ESE 2300
Introduction to Electrical and Electronic Circuits
Electrical energy, current, voltage, and circuit elements. Resistors, Ohm's Law, power and energy, magnetic fields and DC motors. Circuit analysis and Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws. Thevenin and Norton transformations and the superposition theorem. Measuring current, voltage and power using ammeters and voltmeters. Energy and maximum electrical power transfer. Computer simulations of circuits. Reactive circuits, inductors, capacitors, mutual inductance, electrical transformers, energy storage, and energy conservation. RL, RC and RLC circuit transient responses. AC circuits, complex impedance, RMS current and voltage. Electrical signal amplifiers and basic operational amplifier circuits. Inverting, non-inverting, and difference amplifiers. Voltage gain, current gain, input impedance, and output impedance. Weekly laboratory exercises related to the lectures are an essential part of the course.
Instructors
Daniel Rode, Dennis Mell, Jinsong Zhang, Paul Min, Tsitsi Nussinov
Reviews
Circuits was a challenging course and was loaded with a lot of coursework. Outside of that, it was very doable, and Nussinov was always there to help out, whether that was in the lab, ICE, or homework. If you put in work into the class, you'll be fine. Through her, I had a very thorough understanding of circuits. Also, exams were fair. Love her.
4/17/2026
Her passion for the subject was contagious! Even though her course was difficult, I could tell she wanted her students to succeed.
4/16/2026
Tsitsi is an amazing prof with good lectures, passion, and a caring attitude. That said, she assigns an insane amount of work to the point it becomes busywork. The labs do not need to be so much work and graded so harshly on small formatting errors. Also I did not feel they contributed much at all to my understanding. Exams are ok but a lot for 1hr
12/18/2025
Overall shes very nice and understanding. There is just way more busy work than ideal in her classes. She is also a very strict grader and generally does not make things easy even when they could be. Most weeks there was an extra thing to do that pushed the workload over comfortable.
12/11/2025
Solid professor, really cares about her students' learning and well-being. The material itself isn't too bad and she provides great notes, but there's a lot of busywork. Exams and lab sessions could allow more time, but you get a cheat sheet for exams that can get you some points back. Get ready to put in a lot of time to write lab reports.
12/10/2024
10+ hrs/week
Solid professor, really cares about her students' learning and well-being. The material itself isn't too bad and Professor Nussinov provides great notes, but there's a lot of busywork. Exams and lab sessions could allow more time, but you get a cheat sheet for exams that can get you some points back. Get ready to put in a lot of time to write lab reports.
12/9/2024
Some people say that she is a bad professor but she is actually great. Yes the material is hard but she makes sure that everyone in class follows along and makes sure that you are very prepared for the exams and labs. Amazing homework help and will guide you through the same problem 100 times if needed. Also always in a great mood. GOAT
9/13/2024
8-10 hrs/week
Great course. For electrical/computer engineering majors, it's nearly a perfect, extensive course in electrical principles.nnThere was quite a bit of work for this class. There were 5 homework sets, each with an online and written portion. The homework were spaced about three weeks apart, and for a reason as trying to complete them in a few days was stressful. There were also in-class exercises (ICEs) that covered that lecture's topic due by the next lecture. The homework and ICEs was good prep for the three midterms (the final was the last midterm during the last week of classes). Exams could be challenging, but there was automatic extra credit for bringing a cheat sheet. There were weekly labs, which allowed for hands-on experimentation. The labs weren't too difficult, but it was important to be careful so experiments didn't have to be repeated. Labs required either a lab report or lab worksheet due the next week or some time after.nnNussinov was a wonderful, knowledgable, and kind professor. Her lectures were useful, and she provided complete lecture notes on Canvas. The lectures were usually very full, so it could get a bit loud. Her office hours are very, very helpful. Nussinov would confirm answers to the written homework and ICEs if asked, and she was willing to walk through problems as well. Very helpful.
5/30/2024
8-10 hrs/week
If you put in the work, you will be able to get an A. With that being said, you have to put in a LOT of work.
5/24/2024
2 or less hrs/week
not hard to get a good grade but SO much busy work
5/22/2024
2 or less hrs/week
Lots of work, but not too intellectually challenging if you put in the time and do the work. I had Nussinov, who was one of the sweetest and most supportive professors I have had. She would be super helpful when answering questions or concerns that I had about the material, and was very insightful during office hours.
5/21/2024
There was no time to actually learn the material with the amount of lab work and hw. Too much busy work to actually understand what I was doing. That being said, because there was so much going into the grade other than tests so it was pretty easy to get an A, but if you want to actually learn circuits, it takes a lot of discipline and time.
2/17/2024
There was no time to actually learn the material with the amount of lab work and hw. Too much busy work to actually understand what I was doing.\n\nThat being said, because there was so much going into the grade other than tests so it was pretty easy to get an A, but if you want to actually learn circuits, it takes a lot of discipline and time.
2/17/2024
Prof Nussinov is an amazing and caring lecturer! You learn a lot about circuits in this class. Once you understand the material and practice problems, everything becomes natural
1/9/2024
Professor Nussinov herself is very kind and helpful. Her notes are very well-organized and the course content itself is pretty straightforward. For the class itself, there is A LOT of busy work. The homework + in-class exercises + labs take up so much time. The lectures were sometimes a bit boring/confusing.
12/27/2023
Great provided class notes. She cares a lot about individual students but her course is extremely tough. Exams are low stakes but difficult and there's a heap of homework. You'll get by if you're interested in the field but otherwise prepare to have no free time.
12/15/2023
So much busy work, but everyone gets an A. Take ESE 230 if you want to have no free time.
1/19/2023
Extremely nice professor and very helpful if you find her after class. The lectures are excellent and slow-pace. Lots of potential extra credit. However, this class has a lot of homework and a small (usually) exercise after each class. The A level is 85%. Her grading is very generous; in case your work meet all requirements, you will receive >90%.
1/17/2023
Dr. Nussinov is one of the best professors I have had at Wash U. She is incredible and really cares about her students. Her grading scale is amazing and she makes sure everyone understands the materials.
1/16/2023