Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS)

🏆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

Phosphorus Forum 2025 Phosphorus Forum 2025 took place on September 17 & 18, 2025, on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. The event was co-pr...

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

Quantifying Summer Internal Phosphorus Loading in Large Lakes across the United States Internal phosphorus loading (IPL) can be a significant phosphorus (P) source in freshwater systems, often causing water-quality improvement delays. Despite its importance, IPL estimates are missing fo...

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

STEPS releases stakeholder engagement guidance for researchers

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

STEPS' education team reaches 130,000 students this year with phosphorus sustainability message

🏆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

Phosphorus Fertilization Insights from the Agricultural Triple Bottom Line Scenario Site in Eastern NC, with Dr. Luke Gatiboni PhosForUs · Episode

📣 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