GEO 4010 / 8980: Coupled Heat and Fluid Flow in the Crust (2005)

• The seminar was very productive and informative - especially the first 4 weeks where basic concepts were addressed to better help us unfamiliar with the material to understand.
• Martin was enthusiastic and made often dry subject matter interesting. Range of readings was excellent.
• I thought you did a good job of making the math visual, thanks.
• All in all, I thought the seminar was really good. I understand the importance of looking at earlier, groundbreaking papers, but I would have liked to see more recent or diverse applications. The lecture part was a bit long, but the general format was good and informative.

GEO 4971: Hydrogeology Field Camp (2005)

• "It was well organized and efficient with a great balance of lectures, field work, field trips, sufficient homework time, and just plain relaxing fun."
• "Excellent Hands on learning."
  
• "The field trips were very helpful in visualizing the aquifers that we were studying."
• "Amazing prof., would love to do thesis/grad school (Masters) with!"
  
• "I really enjoyed having him as an instructor, he showed a desire to connect with the students as well as faculty."
• "The material was presented clearly, and if it wasn't understood, the instructor was always there to help. It was a hard, but very interesting [course]."
• "The instructor continues to impart highly useful mathematical concepts and apply them to field situations well. He is clear, concise, detail oriented and very approachable."
• "Professor Saar is an excellent teacher - the best I've had for the subject. He explains things in a simple, clear, and interactive way and is always willing to help, no matter how small the problem. Thank you, Professor Saar!"
• The field camp was an overall very positive experience. The camp did a great job of covering all the vital hydro information while going into as much detail as time allowed on each subject."

GEO 5701: General Hydrogeology (2005)

• Very good job Martin. Keep doing what you are doing, you do it really well.
• Try to space out lectures that involve mostly equations on board. It got hard to pay attention, even if I was following along.
• I enjoyed Martin's lectures. They were very clear and he made the knowledge accessible by knowing or stating clearly the key points to understand.
• Martin, don't be afraid to teach the class at the graduate level. I felt sometimes that things were made too easy. Overall, a very good class.
• Great to have contrasting teaching styles in the class. Your section was 100x more quantitative but it all evened out.

GEO 1001: Earth and Its Environments (2006)

• Martin Saar was by far one of my favorite teachers. He has a good idea of how students learn and the class was designed with students in mind. I wouldn't change anything about this course.
• I was never much into Geo but now I love it!
• Enjoyable course. Good pacing. Topics could have been synced up better with the lab. Lecture format was informative, easy to understand and well-paced.
• It was a wonderful course. Captivating!
• Mr. Martin Saar is an exceptionally adept professor in a very difficult course to teach. Countless times I have witnessed him bending over backwards, for others and myself, to a degree I've only seen in upper-level (3xxx & 4xxx) classes. I hope he doesn't loose this passion over the years; it makes "good" into "great".
• The models that were drawn on the board throughout the semester were most helpful to me in understanding the earth's geologic processes. Ex: Faulting, Layers. Also, moving a bit quicker would keep my attention more efficiently, but pace was fine if others prefer it.
• Instructor is very knowledgable & used a variety of teaching methods which kept me interested. Good teacher.
• I love this class! Martin does a remarkable job!
• Even though it was required (+ I don't like science) this class was interesting + the instructor was good at explaining things + helping his students.
• Saar rocked. He was readily accessible for personal questions, verbally or via e-mail, which is a rarity for many professors. He was thorough in his topics and didn't leave room for ambiguity (good).
• Martin was very helpful, especially for myself because I am not good with science.
• Professor Saar made geology extremely easy to understand, as well as worth the $$ it cost to take the course. He had easy-to-read slides with great pictures & good explanations. He was the best science teacher I've ever had.
• I enjoyed this class w/ Prof Saar. Some of the quizzes were very difficult, but overall I felt he was fair, kind, knowledgeable, and approachable. I would take another class w/ him! He is very talented!
• All topics covered weren't rushed. They were equally spaced out which gave time for me to learn and not feel rushed. I like the power point presentations because they made it easier for me to learn and there were good diagrams and visual aids which helped me grasp a better understanding of the material. I enjoyed the occasional break from lectures by showing movies related to the topic. The quizzes didn't feel overwhelming with information. I learned a lot and enjoyed the course.
• Great lectures. Made course very interesting.
• The subject matter was intersting and I felt that I learned a lot. However, when quizzes rolled around I did poorly. We should have done an in-class review before quizzes. Martin was a wonderful teacher though and he is really passionate about geology.
• Saar was an exceptional Prof. He always compromised his schedule/office hours to help me prepare for quiz's & tests. He always stayed after to go over notes also.
• Great Prof! Thanks much for the knowledge :-) Yee-Haw!
• Very interesting course. Instructor taught well making material easy to undertand as well as interesting.
• Excellent knowledge of subject matter, good balance of depth and variety, interesting topics.
• He was overall a great professor. He had a good attitude and it set a good tone for the class.
• I liked the way he would make sure we all understood a topic if we had questions.
• I really enjoyed coming to lecture. The best parts were the small demonstrations that you did. They really helped to visualize on a smaller scale what the actual processes were doing in the earth. Thank you!
• Very knowledgeable, feedback on quizzes was helpful.
• I really enjoyed this class, having the ability to print out lecture outlines before class was extremely helpful. I also enjoyed the movies and the few small experiments.
• Always available when I asked for a mtg time. Very helpful in reviewing lecture notes if I missed anything.
• I really liked how the instructor set up the course. I liked the fact that he put the lecture notes online for us to printout. Also, I liked how the information that we were tested on were ultimatelly covered in class. Good job!
• It can be difficult to try and succeed in making all students happy especially in a large lecture. you seemed to show an interest in all the students in this lecture and it seemed like you really wanted everyone to do well.
• Martin Saar made this class enjoyable while learning a ton. He deserves a raise!!
• Study guides were extremely helpful, as was posting quiz grades online. I enjoyed the movies, demonstrations, and your enthusiasm on the subject.
• Martin is an exceptional instructor who helped me out a lot. I've never done well in Science until now.
• Martin was one of the greatest Professors I've had here at the U.
• Enjoyed the class and learned a lot. Easy to succeed when going to all the class. Clear idea of what was required to do well.
• Martin Saar is an excellent lecturer. He provides a great deal of information and is obviously very knowledgable of the material.
• I really enjoyed this class and your accent :-)

