🏆Congratulations to Hector Fajardo for receiving the STEPS Director's Fellowship! 📉 Hector will develop models for simulating phosphorus flows at the STEPS TBLs. He will develop scenarios for different nutrient recommendation philosophies and farmers’ applications & measure their impact on P use.

💡 Our team built a robust IC-ICP-MS (Ion Chromatography–Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) method to accurately separate and measure both inorganic and complex organic P compounds. Read the paper in Water Research: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0043135425014587

Did you miss a talk at @sustainablep.bsky.social's P Forum held last month? Want to revisit a talk to remember key details? You're in luck—the full event is now posted on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUidUbuElRQwKfVRlVnTHxMzA0bakRfL5 #research

🌾 STEPS researchers have published a new study ,"Pre-flooding phosphorus-iron interactions and nutrient uptake under flooded rice cultivation in histosols of South Florida," pinpointing how crucial phosphorus-iron (P-Fe) interactions are in fields. 🔗 https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2025.2563297

We’re excited to kick off our Scholar of the Month series! We celebrate the scholars whose dedication, leadership, & research are integral to the success of STEPS. This month, we’re proud to recognize two scholars: Maria Torres and Smitom Swapna Borah. #STEMExcellence #PhosphorusSustainability

🤩 What a week at #SPS8Africa in Ghana! STEPS was thrilled to be part of the first Sustainable Phosphorus Summit held in Africa. We had great conversations about what phosphorus sustainability looks like on different continents. Thank you so much to the conference organizers and local hosts!

STEPS will be at the Sustainable Phosphorus Summit 8 #SPS8Africa in Ghana next week! Our researchers will be participating in a variety of panels and lightning talks. We welcome people to connect with us at the conference. Will we see you there?

Did you know cerium phosphate can be recovered from our waste as an economical method for phosphate recovery? If not, then URINE for a real treat when you read STEPS new publication by Crane & Boyer: https://www-sciencedirect-com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/science/article/pii/S1383586625037177?via%3Dihub

As a convergence research center, we like to bring our team together to learn about site-specific work and challenges, and to help our team grow and develop convergent solutions. This September, we hosted a retreat at our Cornbelt triple bottom line site. Many thanks to our hosts and stakeholders!

🌿 Check out this recent publication by STEPS researchers using an enzyme-based microsensor to measure concentrations of eATP in growth zones of Arabidopsis roots. 📄 Read it in Plant Signaling and Behavior 20(1): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15592324.2025.2555965#abstract

STEPS is a proud sponsor of this week's P Forum. Several of our researchers will be sharing updates. We look forward to seeing you there! For the full schedule, visit the P Forum website: https://na.eventscloud.com/website/78672/agenda/ #PForum25

Dr. Jacob Jones will be the featured speaker at the Great Lakes ReNew seminar on December 3 at 3pm EST. In his talk, "Phosphorus Sorbents and Their Use in Phosphorus Sustainability," he will share details of the exciting research in sorbents happening in STEPS. Register: https://loom.ly/iQ9c-GY

Shout out to STEPS scholar Darrell Harry, who gave a seminar talk Friday as part of NC State's Department of Material Science Excellence in Graduate Research series. His shared his STEPS' research on metal inorganic materials, a promising materials category for capturing and recovering phosphorus.

Congratulations to Xue Bai, who recently graduated from the University of Florida with her PhD in soil & water sciences. Her dissertation was Assessment of Sugar Cane and Flooded Rice Crop Rotation Effects on Soil and Water Quality in the Everglades Cultural Area, Florida. Congratulations, Dr. Bai!

🌟 Congratulations to Lily Kile for successfully defending her dissertation last week! Lily's project is titled, "Improving Phosphorus Efficiency in Low and High Input Agricultural Systems,” and was directed by advisor Dr. Luke Gatiboni. Congratulations, Dr. Kile! 🎉

STEPS and JSNN hosted our 4th ExPlorers free summer camp for high school students this July. Students: 🌱 Gained hands-on laboratory experience in agricultural and environmental science. 🐝 Visited a pollinator bee center. 🏫 Attend a college tour 💼 Worked in teams to address STEM challenges.

