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Partner with STEPS

Phosphorus sustainability is a global grand challenge. STEPS invites you to help us tackle this challenge together, so that we can radically accelerate the innovations and solutions.

The STEPS Partnership Program allows individuals, companies, government agencies, and other organizations to become involved with activities and events in the STEPS Center. Partnership benefits include:

  • Connect with a broad range of actors, decision-makers, and stakeholders in phosphorus sustainability to promote system-level thinking and coordination 
  • Support work in the value chain of phosphorus sustainability that could lead to breakthroughs 
  • Participate in spin-off projects that align with STEPS Center participants’ work
  • Present information to STEPS and the STEPS partner community at our seminars
  • Recruit students into professional and volunteer positions 
  • Host STEPS Center participants at your events 

and much more! 

There are four ways to partner:

Expand the information below to learn more.

Societal Engagement Partners are individuals and certain classes of organizations (e.g., NGOs, government bodies) who desire to advance phosphorus sustainability in society by leveraging STEPS activities and initiatives. You could be a good fit for this category if you are a: citizen, farmer, teacher, public agency, STEPS alumnus/a, faculty member or student at another institution, an individual motivated by our outreach activities, and more.

Societal Engagement Partners benefit from joining a research center focused on advancing phosphorus sustainability and gaining access to STEPS staff, resources, seminars, and organizational activities. 

Become a Societal Engagement Partner today!  

IP/Commercialization partnerships provide entrepreneurs and companies opportunities for early access to potentially own intellectual property (IP) for economical and/or societal reasons. IP may include, e.g. early access to invention disclosures for possible commercialization/economic benefit. IP partners can also sponsor research projects in STEPS to help address specific problems or needs of industry. The STEPS Center participants come from 11 academic institutions across the United States, providing unparalleled access to experts and facilities to conduct phosphorus sustainability research. 

IP/Commercialization Partners are essential to continuing the groundbreaking work STEPS has started. 

Become an IP/Commercialization Partner today!

Want more information first? Email our director, Jacob Jones, at jacobjones@ncsu.edu. 

SPA members can more deeply engage in phosphorus sustainability technical work and review results from pre-competitive research. These partners can also participate in STEPS future research, roadmapping, seminars, and other organizational opportunities and can present information to STEPS members and partners, as well as host STEPS members at your events. 

By joining SPA as a member, you can help accelerate advancements in phosphorus sustainability. 

SPA is a membership-based organization administered by Arizona State University. More information is available at https://phosphorusalliance.org/  

Research partners are active researchers in academic, industry, government, and non-profit organizations who collaborate with STEPS project teams on active STEPS research projects. These partnerships are grown organically as unfunded partnerships to advance STEPS project work that is led by STEPS researchers.

Ask to be considered as a Research Partner today!

Want more information first? Email us at steps-contact@ncsu.edu. 

Become a STEPS partner today!

Click here to sign up

Contact us via email at steps-contact@ncsu.edu for any questions about partnership opportunities.

3 Reasons to Become an IP/Commercialization Partner with STEPS