Dr Melissa (Mel) Neave is an environmental geographer with experience in natural resource management and a particular interest in water resources. She teaches in the undergraduate and postgraduate Environment and Planning program at RMIT.

Melissa (Mel) is currently responsible for the following courses: Sustainable Futures (ENVI1153), Environmental Systems Analysis (ENVI1196), Environment Capstone Project (ENVI1213) and Natural Resource Management (ARCH1482). Her main objective is to improve our understanding of how natural systems operate and of how humans use natural systems to achieve both environmental and social objectives.

Prizes and awards:
2008 Faculty of Science Citation for Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Sydney
1997 Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award, SUNY Buffalo

Industry Experience:
Mel has spent the majority of her career working in academia, first as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at Frostburg State University (USA), then as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Sydney, followed by a brief stint at the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change (as a geomorphologist on the Tweed Heads Sand By-Pass project) before moving to RMIT.

Mel is an advocate for the discipline of Geography and, as such, has been an active member of the NSW Geographical Society (serving as a Councillor and Vice-President for several years) and has represented the Society on the Australian Academy of Sciences National Committee for Geography. She has also served as Associate Editor of the Journal Australian Geographer.