Brussel, Eric  

Brussel is amazing. He knows his stuff, is very entertaining, and is extremely chill and willing to slow down and help. However, he moves at a fast pace so if you don't ASK him questions, you may be lost. But he is always kind and understanding, never makes you feel dumb, and is hilarious. He is down to earth and super helpful during office hours, I only got a low grade in this class since he doesn't really grade the homework and I didn't do enough of it to be practiced for the tests. However, like I said, make sure if he skips any steps or there is anything you don't get that you raise your hand and ask it. He will pause and clarify very well. That is the key for his class. He always tells you what types of things will be on the two midterms and the final as well. Midterms are not cumulative, the final is. Just take his class.

He is a great professor. He is engaging, takes his job seriously, and knows how to make the class fun for everybody. He's very quirky and off beat which is great for him. Sometimes he gets so into it that he goes a little fast, but if you ask questions be will be 100% willing to slow down for the class and explain it all. I have had no problems with him. TAKE BRUSSEL!

Brussel was awesome! He was able to explain subject matter clearly while also getting the class to laugh quite a bit. He'd randomly start telling a story in the middle of lecture, which I guess wasn't ideal, but was funny as hell! He has that chill surfer dude accent and style too. Oh and he's a pretty lenient grader, and often times gives partial credit during quizzes and exams.

"Without the system, we have NOTHING. Snake." "You absolutely have to know how to draw a triangle" "We brought it to life... like Pinnochio" "The group spirit is very strong in some species of hamsters" Fantastic professor who genuinely loves math. He's absolutely hilarious and grades pretty easily on the quizzes. Definitely my current favorite professor at Cal Poly.

Make sure you put in work to understand what he teaches!

Brussel is a great teacher who understands math more than pretty much anyone I have ever seen. The only criticism I have is that he moves very quickly and sometimes solves entire problems in his head without explaining well what happened. Other than that, his class is fantastic.

Brussel was certainly one of the more entertaining professors I've had at Poly. If nothing else, his demeanor makes the class interesting. Personally, though, I did not like the way it was set up. Brussel's teaching style didn't line up with my learning style so I ended up teaching myself from the book. Not a bad thing in itself, but the only grades are quizzes, a couple midterms, and the final. No homework buffer. Luckily he gives plenty of partial credit, but the grades are ambiguous till the very end so I spent most of the quarter worrying about my mediocre performance on the quizzes and tests. The final thoroughly sucked because the class is all about methods of integration. Each week you learn a new one, so the quiz is fairly trivial if you know the method. But the final is cumulative and we didn't spend enough time discussing how to determine which integration methods to use. So here you are with a toolbox of 16 methods to integrate an equation but no idea which tool to use and a bunch of random equations thrown at you. Most require multiple integrations, usually two different methods, and sometimes the problem gets uglier before it gets nicer. It was a bitch, but I still ended up with a B somehow. If I had to, I'd be fine with taking Brussel again. He's not a bad professor, and even if you struggle with his style it's not likely to hurt your grade.

Brussel is great! His jokes are funny and he's quite the interesting one. His lectures are never boring, and he's good at explaining material. However, I was in his Honors section and he breezes through the textbook material and explains the harder problems. Oftentimes, the bell rings and he's still in the middle of an example. His tests are hard, but his curve is good. If you're good at math, it's definitely worth it to take from him! Even if you're bad, he's very willing to help. Overall, a fun professor.

Take Brussel if you're the type that want to actually understand mathematical concepts and not just plug and chug. Brussel is quirky and slightly eccentric, but in a good way. He can draw (near) perfect circles on blackboards and sometimes stands back to admire his work. One time, when declaring that "the vector needs to be drawn accurately," he ran out of space and drew the vector out of the board and onto the wall. Jokes aside, he is a professor that is genuinely interested in the subject and in the well-being of his students. He tries to connect different parts of concepts and give meaning to the calculations, so he doesn't use the textbook much other than to assign homework problems. However, his way of presenting materials make the content far more digestible and cohesive. Brussel does teach at a relatively fast pace, but is always willing to stop and answer any questions. There are small quizzes every Friday that is based on the week's homework, which is usually ungraded but is helpful for drilling once you understand the material. The midterm and the final are based mostly on lecture examples and require a deeper understanding of the concepts than the quizzes do. From my understanding, his grading scheme is based on whether you have "mastered the material," which Brussel determines by how well you compare to the mean of the class and from grading your tests and quizzes. Personally, having always completed the homework and reviewed prior to quizzes to make sure I can connect all concepts taught so far, I've never worried about my grade and aced most tests. So, if you like math and is willing to put in the brain power to think and actually understand the math, take Brussel and you'll have a fun class but also learn at the same time.

