Surfleet, Chris  

for ERSC 202. Surfleet certainly knows his stuff, and I found this class absolutely fascinating! His labs were confusing unorganized and graded very harshly, and he isn't the most approachable guy, but I enjoyed his class. hopefully he can get better at organization. Overall pretty good

Well, the below comments are quite rude. Dr. Surfleet is really helpful. I have him for lecture and lab. He is new to poly and a little shaky in his lecturing, but he realizes that so he gives opportunities to redo you hw sometimes and is super helpful in office hours. Another really awesome thing is he is super super super approachable. He also really values his students. You may get irritated when he messes up an example problem, but ask him to go back over it during office hours or something and he literally will spend as much time as it takes explaining it till you learn it. He is also naturally very good at recognizing a student is having difficulty understanding and will try different teaching techniques for different learning style. For example he asked me if I understood this concept, I kind of did but had a hard time putting it together. He drew it on the board and and explained it super clearly. Seeing it visually really helped. Once this guy gets a bit more practice with his lectures he will really be a gem of a professor in the FNR department. also I am technically a senior taking this course...But this is my second quarter at poly #transfer student

I had him his first quarter teaching, ever. To be honest, he sucks at explaining things and dumbing them down to a level I could understand. But, he's super approachable and willing to help. I think once he learns to teach and explain things, he'll be a pretty good teacher.

This class is so insanely easy, do yourself a big, fat favor and try to test out of the lecture portion. You just have to get a 90% on the final exam in the first two weeks. Did you pass high school geometry? You can do it!! He even shows you a previous final exam beforehand. Lab is also not difficult.

He's new, loves Hawaiian shirts. He goes fast, but the info isn't so advanced you sit there with your jaw hanging. Tests are straightforward making sure you understand key concepts and can apply info to some basic theoretical situation. Group project at the end is annoying as hell since you spend all of dead week either presenting or critiquing, but aren't all group projects like that?

Hey surfleet, explain your fucking labs better you cock sucking homo

Hey Surfleet, welcome to poly but we want Scott back

Don't brake check your students next time...

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Dude, I don't know who wrote the reviews below me for Surfleet, but they are idiotic. He wasn't EXCELLENT. Got confused a lot with material, but tried to work through it. The real problem was that Pillsbury is an ass who is trying to force Surfleet to teach the class in the exact same way that he teaches it. Look, Surfleet is kind of awkward but he's a really nice guy who really wants people to learn. He's also a lot easier than Pillsbury and if you actually pay attention you will still learn the same information without having to slave over lab reports in the same way. Either way it doesn't ACTUALLY matter because he is probably the only one who will be teaching 320 from now on. with him, 320 wasn't a difficult class, while still being informative, and the field trip wasn't a nightmare. I'm honestly not in a position to ask for much more. Oh plus he actually teaches you how to do things the way you will do them if you go into the field instead of making you do everything out by hand.

Surfleet is a super nice guy, but he is definitely a new teacher and it shows sometimes. I have heard horror stories about taking NR 320 with Pillsbury, but it's really not bad at all with Surfleet because he basically took Pillsbury's curriculum and took out the worst and most tedious parts of it so you aren't wasting your time on stupid things. The labs are pretty cool and you get to be outside a lot, as well as use GIS which is pretty helpful to know how to do. He's not the best at explaining things, but will always make sure to go back and try to explain it better if you ask. Not the best teacher I've ever had, but I don't dread going to his lectures or labs and I feel like I'm actually getting something out of the class.

Starting with presenting course material, Surfleet gets a D. He breezes through his labs extremely quickly, so if you are unaccustomed to his teaching speed, you might be left behind. Fortunately, his lab manual provides a decent explanation of things and you can work through the lab outside of class on your own time. If you have trouble keeping up with his lecture and explanation speed, expect to do a lot of reading and work on your own time. However, if Surfleet isn't strapped for time in moving through his lecture material, he is rather nice about explaining things and troubleshooting individual problems with his labs, so he get a B in regards to dealing with student difficulties. Overall, his courses offer a fairly high conceptual rigor and detail, and you should expect to do a good deal of work. Whatever you do, don't miss his labs and lab reports; you can't pass his class unless you attend and complete all his labs.

Dr. Surfleet expects a lot from his students. Being a difficult concentration and an upper division class, he expects strong lab reports on a weekly basis. His lectures/powerpoints are all in the class manual and he's kind of all over the place on jumping around on topics. He is very knowledgeable from his work experience but doesn't always convey the content in the best way. He cares a lot about the material and is accommodating in office hours. Lab reports makes up almost half of the grade with 2 midterms, a few reading assignments and a final. The weekend field trip is actually really cool and there isn't a huge paper that follows the trip.

Surfleet is insanely knowledgeable in the subjects he teaches, and makes sure you know that by patronizing you when you ask a question that isn't up to his standards. This class is cool because of the labs and their correlation with GIS and the trip to Swanton, however Surfleet was very rude and didn't create an environment that made the class enjoyable a lot of the times. The tests are all open notes but the course pack he makes you buy (because he authored it so he can get his commision check) leaves out a decent amount of the material he puts on his tests so take more notes than are just in the course pack. Good luck!

A lot of people complain about Surfleet but I really enjoy his classes! I feel like they are the most central courses I have taken for the Hydrology concentration and have taught me most of what I know. Both 320 and 420 are definitely challenging and can be stressful at times, especially the 320 lab reports and 420 watershed assessment but they go over skills that I think will definitely be useful in the field. I really like the labs and field trips we have where we practice stream surveys and habitat assessments. Overall, super fun but make sure you set aside a solid amount of time for work outside of class. Also, I thought the tests were super easy (they are all open note) just make sure to be specific in your answers and make sure you can do the calculations he goes over in class.

Dr Surfleet is a solid professor. He does a good job lecturing and has some good trips to actual streams for learning purposes. This class also has the trip to Swanton which is long and tiring but fun. Dr Surfleet struggles at times with calculations during lecture, but he does a fairly good job fielding questions. Oh also labs can be pretty hefty. I'd recommend putting high effort into the first few because they get progressively harder. All in all he's a friendly guy and I'd recommend the course.

Dr Surfleet presents the material in a way that is applicable to real world experience. He's very aware of the professor/student relationship boundary and his lectures may seem a little awkward because of that but he packs them full of information. His exams are open notes but you should still study/prepare for them. This class has a decent amount of outside work but all of it helps you to understand the material better. One of my favorite professors at CalPoly, he really does know what he's talking about. There's a weekend lab up at Swanton that gives you the hands-on that you need to really have the lessons hes taught throughout the quarter sink in. Dr Surfleet really likes incorporating GIS in his labs to show how watershed delineation can be done both in and out of the field. If you don't feel super comfortable with GIS, his labs walk you through it step by step so you can always review at your own time if you want to (not tested on it). He's always super prepared and really advocates for student involvement in lectures. Whenever I ask questions I feel like they're received well and he gives thoughtful responses. Overall would recommend taking watershed with Surfleet!

I entered Cal Poly and was in professor Surfleets FNR 215 Class. That was one of my first classes at Cal Poly. Little did I know, it was also Professor Surfleets. That class was not very well organized, and understandably so, it is not easy to start out as a teacher and know exactly how to handle every situation, that is something that takes years to do. At the time, I did not like the way he taught things and was disappointed in the class. 4 years later as a graduating senior, my thoughts have changed. I have taken various classes with professor Surfleet, such as NR 320, 420 and another watershed oriented class, and I can say this, with every quarter, the structure and classes have been improving. Keep in mind, although his classes are challenging and I have never gotten higher than a B in his class, I respect him as a teacher.