Emeritus Professor
Dr. Manalis passed away on January 1, 2023. A memorial website has been created in his honor and available at https://www.forevermissed.com/melmanalis . Please feel free to visit.
A research physicist and teaching professor in our Environmental Studies Program for 42 years until his retirement in 2017, Dr. Manalis was a pioneer in the study of wind as a viable energy source in California. He was a leading expert in the areas of quantifiable sustainability measures and renewable energy, including wind and solar energy conversion and assessment. A member of our Institute for Energy Efficiency’s Economics and Policy Solutions Group, he also specialized in integrated energy planning, industrial ecology, and green nuclear energy.
The impact of Dr. Manalis’s work is far-reaching. In the 1980s, he led a delegation of experts in wind energy to advise on a large-scale wind energy effort that became a major underpinning of the rapid advance in China’s wind power development. In addition, he conducted the first wind energy study of Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc and the nascent study of solar energy applications for the California Energy Commission following the 1973 oil embargo.
A beloved teacher and mentor, Dr. Manalis taught nearly a dozen different environmental studies courses, including Energy and the Environment, which he developed. For more than a decade, it was the only upper division course required of all students majoring in Environmental Studies. He also pioneered the only undergraduate course on renewable energy taught on the campus. During his time at UC Santa Barbara, more than 6,000 students benefited from both his expertise as a scientist and his dedication as an instructor.
Research
Dr. Mel Manalis is a Research Physicist and Senior Lecturer for the Environmental Studies Program and a member of the Institute for Energy Efficiency’s Economics and Policy Solutions Group. His research interests surround the development of quantifiable sustainability measures. Dr. Manalis has taught at UCSB for 35 years and has developed courses related to energy. During the 1980’s, he led a seminal delegation of wind energy experts to advise the Chinese government on how to initialize a large-scale wind energy effort that has become a major underpinning of today’s rapid advance in China’s wind power development. He conducted the first wind energy study of Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California and the nascent study of solar energy applications for the California Energy Commission following the 1973 oil embargo.