topVisiting Lecturer
Donald Bren School
of Environmental Science and Management
University of California, Santa Barbara
Mailing Address:
308 Heidelberg Avenue
Ventura, CA 93003
Office Location: Bren Hall 3408
Phone:
(818) 597-3407
Fax: (818) 597-8001
Email: mwillis@bren.ucsb.edu
Biography | Research | Publications and Presentations | Project Experience | Courses Taught
Mel Willis, Visiting Lecturer has over 25 years professional experience as an environmental planner. His project experience includes environmental impact assessment and facility siting for a wide range of energy, infrastructure, and waste management projects throughout the U.S., Latin America, Asia, Middle East, and former Soviet Union. As a mid-career professional, he received a Master of Environmental Science and Management degree in 1999 and a PhD in environmental science and management in 2003 from UCSB's Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. He also received a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from California State University, Fresno, in 1974 and a Certificate of Hazardous Materials Management from UCSB Extension in 1997.
Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, Dr. Willis was Vice President for Environmental Sciences and Planning Services with Fugro West, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fugro NV, an international geotechnical and environmental services consulting firm with over 5000 employees in 70 offices throughout the world. In that position, he supervised the provision of environmental services to government and industry in the western US, as well as serving as the principal-in-charge of a project office in Moscow, the Russian Federation.
In addition to serving on the Bren School Advisory Board, Dr. Willis is active in several professional organizations. He is currently president of the California Chapter of the National Association of Environmental Professionals and on the board of directors of the Central Counties Chapter of the Association of Environmental Professionals. He is also a member of the American Planning Association and was accepted for membership in the American Institute of Certified Planners in 1978.
Mel Willis’ general area of interest is environmental impact assessment and the integration of environmental science and management methodologies into the land use planning process. His dissertation topic is the strategic environmental assessment of regional exposure to toxic air contaminants from alternative land use policies. The goal of his research is an approach to integration of community health risk characterization into the land use planning process. The objective is a spatial decision support system linked to risk exposure simulation and land use optimization models.
For his dissertation, Mr. Willis developed LUAIRTOX, a source model that predicts individual air toxics emission rates for general categories of land use that can be used as input to regional fate and transport models for application to the strategic environmental assessment of regional land use policy.
Dissertation Committee
Arturo Keller (Chairperson)
Energy Resource Development Studies
Managed preparation of environmental impact assessment of a $10 billion oil development project offshore Sakhalin Island; Russian Federation
Environmental impact assessment of oil exploration project; Madidi Block, Bolivia
- Environmental risk assessment of oil pipeline; Saudi Arabia
Permitting and environmental feasibility assessment of alternative routes for crude oil pipeline system from Santa Barbara County to Los Angeles; CA
Energy Facility Siting Management Plan for the Nipomo Dunes; Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, CA
Environmental assessments of oil and gas projects offshore California
Waste Management
Environmental assessment of oil field contamination; Upper Amazonian Basin, Ecuador
Casmalia Hazardous Waste Landfill EIR; Santa Barbara County, CA
San Marcos Landfill Waste-to-Energy Project EIR; San Diego County, CA
- Milliken Landfill Waste-to-Energy Project EIR; San Bernardino County, CA
Land Use Planning and Resource Management
California State University Off-Campus Center Siting Study; Ventura County, CA
Tierra Rejada Valley Land Use Study; Ventura County, CA
Mandalay State Beach Park Master Plan; Oxnard, CA
Ormond Beach Wetlands Management Plan; Oxnard, CA
Malibu Local Coastal Program; Los Angeles County, CA
Recreational Boating Facility Siting Study; Ventura County, CA
Multi-year subcontract to support prime contractor in the preparation of damage survey reports for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) throughout western U.S.
Facility Siting
Multi-year contract with U.S. Navy, WESTDIV, to prepare environmental and planning studies for military facilities throughout western U.S. and Alaska
Multi-year contract with U.S. Postal Service to prepare environmental and technical studies for siting of new postal facilities throughout California
Multi-year contract with U.S. General Services Administration to prepare EISs for new federal office buildings and courthouses in California, Nevada, and Arizona
ESM 221: Management of Air Quality
ESM 297: Advanced Topics-Environmental Impact Assessment