Michael Manga is a MacArthur Fellow (2005) and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Part of his work has been funded by the National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

 (NSF). The award from the NSF suppored his studies of geological fluid mechanics and magma flow prior to eruptions. In 2003, he made Popular Science magazines second annual PopSci Billiant 10 list. 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."
His research interests include planetary science

Planetary science

Planetary science is the scientific study of planets , moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation,...

, fluid mechanics

Fluid mechanics

Fluid mechanics is the study of fluids and the forces on them. Fluid mechanics can be divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest; fluid kinematics, the study of fluids in motion; and fluid dynamics, the study of the effect of forces on fluid motion...

, hydrology

Hydrology

Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability...

, geodynamics

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, mountain building, volcanoes, earthquakes, faulting and...

, and physical volcanology

Volcanology

Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma, and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena. The term volcanology is derived from the Latin word vulcan. Vulcan was the ancient Roman god of fire....

.

Academic Background

• 1990 B.S. (Geophysics) McGill University
  McGill University
  Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
  
   in Montreal, QC, CANADA
• 1992 S.M. (Engineering Sciences) Harvard University
  Harvard University
  Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
  
  in Cambridge, MA USA
• 1994 Ph.D. (Earth and Planetary Sciences) Harvard University

External links

• UC Berkeley profile