GEO 4971: Hydrogeology Field Camp (2006)

• Very good instructor, look forward to having him again.
• Coursework and instruction were outstanding. The content was challenging and the instructors had high expectations for the students.
• Martin is good at explaining mathematical theory behind the calculations that we do in a manner that helps students visualize the process. Sometimes he goes too fast with this, however.
• One thing that was very helpful about Martin is that he would always be walking around and checking if people needed help, rather than wait for people to come to him (even if it was just to get people to play volleyball with him). This helped me much because I would probably not have asked, and found out I did it wrong when it was returned.
• There was a lot of interest in improving the camp - for this year and the next. He was very helpful and knowledgeable about all the subjects we touched on.
• Martin is an excellent lecturer. Lectures were clear, concise, and easy to follow. One thing about camp - between instructors the same thing was often repeated several different ways, which is fine if it's technical. However, it's tiresome when talking about common sense concepts - like drill rigs are dangerous. Sometimes it felt like professors didn't trust students to be observant and responsible.
• Sometimes went too fast and I got lost but always willing to answer questions.
• Martin is patient and willing to help at any stage of a project. His enthusiasm for both the students and the subject matter is much appreciated. One comment for improvement: while aiding students, slowing down and simplifying sometimes is the only stage missing in explanations.
• If it is possible to incorporate a computer simulation or diagrams in the pump test lecture, it would go a long ways in keeping students engaged.
• Martin was easy to interact with. He makes sure that we understand what we are doing. That's very essential in a field camp to keep the interest alive. He is also available for questions all the time which is great. He also jumps in and talks about the big picture and the importance of the stuff we are doing. Most of all he makes sure that everybody is having fun and a nice field camp experience. The emphasis on significant digits was appreciable in the camp. At least we have one thing to take home for sure. The emphasis on technical writing, although good, was not enough. Also the report writing went into too much at the end with many reports to turn in and it was way too much to keep focusing on science. I hope they strike a balance in this area.

GEO 3202: Geodynamics-II: The Fluid Earth (2006)

GEO 5701: General Hydrogeology (2006)

• I found the lectures to be well organized and the information was presented clearly.
• Lectures are entertaining, Martin's obvious excitement for the material helps the student get interested as well. I really enjoyed the field trip, it's always nice to get to know people outside of the classroom setting.
• Instructor is able to give good and timely feedback to students.
• Going through calculations of the equations would be helpful in learning how the equations are used and would help us learn the assumptions that go into the equations (which is what you test on).
• Very analytical and in-depth. Smart teacher. Appreciated his concerns for students.
• Lots of equations but a good teacher.
• Good use of examples and timely sample problems to explain concepts. Theoretical understanding of GW flow concepts were helpful.
• Martin is an excellent teacher, and his knowledge in the field is highly apparent.

GEO 4971: Hydrogeology Field Camp (2007)

GEO 3202: Geodynamics-II: The Fluid Earth (2007)

GEO 5205: Fluid Mechanics in Earth and Environmental Sciences (2007)

GEO 4971W/5971: Hydrogeology Field Camp (2008)

GEO 4702 (formerly 5701): General Hydrogeology (2009)

All comments from students (not shortened):

• I liked the derivations. Very useful for my studies. Seemed well prepared.
• Handouts - topic review at beginning of class - mathematical derivations [were most helpful].
• Clear and thorough derivations.
• Martin gives excellent lectures.
• Excellent descriptions from physical laws for describing movement of water in the ground.
• He was open to questions during lecture.
• Appreciated extra credit on exam to replace strange grading system. Did feel that since the course lectures were set up to require we take good hand-notes, grading of exam should have been a little different. Some answers were given correct in terms of how other scientists view theory, etc. but because not worded exactly how want was wrong. Exam questions should be more clear too.
• I appreciated the mathematical approach to the course material. There generally isn't enough like that at this level.
• Martin was one of the most lucid professors that I have encountered. I would like to see him move faster in the course (it is a 4xxx level) and give out sample questions or homework to do. It was a wonderful experience.
• The review of the previous class section was useful but often too long. 5-10 minutes is all this review should take.
• The pace of the course during the first half of the semester seemed very slow for a 4700 level course. It wasn't helpful when we would go over a topic one day and then spend most of the next class period ewvieweing the same topic.