Dr. Brussel is an absolutely brilliant human being let alone professor, I would recommend him to any one. He understands mathematics in a truly profound way. He is a fair grader and though his class is difficult he makes the course fascinating, and coming from someone who isn't naturally drawn to calculus this was VERY important. Probably going to be my best teacher at this school. TAKE TAKE TAKE

Professor Brussel is awesome! For one thing, he's super funny and he has some great facial expressions. You can tell he is fascinated by Math and sometimes that will lead him to try to do every possible thing he can with a problem or a graph (like ex. find the area under the curve of this sphere, not find the intersection point of it with a new sphere, now find the cross product of the intersection, then the dot product, now find the area of the plane the intersects one sphere but not the other....etc he can just keep going sometimes). He assigns homework each week but doesn't grade it, however he gives a quiz every week which is a direct subset of the homework so doing the problems helps. His quizzes are straightforward and his midterms were fair; final was a lot harder but still fair, and he gives lenient partial credit on everything. His only problem is sometimes he skips steps in problems on the board, but has no problem going back or slowing down if asked. He's super nice, very approachable and chill! I failed Calc 2 my first time and retook it with him and passed and passed his Calc 3 the first time. I hated calc, but he made it a lot more understandable and was one of my favorite classes to go to this quarter and Brussel is easily one of my favorite professors at Cal Poly!

Brussel was awesome! He makes the class entertaining and fun. He is also a very funny guy and can make Calc 3 easier to get through. He is also good at explaining things and making the concepts easier to grasp. I highly recommend taking his class!Hes a great math teacher at Cal Poly!

He is such a great professor. Not only does he care about his students and their well being in his class, he does a great job explaining the material in a fun way. Take this guy, he's great.

Brussel is the man! He's a great teacher definitely loves teaching calculus. He's also the funniest professor I've had, he likes to tell stories and he jokes around with students. His tests and quizzes are challenging, but for the most part based off of the homework (not graded, but if you don't do it you will fail quizzes). Best professor i've had so far, if you have the chance to take him there's really no other option. OMG! it's a dot product!

Brussel is the bomb. Really interesting guy, to say the least. But I think its a great thing. He really cares about us and makes sure we know what we are learning, and that its fun. He makes math more interesting than any other teacher I've had. He is also one of the smartest people I've ever met. He is very approachable. I was in his honors class and he breezed through the material, but if you work hard and go to his office hours you'll do well, as his curve is good.

This guy is great. He explains everything pretty clearly is willing to explain a concept again if there a questions. He's pretty funny and likes to go off on tangents about random stuff like number theory or life experiences. I took the honors course which was hard but he grades off the GPA scale so I was alright. If you can take his class.

I had a hard time in this class, but I don't attribute that to Brussel (I came in to the class with just AB calc from high school, while everyone else had taken BC). As a professor, he's very entertaining, and even though I didn't like getting up early enough for his class, Going to his class was always worth it. His teaching style is very conceptual, so if that isn't what you want you should probably take someone else. Homework isn't graded, but the weekly quiz questions are taken directly from the homeowrk, no changing numbers or anything else at all for quizzes. The midterm was a reasonable increase in difficulty from his quizzes, and the final was the same. When grading quizzes and exams, every question, or part of a question if it's split (question 2 parts A, B, and C for example) is graded from one to four, resulting in lots of extra credit for people who get the concepts but may have been thrown off by the algebra. In addition, there is a very generous curve applied at the end of the quarter, from what I can tell, about a ten percent bump to your grade. All in all, I highly reccomend taking Brussel, both due to his teaching, and his entertaining personality.

