STEPS News

Mar 1, 2021

Natalie Nelson Named North Carolina State Faculty Scholar

NC State’s University Faculty Scholars Program recognizes and rewards emerging academic leaders who demonstrate significant achievement. This year’s cohort includes STEPS’s Natalie Nelson. Dr. Nelson is an Assistant Professor of…

Feb 25, 2021

Jim Elser’s New Phosphorus Book Released

In “Phosphorus: Past and Future”, world authorities on phosphorus sustainability Jim Elser and Phil Haygarth explain Phosphorus’s involvement in biology, human health and nutrition, food production, ecosystem function, and environmental…

Feb 8, 2021

Ross Sozzani Named Director of Plant Improvement Platform for Plant Sciences Initiative

Ross Sozzani, associate professor in NC State’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, is known for her work in plant development and stem cell regulation, and her research interest is…

Jan 26, 2021

Big Data’s FRST Step in Environmental Stewardship

North Carolina State University Professor Deanna Osmond, who helped to initiate STEPS, led a multi-university team in creating the Fertilizer Recommendation Support Tool (FRST). The primary goal of FRST is…

Jan 4, 2021

Legacy Phosphorus Uptake by Plants Relies on Fertilization History

Luke Gatiboni and his team recently published work exploring how different phosphorus (P) fractions in soils contribute to plant uptake. They found that all soil P fractions can potentially provide…

Dec 14, 2020

Immobilized Phosphate-Binding Protein (PBP) Highly Selective for Phosphorus

Recent work from Brooke Mayer’s group at Marquette demonstrated that phosphate-binding protein could selectively adsorb phosphorus even in solutions containing high concentrations of arsenate, which has a similar molecular structure.

Dec 11, 2020

Accessing Legacy Phosphorus in Soils

STEPS team members collaborated on a recent review paper that highlights the (1) current knowledge on the occurrence and bioaccessibility of phosphorus in soil, (2) legacy phosphorus transformations with fertilizer…

Nov 19, 2020

More Transparency Recommended for Gene-Edited Crops

STEPS team member Dr. Khara Grieger recently published a policy forum paper with Dr. Jennifer Kuzma in the journal Science calling for a coalition of various stakeholders to work together…

Oct 1, 2020

STEPS Co-Director Ross Sozzani Awarded AccelNet Grant

This catalytic-level project (Accelerate Integration of Engineering and Agricultural Research using Artificial Intelligence, AI2EAR) will promote strategies to improve yield, reduce crop loss, decrease crop resource demands, and increase food…

Aug 28, 2020

Hendren named director of App State Research Institute for Environment, Energy, and Economics

After a national search, Dr. Christine Ogilvie Hendren has been named director of Appalachian State University’s Research Institute for Environment, Energy, and Economics (RIEEE).