UCSB “Dynamical Systems” – Course Syllabus
ME 103, Fall 2026
Instructor: Francesco Bullo

SYLLABUS

This is the syllabus for the UCSB course ME 103 “Dynamical Systems”, Fall 2026.

This information is always available and updated at the URL http://motion.me.ucsb.edu/ME103-Fall2026/syllabus.html.

Textbooks and Reading Material

I will follow my lecture notes “Lectures on Dynamical Systems”. I will cover one chapter per week, with the exceptions of Chapters 4 and 5 which are a bit longer.

For additional reading I recommend:

How to turn in homework + late homework policy

Homework is submitted via Gradescope.

No late homework will be accepted without prior approval. Approval is automatic the first three times you ask: to announce late homework you must send email to the lead TA Abed Musaffar by midnight the day before <abed@engineering.ucsb.edu>.

Beginning with the second late homework, late homework will automatically lose 20% of the grade and no late homework will be accepted after 11:59pm two business days after the deadline.

Homework formatting

1. One Exercise Per Page: For clarity, please answer each exercise on a separate page. Gradescope allows you to associate each page with the corresponding question, which will help streamline the grading process for the TAs.

2. Box Your Final Answers: Be sure to draw a box around your final answers. Last year, it was sometimes challenging for the TAs to determine your final answers, which made grading more difficult. Clearly marking your final answers will help avoid confusion and help the TAs give you partial credit.

How to request a clarification about homework grades

If you have any concerns or clarification requests about a grade you received, you must submit the re-grade request within 1 week from the moment the grade is made available.

Please include a careful explanation and all relevant dates and facts: send a single email to the lead TA and Professor Bullo.

No homework/midterm re-grade requests will be considered during and after the final exam week.

Week 1: Mon Sep 28 and Wed Sep 30

• Reading Assignment: FB Chapter #1

• Homework Assignment #1, due on Wednesday Week 2, at 11:59pm, on gradescope:

  • E1.8 “Finding typos in Python code”,

  • E1.9 “Phase portraits, equilibria, and stability of a nonlinear system”,

  • E1.10 “Understanding phase portraits”, and

  • E1.11 “One-dimensional phase portrait”

Week 2: Mon Oct 5 and Wed Oct 7

• Reading Assignment: FB Chapter #2: Not yet assigned

• Homework Assignment #2, due on Wednesday Week 3, at 11:59pm, on gradescope:

  • E2.3 “Mechanical modeling of a muscle”,

  • E2.7 “Rigid versus freely moving supports”,

  • E2.8 “Equations of motion for the roll dynamics of a ship”, and

  • E2.11 “Gear train with three gears in contact”

Week 3: Mon Oct 12 and Wed Oct 14

• Reading Assignment: FB Chapter #3: Not yet assigned

• Homework Assignment #3: due on Wednesday Week 4, at 11:59pm, on gradescope:

  • E3.1 “Heat transfer problems in surfing”,

  • E3.4 “Heat and fluid flow in a water heater”,

  • E3.5 “Linearization of a mass-spring-damper system with a nonlinear spring”, and

  • E3.6 “Equilibrium points and linearization of the water tank dynamics with input”

Week 4: Mon Oct 19 and Wed Oct 21

• Reading Assignment: FB Chapter #4: Not yet assigned

• Homework Assignment #4-a on Section 4.1 and Section 4.2, due on Wednesday Week 5, at 11:59pm, on gradescope: Exercises

  • E4.3 “Laplace transforms #3”,

  • E4.4 “Inverse Laplace transforms #1”, and

  • E4.5 “Inverse Laplace transforms #2”

Week 5: Mon Oct 26 and Wed Oct 28

• Monday (and possibly Wednesday) of Week 5 dedicated to Chapter 4.

• Homework Assignment #4-b on Section 4.3, Section 4.4 and Section 4.5, due on Monday Week 6 (Nov 2), at 11am, before class, on gradescope: Exercises

  • E4.8 “Solving a differential equation via the Laplace transform #3”,

  • E4.9 “Solving a differential equation via the Laplace transform #4”, and

  • E4.11 “Free response of undamped harmonic oscillator”

• Reading Assignment: FB Chapter #5: Not yet assigned

Midterm Week 6: Mon Nov 2 and Wed Nov 4

• Monday: Chapter #5

• Tuesday office hours: Review and discussion of homework solutions (Chapters 1-4)

• Midterm on Wednesday Nov 4th

Week 7: Mon Nov 9 and Wed Nov 11

• Revised second half of Chapter #5: Not yet assigned

• Homework Assignment #5: due on Wednesday Week 8, at 11:59pm, on gradescope:

  • E5.1 “From poles to transfer function and differential equation”,

  • E5.6 “From complex conjugate poles to canonical parameters and functions of time”,

  • E5.7 “Pendulum-tuned mass damper”,

  • E5.9 “Oscillatory response of an aircraft wing to turbine-induced vibrations”,

  • E5.13 “Transfer function of building system”

Week 8: Mon Nov 16 and Wed Nov 18

• Reading Assignment: FB Chapter #6: Not yet assigned

• Homework Assignment #6: due on Wednesday Week 9 at 11:59pm. We will accept without penalty by Monday Week 10 (Monday November 30th) at 11:59pm, on gradescope:

  • E6.1 “Low-pass and high-pass filters”,

  • E6.2 “Mass-spring-damper system connected to a moving point”,

  • E6.3 “The undamped vibration absorber”,

  • E6.7 “Beating in weakly-coupled identical harmonic oscillators”

Thanksgiving Week 9: Mon Nov 23 and Wed Nov 25

• Online lectures on Monday and Wednesday

• Online office hour by Francesco on Tuesday

• Reading Assignment: FB Chapter #7: Not yet assigned

• Homework Assignment #7: due on Wednesday Week 10, at 11:59pm, on gradescope:

  • E7.4 “Closed-form of first-order system with proportional and integral control”,

  • E7.5 “Properties of integral control”,

  • E7.6 “Integral control of first-order systems”,

  • E7.8 “An example block diagram”

• (Thursday Nov 26 is Thanksgiving)
  

Week 10: Mon Nov 30 and Wed Dec 2

• (5 minutes for in-class course evaluation)

• Reading Assignment: FB Chapter #8: Not yet assigned

• No homework assignment on Chapter 8

Marked slides or additional content

• empty for now

Final's Week

• Final Exam: Thursday, December 10th from 12pm-3pm.