Professor Manalis is pretty cool. This class was co-taught with Professor Gee, who I suspect is responsible for the hard tests. Class itself was interesting, section helps A LOT. Midterm & final consisted of confusing multiple choice along with specific written answers, which means you need to know it all thoroughly. Class is curved, thankfully.

Prof Manalis himself is pretty standard. He has a pretty deep voice so he can be a little mono-tone and tough to hear sometimes. His background is physics, so expect more basic touch points lecturer rather than the usual passionate enigmatic UCSB environmental studies professor.

I think this class is one of the more difficult class for Environmental Studies, but some of the topics were definitely interesting. Section assignments holds a big chunk of our grades so be sure to put more effort to the two 1-2 paged papers.

This class was great. Very relevant information. TESTS ARE SO EASY!! Mel is very clear on what he is putting on the test. Got an A+ and only went over slidesnotes the night before test. If you're a BS, this will be a piece of cake. really nice and fair professor.

This was a great class if you're interested in renewable energy. He is a very knowledgeable professor and brought in interesting guest speakers. This class is an easy A if you show up for lecture.

readings were GREAT. TAs were GREAT. clarity of lectures was bad. he's an extremely intelligent man and i feel privileged to have learned from him, but poor thing is just getting too old to teach. made mistakes in lectures all the time and didn't correct them. informative class, but a little frustrating. Stephanie was the best TA!!! fair tests too

did not know what was going on in the class.. extremely unorganized. no doubt a very intelligent man but he cannot teach. lectures were EXTREMELY confusing. TAs helped alot though. it was hard not to fall asleep in lecture all the time. "meh" teacher.

Professor Manalis has such a golden heart. He loves his students and wants them all to actually learn the subjects he teaches in lecture. His tests are not just spewing back mindless memorization. Attend every lecture and do most of the readings and you should be fine!

Hands down best and most interesting lecturer I've had at UCSB. Very interesting material, presented in a clear and engaging manner. If you attend lectures and pay attention the class is an easy B, and is definitely worth taking.

Manalis literally didnt teach me ANYTHING throughout an entire quarter of pointless lectures. No idea what you're expected to know or what will be on tests. He's all over the place

If you pay attention in class and study a little bit, its an easy C.. if you do the readings along with that, its an easy B, if you do all that and study pretty well, you'll get an A. Hes a great teacher and i really enjoyed his class.. im one of those types of people that would rather take an easy class without studying and he got me to enjoy it

Attend every lecture and do all the homework. His exams are more from lectures and homework, and less from the assigned reading. It's ok to skim the reading just to find answers to the homework problems. Just don't get lazy or else you will risk getting a C like I did. :(

Tests were tricky by the way of wording, but the material was not terribly difficult on them, so it is necessary to read the exam very carefully. Classes were pretty mellow and a large amount of the grade was given to Section.

Mel is one of the best teachers I have ever had at UCSB. His passion for the subject matter is contagious, and I highly recomend this class to anyone. The subject matter is very easy, and as long as you go to class and take notes, you should definitely get an A.

His lectures were sometimes boring, but his occasional jokes made them better. He bases the tests from his half of the course on mostly lecture, so it is important to attend. I also had him for the honors section, and he was very nice and brilliant.

He's really a great teacher. He goes a little bit too quickly sometimes, but that can happen with an intro class. Never miss lectures! They're all that will help you. There's not a whole lot of communication between the TAs and the professors, but hopefully that will change. It's a good class even if you're taking it just as a GE.

great prof! very enthusasitc! cares if students understand material, interjects humor to make things more interesting

He says a lot in lectures that help, so I recommend attending. He definitely keeps your attention by making jokes thet you have to be intelligent and listening in order to understand. He works really well with Professor Keller too!!! They are great!!

enthusastic and entertaining. fun and interesting class!

Mel is a really nice guy and extremely knowledgeable about energy. He is constantly updating his material so the class seems to be up with all the current trends in energy. Tests can be tricky but if you pay attention in class and do the reading you should ace them. Lisa Berry is also a beautiful, brilliant, helpful TA for 115.

IN ES 2, i found myself scrambling to stay awake during his portion of lecture. Maybe im just not interested in energy. For es 115, there was quite a lot of homework and if it were not for Lisa(the TA) this class would have been much harder.

I found Manalis to be a little scatter-brained and unorganized. He would randomly jump from one topic to another. He is, however, very knowledgable. He taught the second half of the class and I found the half the Keller taught to be way more interesting.

Mel is brilliant about energy. He is extremely personable and definitely visit him in office hours. Tests can be challenging at times and there is a lot of homework for 115 but the classes are enjoyable

His class is boring, he goes off topic, some ppl think he is easy, so not. His test can have really random q's that were barely mention. Go to lecture and keep on top really well, you will do ok. His final exam was hard because it tested random stuff.