🚨New publication alert! STEPS researchers have published a new paper in Nature Water, "Surface waters in socially vulnerable areas are disproportionately under-monitored for nutrients in the US South Atlantic-Gulf region." Read online at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00460-5.

💬 Got questions about phosphate pollution & how hydrogels can help? STEPS scholar & lead author of a recent publication, Jiangfeng Xu, has answers! 🔗 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c00679 #PhosphateRecovery #HydrogelTech #ScienceQandA #NSFfunded #NSFstories

Congratulations to our Co-Deputy Director, Dr. Paul Westerhoff on receiving the Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors Foundation Founder's Award! This award recognizes Paul's significant contributions to environmental engineering education & research. #AEESP

A group of STEPS researchers, led by scholar Smitom Borah, recently published "Quantifying Summer Internal Phosphorus Loading in Large Lakes across the United States"! 🔗 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... #publication #nsffunded #nsfstories #waterquality

We are sending our best wishes to Dr. Flavia Santos on her next endeavors! Flavia worked as a Post-doc in Dr. Jango Bhadha's lab at University of Florida and brought invaluable experience to the team. #postdoc #universityofflorida

Congratulations to Alondra Deras and Lucas Crane on earning best poster awards at the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Conference! #nsffunded #nsfstories #AEESP2025

Congratulations to Dr. Shwetha Delanthamajalu on a successful dissertation defense & graduation from University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign! In STEPS, Shwetha worked with Dr.Marshall on the Adoption of Innovation project. #phD #graduation

We are proud to release 2 pivotal guides and accompanying videos aimed at enriching stakeholder engagement in both academic and community settings! Find the full article and find the resources here: steps-center.org/2025/05/21/s... #nsffunded #nsfstories #stakeholderengagment

🏆Our education research team completed a highlight year! Read about it below ⬇️ steps-center.org/2025/05/14/s... #nsffunded #nsfstories #education #research

4 weeks of early-bird pricing left for Phosphorus Forum 2025! Have you gotten your tickets yet? Read more details about the event here: specialevents.asu.edu/pforum25 @steps-stc.bsky.social #pforum25 #phosphorus #sustainability #phosphorussustainability #foodwaste #AI

Postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Yicheng Yang, is working on different phosphorus adsorption media that can be used for advanced treatment technologies out in the field! 💡 P adsorption media are materials designed to capture phosphorus. In adsorption, the P molecules attach to the surface of the media.

Congratulation to our co-deputy director, Dr. Ross Sozzani, on receiving the Outstanding Research Award! 🌱 Ross is a dedicate mentor, brilliant scientist, dynamic speaker, and outstanding leader. We are honored to have her on our team! 🔗 research.ncsu.edu/four-faculty... #NCState #thinkanddo

ATTENTION #Phosphorus #Sustainability people! Registration site for 8th Sustainable Phosphorus Summit to be held inin Ghana is OPEN. registration.lancaster.ac.uk/Registration... I'm helping organize this exciting meeting & hope to see u there. @steps-stc.bsky.social @sustainablep.bsky.social

📣 PhosForUs has released the next TBL episode! "Phosphorus Fertilization Insights from the Agricultural TBL" explores Eastern North Carolina's unique soil composition and legacy phosphorus with Dr.Luke Gatiboni. open.spotify.com/episode/4sA2... #podcast #phosphorus #nsffunded #nsfstories

#tbt to P-Week! Dr. Anna-Maria Marshall recently did an interview with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign News & discussed how nutrient pollution can harm surrounding ecosystems and industries. 🔗 las.illinois.edu/news/2025-04... #phosphorus #NSFfunded #NSFstories #Pweek2025

@sustainablep.bsky.social recently held their webinar called "Monitoring Phosphorus in the Environment". Our very own, Christopher Oates presented his work during the webinar! 📸 This post is a visual from Christopher's presentation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhmU... #phosphorus #waterquality

What are you looking at?? That would be sweetcorn grown using biofertilizers! STEPS researches at University of Florida are growing sweetcorn in controlled setting to explore alternatives to conventional phosphorus fertilizers. #sustainableagriculture #corn #nsffunded #nsfstories

How could tariffs impact the fertilizer industry in the U.S? STEPS member Dr.Jonathan Coppess co-authored a short article that examines that exact question. Their work looks at imports of N, P, & K to better understand potential long term impact. 🔗 farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2025/02/tari...

