Houghton, David  

During this entire quarter all I could think about was how this professor reminded me of that small little dog that runs through the back of scene 23 in The Incredibles by Pixar. Seriously, if you look it up you will only be able to see it...

Not the best lecturer, but he uses the same exams from one year to the other, just be sure you have access to the old tests and you'll get an A since they are open book exams.

Great professor! Gives clear instruction, reasonable workloads for homework, fair exams, and is always willing and able to clarify on difficult topics during office hours. But be warned: despite the previous reputation of CE 475, this class is no longer the "easy A" it was made out to be.

I really enjoyed this building systems class. Prof. Houghton knows a lot and has had a lot of experience in different areas of civil and mechanical engineering. I think that this class tries to cover a whole lot of topics that are basically majors/careers in and of themselves but the goal is really to give civil engineers a good idea of how all these building systems look and operate. I think that this class is relevant to any CE who is going into the building industry whether it be on the design side or construction. Tied into talking about building systems is the whole utility side of it and Prof. Houghton is really a (self-proclaimed) nerd on the whole topic of the energy industry. He knows a lot about power generation and distribution and has a knack for explaining things in a tangible way. You'll go on a couple of "field trips" on the cal poly campus and see how we manage our energy distribution and HVAC systems on campus which is pretty cool. He often brings in pictures and stories and speaks to the students in a relatable way (he's also pretty funny). I think that this class can be on the easier side if you want to just sit back and do the homeworks and put in minimal effort, you can probably pull an easy B like that, but if you honestly want to learn and put in a bit of effort this class can go a long way in making you way more knowledgeable before you enter the work force. If you're going into construction definitely take this class! I know I was sick of just doing math and other stupid equations for classes that didn't give me a real picture of what the industry or building projects looked like.

Houghton is awesome. Very straight forward and clear as to what he expects you to learn. He is a working engineer that owns his own business, not your typical academic professor. That being said he skips over a lot of the tedious crap that you wont remember or ever use in industry and instead focuses on real life situations and stuff you should know for the real world. Homework can be a little confusing but exams are extremely straight forward and he tells you literally exactly what is going to be on them... not to mention they are open book/open note but you wont really need it anyhow. Highly recommended class and excellent professor.

Dave Houghton is the best professor I've had at Cal Poly and I would highly recommend taking this class. The course is not super rigorous. The workload is about 2-3 hours per week (or less) and his exams are very fair. The course provides a thorough introduction to a broad range of topics as far as how buildings work behind the scenes. It doesn't sound super interesting from that description (unless it does), but I loved going to lectures and hearing what this guy had to say. He's a wealth of information on a broad range of topics and is interested in investing his time in students and providing the perspective of a practicing engineer on career options, world issues, or whatever you have questions about. 10/10 would recommend this course and getting to know this professor.

Houghton is certainly an awesome guy and really does have the best intentions for his students. He gives advice and shares real-world experience constantly throughout the quarter, which is incredibly helpful. That being said, I found there to be a disconnect between his lectures and his exams. Dave's powerpoints are overly simplistic and do not really add to anything that the book covers. He will give word of mouth examples, so TAKE GOOD NOTES. These seemingly off the cuff utterings may not appear important at the time, but he will definitely throw you a conceptual question on an exam that you CAN'T FIND IN THE BOOK. Since his notes are open note and open book, make sure the open note aspect does not go to waste. I really wish he did more class examples since he expects you to figure things out on exams that you have not been adequately prepared for by lecture and homework alone. To be truly prepared, you really need to do the reading and try to understand what is being said. It is incredibly easy to daydream and not focus your attention on what is being said. His exams are graded on an odd scale, with one simple mistake accounting for ten points lost. This causes his grade scale to seriously impact your grade. Three simple mistakes will drop you to a B on an exam, so you absolutely need to be perfect if you want an A. My final advice for getting an A in this class, since it is really not the easy A that people make it out to be: - Do the reading

Houghton's class is quite possibly the most valuable I will have taken at Cal Poly. He is a wealth of valuable experiential knowledge that he's always willing to share and the class itself is great for just getting a better grasp on everything around you. Hands down I think every civil major should take this class, I just feel a lot less clueless about the little things now. He is incredibly helpful and always willing to help you with any personal interests/research you have going on that he can help with. I definitely was not much one for the whole sustainability scene before taking this class, but now I feel I have a much better concept of what makes buildings tick and how reasonable and positive "green" building is. All in all, I can not recommend recommend Dave Houghton enough, he's a great guy and a the kind of positive influence that sparks new levels of interest in what I can end up doing in my future.