Professor Brussel is among the best teachers I've ever encountered. He's smart, funny, engaging, excited, smart (extremely), kind, approachable, and sometimes brutally honest. That said, his class is not easy by any measure. His lectures are fast-paced, his (graded) homework sets can be challenging, and his tests are like a slap in the face every Friday. He WILL make you a better mathematician, but it isn't going to be easy. I'm taking him for the next two quarters, and perhaps attending his office hours for the rest of my time here. He's that good. His skill in communicating difficult concepts is unrivaled, and his intellectual curiosity is always on display during class, serving to invigorate every mind in the room. As a sidenote, his skill in drawing perfect circles on the chalkboard is astounding.

I was definitely not mentally prepared for Brussel's class. He gives you a lot of extremely difficult problems that the other classes wouldn't do, and even tests on some topics that the other classes never learn. But if there's one thing I wish I would've known going into his class, it would be to ASK QUESTIONS. ASK ALL POSSIBLE QUESTIONS. He skips a lot of steps and jumps around a lot while teaching, and if you don't ask about something, he probably won't clarify anything. However, if you do ask questions he is very patient and thorough when answering them. He's the same way in office hours (although he's pretty much always about 20 minutes late), and I highly recommend going to those with any and all homework questions. He gives weekly homework, rarely collects it, and never actually grades it, but some of the problems on the weekly quizzes are straight out of the homework, so doing it is extremely beneficial. The problems on the midterm and final are usually very difficult, but (for the honors sections at least) he your final grade so that the average for the class is a B or B+. Overall, Brussel is a great professor if you're willing to ask questions, but if you don't, you're going to get lost very quickly, and not have a good time. (Even if you don't understand what he's trying to teach you, he often goes off on very entertaining tangents that occasionally relate to what he's teaching, but are usually just funny life stories, so that's a benefit of taking him too!)

Brussel is one interesting guy. Very eccentric, but very interested in math and easy to engage with. He pry has the word "Rigor" tattooed somewhere, that's how much loves it. I was in an honors section, but I still imagine he'd express and share his interest in funkier math problems. Scares you with hard quizzes and low grades throughout the quarter, reasonable increase in grades at end of quarter, to get you to master the material, but don't take that as a free pass to slack off, it don't work. TL;DR His math problems, his catch phrases, and his ghost stories are all epic.

Brussel is the man. While to some his lectures can seem confusing, he is extremely smart and covers the material completely with respect to what will be on quizzes and exams. Brussel is not only a great teacher but is one of the funniest guys you will ever meet, let alone have as a professor. Take Brussel and you will not regret it.

I absolutely love Brussel. He's incredibly smart and funny, and his class was a joy to be. He teaches quite quickly, which can be a bit difficult for some people, but he's extremely clear in what he expects from his students, even if it is sometimes a bit much. He did weekly quizzes which were tough, but a great way to determine what you needed to study and was very helpful for the midterm and final. He curves at the very end which means that your grade in the class is not what you will end up with. Depending on how your classmates do, you can potentially receive a giant bump up at the end of the quarter. His quizzes and midterms are TOUGH, but he gives a lot of good partial credit for questions that aren't 100% right. His office hours are definitely useful to help get through the hw or study for quizzes, and he answers a lot of questions in and out of the classroom which is great. His personality is awesome. He can sometimes be dry, but he tells great stories and gets along with all his students very well, and has a great sense of humor in everything. I definitely recommend him if you want to learn a lot about calc because you will learn A LOT. It might be a bit tougher than other sections, but I found it was worth it, and I enjoyed my time in his class.

Brussel is one of my favorite professors I've had. He is very good at explaining material, and makes you understand math at a fundamental, theoretical level; however, this makes his class extremely difficult. He assigns tons of homework, which is merely for practice. He doesn't collect homework for a grade (homework isn't even included in his grading policy), but you better do it because you will be lost otherwise. Super fun class to go to, even if you don't pull the grade you want

Brussel is one of my favorite teachers ever. He is super nice, super funny, and really cares about his students. I took the honors class, and while the problems were hard, Brussel will go over them in detail if you ask him to. If you are given the opportunity to take this class, do it. You wont regret it.

