Brouwers, Kevin  

On the first day of school, the first thing he said was "ummmmm, so I don't know what I am supposed to be teaching you guys so I'm going to go over the basics of Solidworks". He did not teach the class. Well he did, kinda. His entire lecture consisted of him say "sooooo, I ummmm posted the lab online. You can print it out and start on it". The only thing I learned from this professor was how to log onto my polylearn and printout the lab. Everybody had to ask the TA or people in Professor Leitzel's class for help on how to do the drawings. Also there was a 3 week delay from when we turned in a lab and when we got the lab back which caused everybody to make the same mistake three times without knowing they were making a mistake. All in all a terrible professor and please avoid if you can. If you cannot avoid this professor you should come into the class with the mindset that this is a self-taught course. Do not expect that he will teach you. Long story short, only take this class if you already know the information.

Oh man, Brouwers is probably one of the most awkward people I have ever met. He doesn't really know how to talk to people, especially students. This makes his office hours and asking him questions pretty useless. This class is half hand drafting and half solidworks. The solidworks is fine, he doesn't teach you how to use the program really, but mostly you can just google how to do something and it'll be fine. My issue with this class was the hand drafting. The topics are difficult, especially if you have never been introduced to them, all your work must be precise, down to the thickness of the lines you draw. With all this specificity, he never does examples, he tries to explain how to draw very precise things, with only words. It was incredibly difficult, plus he moves so fast so if you miss one thing, you're done for. I had such an issue with this portion of the class, and ended up teaching myself the material the night before the final. I would avoid this teacher at all costs.

Not very clear and has a hard time explaining simple things. I really hope he starts teaching better.

I'm the kind of person that would never write a bad review for a professor, I don't believe that it is okay to shred someone apart anonymously. However, after having Kevin for a few weeks and getting a feel for his teaching style, I feel this is the place and time to warn students. He is not the professor you want teaching you Design (not now at least). He has a very long way to go improving his teaching and conveying of the material. This is a very important class for mechanical engineers-- to have someone that has very little experience teaching this subject let alone a very weak, awkward, and disorganized teaching style is not good. And in lab, his assignments are not what up to par with what the lab should have-- they are small assignments that do not seem tangible to what we would be doing in the real world. Maybe he'll improve, but this transition period is a bad time to take him, especially for such an important class. If given the option, I'd wait on or take a different professor.

Ditto what the person below said. This guy lacks confidence and knowledge. One homework due a week which takes a couple of hours. One lab a week which takes a couple hours (outside of lab). Two midterms - 20% each. Have only taken the first one and it was CE 207 essentially Final - 25%? Unfortunately for the folks next quarter, he is the only "teacher" talking to the board about ME 328. My advice to those who can afford to wait to take it: Wait it out My advice to those who can't afford to wait to take it (the majority): Take a few other rigorous courses to keep your mind up to par. Don't be afraid to skip lectures. Go the first 2 weeks, realize that it isn't worth your time, and find a plan B.

Dr. Brouwers knows the content, but he can't teach to save his life. He was very unorganized and essentially cut and paste pictures and text from the book for his lectures. He skims over the basic concepts without going into depth or checking with students to see if they understand them. The class syllabus is almost 3/4 CE207 material and the homework only took around 2 hours a week. After looking forward to this class for almost three years, disappointing would be an understatement. The lab with him is only slightly better. He overviews the lab for about 15 minutes and then you're set free to do the rest. Thankfully the instructions with the lab were more clear. The software and techniques we used weren't difficult, rather just confusing.

Kevin Brouwers is the worst professor I have had at Cal Poly. I have essentially been teaching Design to myself this entire quarter. His lectures are muddled, confused and he doesn't seem to understand the class content. I come home with my labs essentially struggling through every single one since his explanations are so convoluted. Thank goodness I had Mackin for lecture otherwise I would be learning absolutely nothing. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Just take design a different quarter. Wait for a good teacher.

Terrible professor, by far the worst I've ever had at Cal Poly. There is no reason to go to lecture, the homework is very short and not representative of the exams, and he is so unorganized and so unprepared I am surprised he has survived at all in academia. How he got a position at Cal Poly beats me, he'll probably be axed soon. For everyone who sees him on PASS just wait, you'll thank me later. He is just that awful. I have already went to the department chair and complained and he doesn't wish to accept how bad this guy is. Anyone that can send Professor Meagher an email explaining how unsatisfied we are with this faculty member. AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Brouwers is just a terrible professor. He is seemingly always unprepared and basically spends every class rewriting an example hes written down on a notesheet without actually explaining anything. I'm pretty sure he would be absolutely lost if he forgot his notes one day. Homework is easy and usually doesn't represent the exams too much. His first test was about the length you'd expect from a final, and very hard. The second test was pretty simple and fair length, so I could only assume he's still figuring out how to write a proper exam. The exams are open book by the way, which makes no sense but i was not going to argue about that. As a lab teacher, he mostly just has you figure out everything on your own and gives you full credit for complete assignments. Definitely try to avoid him if you can, especially if you actually want to learn anything.

