Michael Manga (born July 22, 1968) is a Canadian-American geoscientist who is currently a professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. Born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

, Manga grew up in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. His father is a South African immigrant of Indian descent, and his mother is of German and Polish descent. He has a B.S. in

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...

from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

(1990), S.M. in engineering sciences from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(1992), and Ph.D. in Earth and planetary sciences (1994) from Harvard. In 1994 he was selected as a Miller Fellow at the University of California Berkeley for a two-year term. Following his move to the University of Oregon he returned to Berkeley. In 2008-2009 he was named a Miller Research Professor. He served on the executive committee of the Miller Institute between 2009 and 2016. In 2003, he made Popular Science magazines second annual PopSci Brilliant 10 list and won the Geological Society of America's Young Scientist Award (Donath Medal). A 2005

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and 30 individuals workin ...

, he won an award from the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

(NSF) in support of his studies of geological fluid mechanics and magma flow prior to eruptions. In November 2005, shortly after receiving the MacArthur, Manga made another list, the People's "Sexiest Man Alive" issue in which he admits that he agreed to be included because, "I wanted to get information out to people who wouldn't normally hear or see anything about science."Edelstein, Wend
"Hesitant hottie"
UC Berkeley News, December 2, 2005. He was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2018. His research interests include

planetary science Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of ...

fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them. Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

geodynamics Geodynamics is a subfield of geophysics dealing with dynamics of the Earth. It applies physics, chemistry and mathematics to the understanding of how mantle convection leads to plate tectonics and geologic phenomena such as seafloor spreading, ...

, and physical

volcanology Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geology, geological, geophysical and geochemistry, geochemical phenomena (volcanism). The term ''volcanology'' is derived from the Latin language, Latin ...

Academic Background

* 1986 Ontario Secondary Diploma,

Lisgar Collegiate Institute Lisgar Collegiate Institute is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board secondary school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The school is located in downtown Ottawa by the Rideau Canal. History In 1843, a grammar school with 40 paying students was ...

, Ottawa, ON, CANADA * 1990 B.S. (Geophysics)

in Montreal, QC, CANADA * 1992 S.M. (Engineering Sciences)

in Cambridge, MA USA * 1994 Ph.D. (Earth and Planetary Sciences) Harvard University

Notes

External links

UC Berkeley profile
1968 births Living people 21st-century American earth scientists American people of German descent American people of Indian descent American people of Polish descent American people of South African descent Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian people of German descent Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian people of Polish descent Canadian people of South African descent Harvard University alumni MacArthur Fellows University of California, Berkeley faculty Lisgar Collegiate Institute alumni Scientists from Hamilton, Ontario McGill University alumni {{US-academic-scientist-stub