Education and Human Resource Development

Dr. Jacob Jones, Director, Analytical Instrumentation Facility, with a graduate student at the Titan Microscope on Centennial Campus.

The STEPS educational goal is to recruit, train, and graduate a diverse cadre of intersectional researchers who are prepared for the type of convergent research necessary to spur innovation and agile cross-functional collaborations. Specific STEPS objectives are to: 1) Build students’ core technical knowledge across the STEPS domain space to enable participation in convergence research; 2) Develop core competencies of high-performing teams and to impart evidence-based strategies and skills to work on problems at the boundaries between disciplines and sectors; and 3) Assess STEPS research education strategies to document the efficacy of a convergence research approach, particularly as it relates to the experiences of women and underrepresented minority (URM) students. Implementation of these objectives aligns with the Center-wide convergence strategies, rooting project work in the TBL Scenario framework, utilizing convergence boundary objects to link across TBL Scenarios and Themes 1-3, and including iterative program modification based on input from formal assessments.

Outreach and Instructional Materials

Led by Prof. Gail Jones, STEPS has created a number of instructional materials focused on phosphorus sustainability. These activities can help educators integrate phosphorus concepts into their science curriculum. Learn more here.