One of the best professors in the world I'd say

I'm in the class right now and just want to give my own opinion reading the other reviews. I actually like the guy- though I can't deny he has a long way to go before he will be a memorable professor in a "he changed my whole design outlook" type of way. This quarter marks his 2nd at Poly (FYI Spring '16). You can tell by talking to him that he is a thorough-bred engineer and does not do well as the center of attention. While he lacks confidence in his lecture style, this class is completely doable with him at the helm. Talking to him one on one he is more relaxed and a pretty cool guy (loves mountain biking, competes in sailing competitions). I actually like the fact that he barely grades the labs, you literally get an A for effort (if your answer is ballpark correct). For my current class load of 5 classes, that is much appreciated (he is usually OK with a little bit of late labs as well- but not HW). The book for the class (shigley mechanical design 10th edition) is one of the best textbooks I've ever experienced. I am biased because I want to be a design engineer, but the class is basically learning different equations and applying them correctly (AKA define assumptions, apply correct equation, plug and chug). In comparison to CE 207, this textbook is lightyears ahead. If you aren't lazy you can read the textbook and supplement the content yourself. Don't depend on him for correct equations in lecture, sometimes they get pretty long and nasty and he will make a subtle mistake (+ instead of -, leaves off an exponent). The lecture is only an hour long, not really long enough to cover all the equations and do example problems. I can tell he is trying to do his best to balance how to teach the class as well as find his own teaching style. YES, sometimes it is pretty painful to watch him up there flounder around with his explanations. actually reminds me of a fish on a hook sometimes. Like I said though, it really isn't that bad of a class. I'm not even an ME and I'm doing fine. If you didn't understand CE 207 or barely passed, and don't enjoy mechanical design, then you will hate this class. Like I said, I enjoy mechanical design, and you learn equations and optimization methods in lab that have heavy use in industry. Actually interesting stuff if you like it. I'm taking ME 329 next quarter, and would take the class again with Brouwers teaching it. Oh, I heard he also curves the class at the end, but I guess that remains to be seen. TL;DR Smart guy, solid engineer, has trouble conveying information. Textbook is great, just read it. Class is very manageable.

Professor brouwers simplified the material in a way that made the class fairly easy. His exams were comparable to the homework and was very straight forward about what was going to be on them. Do the homework (and understand it) and you'll do well in the class. He was also very helpful in his scheduled office hours or available to schedule a meeting. My only (negative) comment would be check the equations he writes because (like us all) he makes some mistakes sometimes. Overall a good professor and I would definitely take him again for another course.

Professor brouwers was pretty awesome. He has a quirky awkward personality that is actually pretty entertaining. His lectures are very straight forward and if you have any questions about the material covered ask him in is office hours and he will clarify! OR read your book! That's what it's there for it's really helpful. He goes over what's important over and over again and makes sure you know exactly what you need to know to do to do well on the midterms and final exam. If you don't get CE207 this class will fill in important gaps. He makes mistakes when he's lecturing and says the wrong thing or writes the wrong thing but it's usually just equations that you can just look in your book for which you should do anyway to confirm the equations are correct. People were rude during lecture laughing at him or asking him about something being wrong which we all know is wrong but it's just a minor error not worth wasting class time arguing about. he just has a hard time talking and writing the equations at the same time because he really knows his stuff as you can see in office hours. Overall good professor!

This guy is awkward and honestly has no idea how to convey information. He's a nice guy but I'm not going to Poly to be lectured by nice guys. There was no curve as far as I can tell judging by my averages, so that's also fucking dandy. During the lab, he really doesn't do much- he claimed they would be graded "like totally like a B if you like do it, like you know" but a lot of people including myself received as low as a C- on labs simply because our end answer was off. Long story short, I'm fucked for Design 2, Brouwers is nice but sucks at teaching, and try to not take it with him cuz I feel like I just know how to plug and chug equations hoping they work. Disappointed after being stoked on taking this class finally.

Read the textbook. Know your ME212/CE204/207. I think the past experience has helped him out a lot. He wasn't horrible during lecture, but he also wasn't the best. The class is definitely fair. I'd also choose Brouwers over Mase (Mase for lab was useless, but maybe he'll do better in lecture).

Dr. Brouwers is a great professor. He covers all the material needed for the exams, including 207 material. He is very helpful during office hours. He sometimes make some errors on the board, but this is not a big issue since most of the examples are in the book. This is a great opportunity to relearn the combined loading from 207. The first exam was relatively easy compared to other 300 level classes. The second midterm was pretty hard though making up for the first one. The final was straight forward and very long. Most of people took the whole 3 hours to finish it. The book is fundamental to succeed in this class. The tests are open book and we were able to use an equation sheet. The last part of the material covered (fatigue analysis) requires having the book during the final since most of the equations and the procedure cannot be written on an equation sheet. Finally, reading the book is the key to learn the material in this class.

Brouwers, get yo f***** s*** together, it feels like you don't prepare for lecture at all and have to follow your notes that suck ass. You say things like "check me if I'm wrong" and the whole class has no idea about the topic you're teaching. You write down equations incorrectly. You aren't doing that good of a job supplementing the book. Can you please spend some time preparing notes with correct equations for class so you don't have to stare and talk to the board the whole class? Also, you write reaaaally slowly, erase every single little mistake you make even if it means blocking the the board more, and you block the board almost the whole time. Write quickly, move out of the way. Please, don't be some lame-brain with a PhD, be a good professor.

Business majors: A degree for the intellectually impaired, HA HA.