I really enjoyed taking Brussel's "honors" type class. It was pretty challenging, but in a good way, with Brussel offering great support in his fishbowl like office hours where you can chill and work on homework and ask him questions when needed. All his assessments will kick your ass though, but he curves them to high hell with a unique grading scale that keeps it quite fair. If you've taken AP Calc BC it'll be a plus, but I'm pretty sure you have to to get invited to the honors program thing. Even though I had a general understanding of the topics we covered already I still felt I gained a lot from the class and was challenged quite rigorously, but in a positive manner. The homework does take a bit of time each week, but he is willing to answer problem questions on the day before the weekly quiz. Also it's not so much HW that you can't do it all the day before but would seriously not recommend. Also make sure to respect him and his final.

Best Professor Ever.

Professor Brussel was a super enthusiastic and passionate teacher that made every lecture interesting and exciting. By the end of the year, our class was full of inside jokes and sayings, and I definitely learned a lot during the ten weeks. But be warned, his tests and quizzes are hard, so be prepared to put in a lot of work if you want a good grade.

Some good things: super passionate about math, tells very entertaining side stories, dressed up on Halloween, super curves the class, homework is optional, and quiz questions came from homework Some bad things: every Friday he does the "homework challenge" where he picks random people to do a random homework problem in front of the class (don't think counted towards your grade, but still made every Friday pretty nervewracking), not a very clear teacher, I had to teach myself a good amount of the material, only gives like 10 minutes to do the quiz (homework problems) and there are like 5 questions/quiz, midterms/final were fairly challenging but certainly not impossible I got scores of 67% and 75% on midterms and was shocked to see I got an A- in this class, so don't get down on yourself if you think you're doing poorly. Do the homework even though it's optional, because you can sometimes guess which hw questions he'll choose to be on the quiz so it's worth it to spend the time practicing.

Brussel knows his stuff and is definitely a cool and interesting guy. However, he went kind of quick with the material and was a bit unorganized in lecture, specifically with example problems. He's worth taking though.

One of the best math professors at Cal Poly. Linear Algebra wasn't really that challenging and Dr. Brussel made it very interesting. Brussel does an excellent job at presenting the material in an easy-to-understand way. Homework is due each Friday, which is somewhat challenging because the book is slightly different than the way Brussel teaches, but if you go into office hours he is more than willing to help. He really cares about his students. The tests are fairly easy, honestly. Brussel makes his 2 midterms and finals based off of what he teaches in class, not from the homework. He practically tells you what will be on the tests. He grades using the GPA system, so if you get a 75% on a test you get a B. Definitely take this class with Brussel.

I liked professor Brussel. He is a super strange guy in the best way possible and I found him really amusing the whole quarter. Tests were fair and covered problems we went over in class. The only complaint I have is that sometimes the homework covered stuff we hadn't been over yet, so you were kind of forced to just write down some answer. Then we would have quizzes on this homework so that could be a bit challenging. Homework took a while but was useful. The curve is substantial but not hugeeee, although it did bump me from a high B to an A-. A fair class and a good teacher. I would recommend.

I don't know why this professor has such high ratings, these ratings have been made by those 3 students that keep taking his class and kiss his ass for fun. His quizzes are fair, but midterms are extremely tough with unfair material. You don't have enough time and the questions are very conceptual, not at all what you cover in class. His grading system is unknown. Assigns 50-60 problems of homework per week, ridiculous. Eccentric man who is funny sometimes, but I wouldn't be surprised if he came to class high everyday.

He's a funny guy but a terrible teacher. He doesn't understand the needs of a class. If the class is looking lost, he will move on. If you ask him a question he will respond with an even more confusing answer. He wants you to figure things out on your own without his guidance which is not practical. He assigns a ridiculous amounts of homework and considers a 59% average as "excellent". He barely curves his grading system is incredibly unfair.

