Sunshine Menezes

Natural Resources Science faculty member, Sunshine Menezes
  • Clinical Professor of Environmental Communication
  • Phone: 401.874.6499
  • Email: sunshine@uri.edu

Biography

Dr. Sunshine Menezes (she/her) is a Clinical Professor of Environmental Communication in the URI Department of Natural Resources Science, where she teaches courses related to environmental communication and STEM public engagement. Her disciplinary expertise spans oceanography, environmental policy, inclusive science communication, and culturally responsive pedagogies to train science communicators. As executive director of URI’s Metcalf Institute for more than 17 years, she significantly expanded the Institute’s portfolio, budget, and impacts. As part of her Metcalf Institute tenure, Sunshine co-created the Inclusive SciComm Symposium, an international conference designed to build and support a community of science communication practitioners and researchers who center equity in their work. Sunshine is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a recipient of Rhode Island Clean Water Action’s 2024 David Gerraughty Award for Lifetime Commitment to the Environment, and was a 2013-2014 Rhode Island Foundation Fellow. She has advised and/or participated in numerous national working groups related to inclusive public engagement with STEMM, including the Civic Science Fellowship, Advancing Public Engagement Across Long-Term Ecological Research stations (APEAL), and the Broadening Participation Task Force organized by the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education. Sunshine also contributes to national efforts to craft new, transdisciplinary approaches to graduate education. She earned a B.S. in zoology from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the URI Graduate School of Oceanography.

Education

Ph.D. Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, 2005
B.S. Zoology, Michigan State University, 1995

Selected Publications

  1. Valdez-Ward, E., Ulrich, R.N., Martinez-Maldonado, E. Bennett, N., Rodrigues, L., Mattheis, A., Treseder, K.K., Takahashi, B., & Menezes, S. (2024) Science communicators from marginalized backgrounds challenge STEM cultural norms to promote community belonging. Journal of Science Communication.
  2. Rodrigues, L., Takahashi, B., Tiffany, L-A., Menezes, S., & Valdez-Ward, E. (2023) Minoritized scientists in the United States: An identity perspective to science communication. Journal of Science Communication. 45(5): 567-595. Doi: 10.1177/10755470231199955
  3. Valdez-Ward, E., Ulrich, R.N., Bennett, N, Cat, L.A., Marcus, T., Menezes, S., Mattheis, A.H., & Treseder, K. (2023) ReclaimingSTEM: a healing-centered counterspace model for inclusive science communication and policy training. Frontiers in Communication. 8:1026383. Doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2023.1026383.
  4. Menezes, S., Murray-Johnson, K., Smith, H., Trautmann, H., & Azizi, M. (2022) Making Science Communication Inclusive: An Exploratory Study of Choices, Challenges, and Change Mechanisms in the United States from an Emerging Movement. Journal of Science
    Communication. 21(05)(2022)A03. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.21050203
  5. DiCenzo, C., Menezes, S., Smith, H., Murray-Johnson, K., Azizi, M., & McDuffie, K. Inclusive Science Communication Starter Kit. (2021). Metcalf Institute, University of Rhode Island. Kingston, RI.
  6. Dewsbury, B., Segura-Totten, M. Lo, S.M., Gibbons Bailey, E., Beaster-Jones, L., Bills, R.J., Brownell, S.E, Caporale, N., Dunk, R., Eddy, S.L., García-Ojeda, M.E., Gardner, S.M., Green, L., Hartley, L., Harrison, C., Imad, M.M., Janosik, A.M., Jeong, S., Josek, T., Kadandale, P., Knight, J., Ko, M., Kukday, S., Lemons, P., Litster, M., Lom, B., Ludwig, P., McDonald, K., McIntosh, A., Menezes, S., Nadile, E., Newman, S., Ochoa, S., Olabisi, O., Owens, M., Price, R., Reid, J., Ruggeri, N., Sabatier, C., Sabel, J., Sato, B., Smith-Keiling, B.L., Tatapudy, S., Theobald, E., Tripp, B., Pradhan, M., Venkatesh, M., Wilton, M., Warfa, A.N., Wyatt, B. & Raut, S. (2021) Chronicling the journey of the Society for the Advancement in Biology Education Research (SABER) in its effort to become antiracist: from acknowledgement to action. Frontiers in Education. 6:780401. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.780401
  7. Anderson, S., K. McDuffie, and S. Menezes. (2020) Science Communication for Natural Resource Managers: Techniques and Examples in Marine Systems. In Y.Q. Wang (Ed.), The Handbook of Natural Resources. (2nd ed.)
  8. Canfield, K. & Menezes, S. 2020. The State of Inclusive Science Communication: A Landscape Study. Metcalf Institute, University of Rhode Island. Kingston, RI. 77 pp.
  9. Anderson, SI, McDuffie, K, & Menezes, S. (2020). Science Communication for Natural Resource Managers: Techniques and Examples in Marine Systems, In Y.Q. Wang (Ed.), The Handbook of Natural Resource Science Volume 5, Coastal and Marine Environments (2nd ed., pp. 143-150). CRC Press. 10.1201/9780429441004-14.
  10. Canfield KN, Menezes S, Matsuda SB, Moore A, Mosley Austin AN, Dewsbury BM, Feliú-Mójer MI, McDuffie KWB, Moore K, Reich CA, Smith HM and Taylor C (2020) Science Communication Demands a Critical Approach That Centers Inclusion, Equity, and Intersectionality. Front. Commun. 5:2. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2020.00002
  11. Smith H, Menezes S, Canfield K, Guldin R, Morgoch M and McDuffie K (2020) Moving Toward Inclusion: Participant Responses to the Inclusive SciComm Symposium. Front. Commun. 4:77. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2019.00077
  12. Menezes S (2018) Science Training for Journalists: An Essential Tool in the Post-Specialist Era of Journalism. Front. Commun.3:4. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2018.00004
  13. Menezes, S. January 2018. Science beat: Why niche fellowships and programs are increasingly critical. NewsPro Magazine, pp. 25-26. http://www.crainsnewspro.com/assets/newspro/pdf/2018-01-newspro.pdf
  14. Smith, H., S. Menezes, & C. Gilbert. 2017. Science training & environmental journalism today: Effects of science journalism training for midcareer professionals, Applied Environmental Education and Communication, DOI: 10.1080/1533015X.2017.1388197
  15. Menezes, S. 2016. Ten communication tips for translational scientists. Integration and Implementation Insights. https://i2insights.org/2016/07/19/ten-communication-tips/

Courses

  • NRS 442 – Environmental Crisis Communication
  • NRS 542 – Environmental Crisis Communication
  • NRS 543 – Public Engagement with Science
  • NRS 568 - Climate Wayfinding