Biography

Susanne Menden-Deuer is a seagoing oceanographer and Professor at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography with research interests focused on marine planktonic food web structure and function. Her research group conducts hypothesis driven experiments in the laboratory, at sea and in silico to quantify the production and flow of matter and energy in marine ecosystems. The lab’s efforts combine in-situ process studies in temperate and polar seas, laboratory experiments on plankton behavior and physiology and theoretical modeling work to establish linkages between microscopic events (e.g. predator movements) and macroscopic phenomena (e.g. phytoplankton production and distributions). 

Before coming to URI, Dr. Menden-Deuer was a research fellow at Princeton University and a Lecturer at Western Washington University. She received her Ph.D. in 2004 and a M.Sc in 1998 both in Oceanography at the University of Washington. She received her first degree in 1996 from the University of Bonn, Germany, and spent 1 year at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Dr. Menden-Deuer has held numerous national and international leadership roles, building research agendas, shoring up facilities and capacity and developing training programs for the scientific workforce. She contributes generously to building the next generation of oceanographers and public engagement. Dr. Menden-Deuer also serves on the editorial boards of oceanographic publications and the Board of Directors of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO).

As a mentor and teacher, Dr. Menden-Deuer has educated numerous undergraduate and graduate students, often using hands-on experiential learning in a cutting edge research environment, including on research vessels. Dr. Menden-Deuer teaches formally in graduate and undergraduate classes and most recently published a textbook reflecting her enthusiasm for oceanography. Her students have received numerous awards and fellowships, published their work in top-tier journals, and contributed to international conferences. Graduates from the lab are now contributing their skills and oceanographic knowledge broadly through their employment in science, academia, industry and the public sector.