Sonny ROSENTHAL
Full-time Faculty
Associate Professor of Sustainability Communication; Lee Kong Chian Fellow
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Texas at Austin, 2011
- MA, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 2006
- BA (Cum Laude), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2004
Research Areas and Areas of Expertise
Strategic Priorities
HighlightsSonny Rosenthal is an internationally recognized scholar in environmental and science communication, risk information seeking, and sustainability behavior change, with a strong record of interdisciplinary research, impactful teaching, and academic leadership.
Bridges communication theory with real-world environmental and health challenges, advancing both methodological rigor and practical interventions; recognized for interdisciplinary collaborations, high-impact publications in top-tier journals, and leadership in large-scale, policy-relevant research projects; strengths include innovative use of technology in research and teaching, commitment to sustainability, and mentorship of emerging scholars.
Focused research areas include Communication strategies for sustainability and climate change; risk perception and information seeking in environmental and health contexts; behavioral interventions for energy conservation and recycling; media use and public understanding of science; digital and serious games for learning; misinformation and trust in digital environments.
Bridges communication theory with real-world environmental and health challenges, advancing both methodological rigor and practical interventions; recognized for interdisciplinary collaborations, high-impact publications in top-tier journals, and leadership in large-scale, policy-relevant research projects; strengths include innovative use of technology in research and teaching, commitment to sustainability, and mentorship of emerging scholars.
Focused research areas include Communication strategies for sustainability and climate change; risk perception and information seeking in environmental and health contexts; behavioral interventions for energy conservation and recycling; media use and public understanding of science; digital and serious games for learning; misinformation and trust in digital environments.
Areas of Expertise
Environmental and science communicationrisk information seeking and processingsustainability and pro-environmental behavior changemedia effects and media literacyquantitative research methodspublic opinion and audience segmentationtechnology-enhanced learning and e-learning pedagogy.
Past Awarded Grant
- Co-PI S$1,490,593 - NEA CISR, 2023-2028. The project, "Developing a risk assessment and communication platform to translate climate projections to policy," will develop a virtual reality simulation of climate impacts used to help policymakers and government officers translate climate science into policy.
- Project PI S$175,000 (sub-award) - MOE AcRF Tier 3c, 2023-2030. The project, "Climate Transformation Programme" is a multidisciplinary project that aims to understand how the climate is changing, identify the best ways to contribute to mitigation, and better predict the risks it poses to people and planet. I received a sub-award from the $45.9 million grant total.
- Co-PI S$19,714 - NIE ERFP, 2023-2024. The project, "Augmented Classroom: AI for automatic detection of regular patterns of teaching behaviours in the classroom (ACAI)," will develop an algorithm to analyze video recordings of classroom teaching and identify patterns of teaching behaviors that can be correlated with teaching outcomes.
- PI S$89,208 - MOE AcRF Tier 1, 2022-2024. The project, "Narratives, perceived experience, and false memories of climate change," examines the role of media and narratives in shaping people's beliefs about climate change.
- Co-PI S$1,000,000 (sub-award) - NRF, 2022-2025. The project, "Shaping public adaptive capacity for environmental infectious diseases" is an international collaboration studying public responses to infectious diseases, such as dengue. My work package received a sub-award from the $5 million grant to conduct content analyses, public opinion surveys, and social-psychological experiments.
Latest Publications
Showing up to 6 latest publications from the past 5 years.
- MO Adisa, S Rosenthal, S Oyedeji, I Adaji, J PorrasSustainable Development 34 (1), 718-736, 2026
- B Wang, A Szücs, E Sandalova, ZM Lim, EJ Horberg, PA O’Keefe, ...Gerontology 71 (12), 1021-1030, 2025
- S Rosenthal, BJ LiJournal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 2025
- S Rosenthal, J Komar, VS HoTechnology, Pedagogy and Education 34 (5), 567-581, 2025
- S Rosenthal, S Braiman, DZY PohEducation and Information Technologies, 1-19, 2025
- SS Ho, ASF Chuah, FJW Goh, NM Huang, M Ou, HK Kim, S RosenthalEnvironmental Communication, 1-19, 2025
This highlights are AI-generated content using the faculty's CV.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Texas at Austin, 2011
- MA, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 2006
- BA (Cum Laude), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2004