Brussel is an awesome guy. But not a very good teacher. He's new so I just added him and this is his first evaluation. He talks like a surfer or a bro. It's very entertaining. Half of the time I, as well as the rest of the class, thought he was high or on something. He knows his stuff, but is all about concepts. I learned a lot from doing the homework problems. His quizzes reflect the homework and aren't bad if you did the homework. His first test was very hard for me because he loves concepts and i hate conceptual stuff. The second midterm as easier because it was just integrals and there's no way he could have messed with that. Homework is not graded, but do them! His class is okay, but i feel like he is one of the smart people who can't teach. Really chill guy, but teaching abilities are "eh." btw- he draws very well, especially circles! they are always perfect

He is a really great professor. Brussel really knows what he is talking about and is genuinely enthusiastic about the subject. He is very entertaining so you want to come to class and listen. He does love concepts, and he likes to see if you know more then just what is on the homework. For this reason he is a very good teacher. The tests are pretty difficult and there are quizzes every week, but if you learn from your mistakes on the tests then you are sure learning a lot more then just going through the steps of how to solve a problem. If you are one of those people who never goes to class and can usually get by just by doing the homework and reading the textbook then DO NOT take his class! All of his test/quiz questions are (very) similar to his in class examples, which are complex but if you can do his examples then you should be fine on tests. I loved having him as a professor and would take his class again. I have never learned so much in a math class.

Best teacher at Cal Poly. Homework not graded, quizzes are based on homework pretty easy. Test rather challenging, but not ridiculous, plus he curves a fair amount depending on how the results are. Teacher keeps you entertained the entire class easy to pay attention to. Actually enjoyed going to class to hear his random stories especially. If you can take his class, its a solid choice and you'll still learn what you need to.

Brussel is the man! First off, he is the greatest lecturer for math I have ever had. He does a great job explaining the concepts and then goes further in applying them to examples he has in class. His exams varied in difficulty, but they all came from the notes and the quizzes all came from the homework. If you do the homework (unassigned) you will do well. He also tells some pretty cool stories during lecture to keep it lively. Office hours are just as effective, and he gets a chance to see what he needs to work on in lecture. Definitely take him, you will learn the material and have a good time.

Brussel is the man!

Brussel is amazing. Did a great job teaching, very fair grading, and made the class really interesting.

Brussel is one of those guys that you can't help but like. He makes Calculus lectures more entertaining than most people would think humanly possible. Beyond his overall quirky nature, he really is a great professor. I've never met anyone as smart as him and he cares about his students more than any other professor I've had. He wants to do everything he can to help every student, and will ultimately curve class very generously. He also brought us donuts for finals. Overall, can't say enough good things about Brussel, sad that I can't take him for a third quarter in a row.

First of all, calc 4 is pretty difficult. If you can visualize 3d shapes in your head with a bunch of arrows coming out and tangent planes and all that, then you should have this a bit easier. Eric Brussel knew how to make the material much more understandable. He clearly conveyed his expectations and taught the material well. He is funny and knows how to keep students interested. One critique is: his tendency to go on tangents can be annoying, especially when it takes time away from the quizzes. Students can expect: 4-5 hours of homework per week (start this early!), weekly quizzes (with problems directly from the homework), two midterms.

I'll start with this: anyone who needs to know math for their major would be extremely lucky to have Eric Brussel as a teacher. I had him for the Math department's "Honors" (but not really honors, it's just some more abstract problems) Calc 3, Calc 4, and Linear Analysis I, and he was fantastic. He is entertaining, down to earth, quirky, and conscious of all his students. He will even probably learn your name if you are a good student. Although he moves very quickly, he presents material in many different ways that appeal to students' different learning styles, and he will always be willing to slow down and help if something doesn't quite jive with you; and, I might add, there are multiple teachers in the math department who move at double the pace. In context, his pace was actually quite reasonable. He only really grades the homework for completion but understand that YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE HOMEWORK PROBLEMS. Many times quiz problems are directly based on homework problems and it will screw you if you don't reflect on your understanding of the problems often. He will help, your fellow students will help, but you need to reflect on the problems and your notes. If you get the chance to take him for only one class, choose Calc 4 because his passion for that class shows and it is very fun and creative in the way he teaches it. He is an amazing teacher all around and one that I will sorely miss in the next three years.

Brussel is really nice and lectures are a blast (even though you don't understand most of what he says). He is just a really fun guy. He talks like a surfer or something and it's hilarious. His exams are harder than anyone else teaching calc 4, which is frustrating. He says it's to guarantee you understand the concepts fully and that you don't just know how to do problems. It sounds good in theory but what it really means is getting tests with problems you've never seen before and hoping the way you try to solve it is the correct way. Because of this style of teaching, I feel like I have better knowledge than most people who get A's in other teachers' classes but I got a B-. What I'm trying to say is this class will force you to really understand the material and wrap your head around all the concepts, which is great. However, this understanding will not be rewarded on your transcript. If you're willing to take a worse grade in exchange for a great teacher and a thorough understanding of the material, take Brussel.

