Dr. Matoza is super knowledge in his field, and that shows in his lectures. Most of our class time was spent deriving equations that helped us understand the fundamentals of what we are working on during lab sections. There are no exams for this class, but that means you should dedicate your time into the labs to earn a good grade.

Optional midterm, mcq. Weekly homework -- some math! Weekly extra credit for up to 7% on total class grade. Attended section/lecture 1 time each. Stopped attending lecture because prof is very hard to understand -- spoke very quickly w strong accent + lisp. Otherwise highly recommend!! Best science GE for humanities majors :)

Pretty cool class! Lectures can get a bit information-heavy and dry at times but overall, a solid choice for a GE. Professor Matoza is super knowledgeable in his field as well. Grading was clear and assignments are manageable!

Professor Matoza is great. His lectures are super clear and concise, and he gets right to the point. He derives a lot of equations, which I think is super helpful, and shows you where he gets all of his information. The labs were pretty dense (lots of hours of work), but they were really cool and applicable to real-life geophysical problems.

You can tell he's passionate about his work and loves to share. His lectures are interesting/informative, but not too overwhelming. The class was intriguing(not to mention the easiest class I've taken at UCSB). Took no notes and never opened the book, just showed up to lecture and paid attention (most of the time); tests are super straight forward.

Prof. Matoza was amazing! I really enjoyed his class. You do not need to purchase the book to do well in the class, just go to the lib and borrow the book that is on reserve. I thought this class was amazing and I definitely recommend it to everyone. He also offers extra credit which is amazing and it can really help your grade.

For the first quarter teaching Volcanoes and Humans, the course went extremely smooth. Prof. Matoza is such a blessing when it comes to his grading. His finals and midterms are very straight forward and he gives you enough prep with study guides beforehand - if you skip lectures (like I did lol) I would definitely suggest looking over slides

I really enjoyed Prof. Matoza! He is a great lecturer and an extremely fair grader! He offers extra credit every week. The sections are not mandatory, but are useful because you can ask questions and complete assignments. HIGHLY recommend if you need an Area C GE. He's a great professor!

I love this class! Sure lectures can get boring sometimes but the class itself is so cool. He's very passionate about his work which makes going to lecture nice. Offers extra credit each week and posts slides online. You don't need the book bc everything is in the slides. Super chill, easy and interesting class . def recommend!

This was his first time teaching Earth11 and this was the first time the class was introduced. Very easy. He posted the slides on gauchospace and pretty much read off the slides, adding bits of information here and there. Homework due every week, but very doable. He offers lots of extra credit, so that was nice. Super smart, and I enjoyed the class

Lectures are so boring even though the professor seems so nice. I barely went, just to get the extra credit, and I still got an A in this class. Best area C you take for the GE requirement it was honestly so easy. SO many chances to make up points and earn extra credit. Only annoying things are hw & disaster project. Still though, take this class.

Matoza is a pretty good guy, and is very interested in what he teaches. The class was a dread to go to, but gained 5% extra credit overall, and then 2% for going to section. The class was very boring but very easy. You can easily get an A with very minimal studying, or if using any studying at all. No math, but counts as a qualitative relationship.