Special Effects O'Reilly's freshman seminar explores Hollywood's most dramatic special effects For 15 weeks, one hour each week, mechanical engineering professor Oliver O'Reilly takes his ME 24 freshman seminar students to the movies. We want to analyze each situation to ask how realistic the scenes are from a mechanics perspective. If Hollywood gets it right, we want to know how they did it. Some of the questions we ask in this seminar will be answered throughout the students' next four years and beyond.
Freshman seminars are classes that professors offer beyond their routine teaching assignments.
Generally not part of the required curriculum, these one-unit seminars offer students a chance to study a wide range of enriching, provocative engineering issues. Topics range from exploring the materials that make one musical instrument's tone dark, another's vibrant, to discussing the ethical issues arising from weapons proliferation. At the same time, the seminars are designed to make the University a more intimate place for students, and to provide them close contact with professors at an early stage in their careers. 7F 2000 UC Regents.