully coherent theories) and applications in holographic imaging. Within the realm of holographic imaging, we discussed the underlying theory as well as how to apply techniques in a research context, and debated the pros and cons of different techniques for coherent and holographic imaging.
Fall 2023 · Gehm, Michael
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2023 | Gehm, Michael 4.0Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.0Difficulty3.6Would retake80%Based on 5 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 5.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 10 |
Instructor
Gehm, MichaelELEC&CMP
Also teaches
ECE-270DL FIELDS AND WAVES3.7ECE-543 STATISTICAL OPTICS4.3