SBA welcomes leader in energy and transportation as research professor

A leader in the behavioral aspects of energy and transportation, Walter McManus joins OU's School of Business Administration as a Research Professor in Decision and Information Sciences effective December 1. With grant funding from the Energy Foundation, a partnership of major donors interested in solving the world's energy problems, McManus plans to work with SBA faculty and OU's Clean Energy Center to advance research in strategy and economics, particularly as it pertains to energy management.

McManus brings a record of research accomplishments in consumer behavior and market competition in the transportation sector to OU. Prior to joining OU's SBA, he was Research Economist at the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute, and Director of the Automotive Analysis Division. His business experience includes positions as Executive Director of Forecasting and Analytics at J.D. Power and Associates and nine years with General Motors in forecasting, marketing analysis and strategy, and new-product development. His academic career includes posts as Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Florida (1983-88) and Associate Professor of Economics at Baruch College (1988-89). McManus graduated from Louisiana State University (BA 1977) and earned a doctorate in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (PhD 1983).

He has conducted and managed complex cross-disciplinary research projects throughout his career. Subjects have included the assimilation of immigrants into the US labor market, the importance of researchers’ prior beliefs in controversial research topics, the behavior of consumers and firms in the automotive industry, the impacts and effectiveness of energy and environmental policies, and the adoption and diffusion of new technologies.