He's such a sweet, helpful guy who made me genuinely interested in Earth Science! Lab sections often tricky but just ask the TA for help & be detailed in your answers. Lecture slides, your main study method, are uploaded after class but you might need to look up some definitions. iClicker partially graded on correctness so be alert during lecture!

Such a sweet guy! Clear on what's expected, uses iclickers, but they're easy points. Used the textbook maybe twice, definitely not necessary if you take good notes during lecture. Midterm and final multiple choice/one word answers, not hard. He actually made ma care abt geology and you can tell hes enthusiastic, and cares you understand

The labs take forever, the midterm is so long and free response, he doesn't even release the midterm key after students have taken it, he doesn't upload any lectures online, he writes all his lectures out on the board. HE IS TERRIBLE / TOUGH, this should be a 5 unit class with the way he teaches it. DO NOT TAKE HIM

Geomaterials is a very difficult class and the labs are unnecessarily long, however, Matt is the hardest professor to teach this class. He tests you every week on chemical formulas (not that bad but he pulls formulas from week 1 in week 8), the labs are so long and the TAs grade very hard, and the midterm was 5 pages of free response! AVOID

Matt Rioux is one of Earth Science's real gems. He is so caring and in the field he really wants you to learn and helps along the way. (He even climbed behind me as we scaled a mountain to make me feel safe). You learn so much from him and he really cares about his job and students. Also, he climbs mountains like no other, in Matt we trust.

Matt is the most caring professor I've ever had the pleasure of learning from. He knows when the class isn't understanding a concept and is willing to re-explain until we get it. His exams are fair and he is willing to answer all of your questions during the lecture and if not, then after class. ALL Earth Science students love Matt!!!

Really nice & you can tell how interested he is in the subject matter! Engaging lectures & really wants to help you out if you just ask. Tests are based more on lectures than on textbook.

Great guy! Really knowledgeable and wants students to understand, but also understands not everyone is a geology major. Mandatory field trip to the mountains--turned out to be really interesting and helped with material. Walks around asking for questions before exams. Very clear about what's expected. Wish he taught more classes in Earth dept!!