🏅 We are sending a big congratulations to our director Dr. Jacob Jones for receiving the Holladay Medal for Excellence! This is the highest honor bestowed by NC State and the Board of Trustees. 🔗 Read more about his award: steps-center.org/2025/04/15/j...

2 of our scholars attended Science Talk! Science Talks is a conference hosted by the Association of Science Communicators Dr. Alison Deviney presented a post on her research Erin Ferrare volunteered with the conference & immersed herself in the conference! #scitalk25 #asc

​Behind all the great work on phosphorus sustainability are our wonderful scholars! Hear from Hector, a PhD student at NC State in biological and agricultural engineering, about his time in STEPS and his future goals! #pweek2025 #phd #phosphorus #research

#TBT to our first ever team meeting! #pweek2025

Once we close our laptops and turn off the lab lights, what does our team do? STEPS is full of #ActualLivingScientists ! What do you like to do when you're not working? Drop your answers in the comments ⬇️ #Pweek2025 #scientists #hobbies

💡The governors of NC, IL, & WI have officially proclaimed this week P-Week! These proclamations recognize the broad importance of P to each state's key industries, population, & environment. 🔗 Read more about the proclamations and see them online: lnkd.in/eE3DXNVp #PWeek2025 #nsffunded #nsfstories

Happy Phosphorus Week! 🌱 During the 15th week of the year, we celebrate the 15th element - P. Join us this week, we have an exciting week planned! steps-center.org/2025/04/01/a... #Pweek2025

Proud to see the great work presented by @steps-stc.bsky.social scholars B Baird and M Torres at #aslo25

Join us next week in celebrating Phosphorus Week! We have an exciting week planned so follow along and join in. Follow us on our social media accounts to keep up to date and learn more about phosphorus. We are looking forward to celebrating with you! steps-center.org/2025/04/01/a... #Pweek2025

Attending the NC Water Resources Research Institute’s annual conference is always a great time. I presented @steps-stc.bsky.social work on nutrient monitoring in relation to agricultural inputs (pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...). If you’re around today or tomorrow, let’s catch up!

Last week, Scholar Maria Torres presented her research at American Chemical Society Spring 2025 meeting! 🌿 She shared her work that highlights the need for orrhophosphate technology for measuring and control ortho-P levels in hydroponic systems. #ACS2025 #phosphorus #presentation

A team of researcher, lead by Scholar Lily Kile, recently published "Why Does Overapplication of Phosphorus Fertilizers Occur: Insights from North Carolina Farmers" ! Read in full: www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15... #publication #soilscience #phosphorus

After 3 years of diligently monitoring soil health under crops, scholar Xue Bai collected her final soil and sediment samples! She will complete further analysis in the lab to understand how cropping systems influence soil resilience and sustainability. We look forward to hearing what she finds!

Now that you know what stakeholders are, how do you engage with them? The second video in the Stakeholder Engagement Series, discusses the key steps in the stakeholder engagement process! Watch the full video on our YouTube Channel to learn more. 🔗 www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5F4...

💭 Who are stakeholders? The first video in the Stakeholder Engagement Series answers that question! Watch the full video on our Youtube Channel to learn more. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy9A... #stakeholderengagement #phosphorus

The STEPS Knowledge Transfer Team developed a 3 part video series that outlines key steps & best practices for engaging stakeholders. Follow along this week as we share each video in the series and watch them in full on our youtube channel! 🔗 lnkd.in/eZJPt52A #Stakeholderengagement #phosphorus