I took Brussel because of his good Polyratings. I was beyond lost even though I came to every lecture, was in a workshop, did all my homework, went to office hours, and saw a private tutor. Brussel presents everything in a certain way that if that's not your style, you're sunk. The homework is extremely tedious and if you don't do every single one of the 50 problems a week he assigns, you might end up hosed for the weekly quizzes, which he says are just feedback but are still worth 20% of your grade. He's a ruthless grader and will rarely give partial credit, and will even more rarely fix grades that he says the grader was too harsh on you for.

The first couple weeks, I honestly was so lost. I came into the class and was bombarded with a new way of thinking. But over the course of the quarter, I started to get the hang of it. He is deeply conceptual, and I think he teaches as is he is still teaching an honor's course, so it is really hard... but HE CURVES! The average for the first midterm was below 50% LOL but as long as your getting decently above average, you'll be fine. And honestly, I think I learned the most in this class that I ever have... like going from not knowing anything to mostly getting it. And that is SO COOL. Also he's such a weirdly awesome teacher LOVED IT -- ghost stories, "there's a snake in the grass," and "CALL THE VECTOR PEOPLEEE" omg hahaha. He even wore tie-dye to match us on the day of our final. Such a meme.

this professor is decently entertaining im not denying that. His accent is hilarious and his little anecdotes are quite funny. However, he should not be allowed to teach an upper division math course. Incredibly unhelpful in office hours, and even during class he did not present the information clearly, regularly made mistakes up on the board and skipped dozens of steps at a time. It almost seemed like he didn't understand the material at times since he always came to class late and unprepared. I personally would not recommend taking him for any upper division applied course. Stick to professors that know what they're talking about.

He is a great teacher. He listens! Which, I am afraid to say is a revolutionary idea for cal poly teachers apparently. oh my god he listens? I can breathe again all of a sudden. I don't know what other teachers find so hard about that. He listens, gives accurate suggestions that are useful, is nice about it, and responds to e-mails immediate. Highly recommend this teacher. One of the best at cal poly!

Brussel is the man! He's easily one of the best professors at Cal Poly. I've taken several courses with this guy and felt like it was finally time to give him the polyrating he deserves. He presents the material in a way that really makes sense and ties information together in an overall plan for the quarter. He's brilliant, entertaining, and very engaging in lecture. He has a way of being excited about math in a way that gets his students excited about it too. Be prepared to work hard though. He assigns a reading and homework set every week and has a quiz (or midterm) every Friday. His midterms and finals are tough, but he has a fantastic curving system and great feedback. He's very open to questions during lecture and his "office hours" are extremely helpful. If you go to all the lectures, do the work on time, and seek help when you need it, you'll learn the material extremely well, enjoy it, and go into any following math course very well prepared. Take Brussel!! You won't regret it!

This guy is not aware of student difficulties at all. AVOID HIM. Almost everyone in my class who is taking 482 is waiting to take it in Spring to avoid him. He goes through material so fast and often the material he covers in class fails to help you for the homework. The homework is weekly and is about 8 problems, but it takes many hours to complete. If you don't go to office hours there is no way of realistically completing it. He grades on a 4 point scale (50% is a C), which seems as if it would be beneficial, but the class averages below 50% on most of his assignments. It is not because he grades strictly, but it is because people do not know what is going on. This class killed my confidence. I don't understand how he has such a high rating.

So I had Brussel for 143, 241, and 244, and he was a great lecturer. Kinda difficult, but mostly ok. However, 481 went off the rails. Brussel really wants students to be as passionate about abstract algebra as he is, and it is very difficult to follow him in class past week 6. Some things get "too abstract", dare I say. And as the person above me said, class averages were pretty low--but instead of addressing student difficulties, we went onto the next topic. Abstract algebra is a difficult class as is, and Brussel found a way to make it harder.

BOYCOTT!!!