Martin Pasqualetti to receive Melamid Medal

Martin J. Pasqualetti, Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University and Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, has been selected to receive the American Geographical Society’s Alexander and Ilse Melamid Memorial Medal. The medal will be presented on November 20 during the Society’s Fall Symposium.

The award is conferred on scholars who have done outstanding work on the dynamic relationship between human culture and natural resources. For more than 40 years, Pasqualetti has conducted and published innovative yet practical research concerned with the nexus of energy and society, especially with regard to energy security and the geographical aspects of alternative energy development. In 1979 he co-founded the AAG Energy and Environment Specialty Group (EESG).

Pasqualetti, who also serves as Co-Director of the Energy Policy Innovation Council, is a world-renowned scholar. He has published books on wind power, nuclear power, and landscape development, and his many articles have been cited extensively in related research projects and publications in the US and abroad. One of his recent research projects focused on the energy/water nexus and its particular relevance in arid environments like the Colorado River Basin in North America and the Sultanate of Oman. Serving as Chairman of the Governor’s Solar Energy Advisory Council and as a member of the Arizona Solar Center’s Board of Directors, Pasqualetti has played an important role in promoting solar energy development in Arizona. Pasqualetti’s research and instruction have taken him to Mexico, China, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, the Czech Republic, Germany, Guyana, and Palestine, among others.