REU students will be working on topics related to soil, water, and nutrient management with the goal to promote sustainable agriculture within the Everglades Agricultural Area in South Florida and beyond. Specific projects will include (but not limited to): (i) assessing conservation practices such as cover crops, crop rotation, and low tillage on soil and water quality including phosphorus; (ii) unlocking legacy-P from organic soils using “smart” fertilizer (biofertilizer) technology; (iii) design, develop, and deploy phosphorus mitigating treatment technologies to capture an reuse phosphorus from freshwater systems. The intern will facilitate ongoing research efforts being conducted by graduate students and postdocs, assisting with soil, water, and plant tissue sampling, lab analyses, and reporting. The intern will also have opportunity to go on field trips and excursions in South Florida to get a better understanding of the phosphorus flows and appreciation of the complex hydroscape.

*Summer housing will not be arranged for students located at EREC, though a housing stipend can be provided. We encourage local applicants. A vehicle will also be needed to participate.

Our work focuses on recovering P after anaerobic treatment of organic wastewater, such as from dairy farms. The REU student will work with a STEPS PhD scholar to monitor the operation of anaerobic treatment reactors and track the speciation of its P. This work exemplifies convergence of microbiology, chemistry, and material-science principles.

*Summer housing will not be arranged for students located at Arizona State University (ASU) though a housing stipend can be provided. We encourage local applicants.

“Synthesis and testing of amorphous titanium- and cerium- (hydr)oxides to enable phosphorus detection”

Our team is working with a start-up company developing an infrared phosphorus detector that requires selective and reversible binding of phosphate from water on a modified waveguide to enable low-level phosphorus detection. We have already evaluated molecular-imprinted polymers and iron-hydroxides, but now seek to improve selectivity, capacity and reversibility through use of amorphous amorphous titanium- and cerium- (hydr)oxides that we have developed. The student will synthesize these new amorphous titanium- and cerium- (hydr)oxides materials, evaluate their performance (selectivity, capacity, reversibility) in high-throughput robotic testing. Throughout the research, we will be interacting with the start-up company. This project has deep science related to amorphous materials, and opportunity to learn how start-up companies develop and commercialize new technology.

*Summer housing will not be arranged for students located at Arizona State University (ASU) though a housing stipend can be provided. We encourage local applicants.

Wet lab work to characterize plant growth in response to different phosphate-releasing materials.

Students will synthesize novel monomers and polymers, and the resulting hydrogels will be evaluated for phosphorus capture and release. This is a synthetic chemistry laboratory experience.

The student will work on a project characterizing a collection of corn CRISPR-CAS9 gene edited mutants. The work will involve field work, wet lab work and data analysis. The student will work in close collaboration with several members of the lab.

We perform quantum mechanical computations to study the absorption of various forms of phosphorus on nanoparticles, metal oxide surfaces, or metal organic framework (MOF) systems.

This project involves developing quantitative linkages between changes in phosphorus losses (from agricultural and urban areas) and changes in downstream water quality. Water quality outcomes could include harmful algal blooms, depleted dissolved oxygen, or methane releases. This analysis will likely be conducted at a national scale and involve data management and analysis. Students interested in coding and working with large geospatial datasets may be particularly interested.

The Broadening Participation Team is interested in hosting an REU student who studies STEM Education to help support the STEPS ExPlorers Program. This student will collaborate with educators to develop a week-long project-based learning summer curriculum to educate high school students about phosphorus sustainability. Through this project, the student will help to design, conduct, and then evaluate the efficacy of the program for STEM outreach focused on a wicked problem.

Students will work on evaluating the impact of legacy P in riverine systems through primarily a field and data analysis project. Students with experience in GIS and remote sensing could also work on a more advanced modeling project related to legacy P.

The REU student will study phosphorus accumulating organisms in lab-scale bioreactors and through DNA sequencing methods. The bioreactor work would involve wet lab experiments where the microbes are grown under different conditions. The DNA sequencing work would involve extraction of DNA from wastewater samples and sequencing using Oxford Nanopore DNA sequencers.

We develop porous solids for the capture of phosphorous from water. REU students would work in a variety of wet labs and characterization labs towards preparing novel porous materials, characterizing their physicochemical properties, and benchmarking their phosphorous capture performance. The student would learn synthetic skills, fundamentals of characterization (spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, microscopy, surface area analysis), and writing reports/publications to contextualize their findings.

*A vehicle is needed to participate at RTI.

The REU student will help with a laboratory experiment examining greenhouse gas emissions from pond sediments. The student would work on laboratory incubations of pond sediments with differing amount of nutrients and phosphorus binding materials to see how carbon dioxide and methane productions change in response to nutrient availability.

This project works to advance the development and evaluation of a bioinspired-adsorbent material capable of selectively capturing and recovering phosphorus under controlled conditions. The research will focus on specific areas for improvement identified by recent experimental, computational modeling, and life cycle cost/environmental impact results. The research will primarily consist of wet lab experiments conducted assessing phosphorus adsorption efficiency using the material, and will be conducted in collaboration with current team members.

This project is to engineer biochar composites with tailored physicochemical and surface properties to enhance the removal and recovery of phosphorous compound from water. The research work is mainly focus on experimental studies in wet labs, including 1) functionalizing or modifying activated biochar composites with metal oxides and other functional groups to increase the electrostatic attraction, ligand exchange, and precipitation, 2) characterizing the functionalized biochar for structure, composition, morphology using XPS, XRD, FTIR, Raman, UV-vis, SEM, BET, etc., 3) investigating the adsorption performance for removal and recovery to determine the efficiency and performance at different conditions, examine and understand the underlying mechanisms. The REU student will work closely with a PhD student on this project throughout the summer.

This student would work with the Thompson Earth Systems Institute to learn how to communicate about Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability with various stakeholders. The student would engage in science communications training and develop an ArcGIS StoryMap to help communicate the work of the STEPS Center with the public. There will also be an opportunity to collect data on the University community’s perceptions on phosphorus in Florida and beyond. This will translate into a small publication or conference presentation. This student will work in the brand new Thompson Earth Systems Institute space in the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida and have opportunities to engage with other student researchers within the museum.

“Wireless Sensors for Smart and Sustainable Systems”

Students joining our group will work on the development and testing of wireless sensing technologies for real-world applications such as environmental monitoring, wound infection detection, and smart manufacturing. The project integrates materials science, radio-frequency (RF) engineering, and data analytics to design low-cost, energy-efficient, and miniaturized sensors capable of operating in harsh or dynamic environments. Students will gain experience in laboratory testing, device fabrication, and wireless data acquisition, and will have opportunities to collaborate with interdisciplinary researchers and industry partners. The research environment combines hands-on experimentation in a materials and sensor lab with exposure to modeling, signal processing, and data interpretation, offering a comprehensive learning experience in next-generation wireless sensing.

The Coastal and Watershed Analytics Lab at NC State University seeks an undergraduate research assistant who will support ongoing work related to understanding causes and consequences of nutrient pollution in surface waters. The student will work on a computational project involving analysis of multiple types of data including nutrient concentrations from waterways and geospatial data, and prepare written communications for scientific and general audiences.

This project offers undergraduate students a multifaceted, place-based research experience focused on phosphorus (P) sustainability in the North Carolina High Country. Students will rotate through a variety of activities, based on faculty availability and project needs, such as field sampling, lab analysis, data collection, and stakeholder engagement. Research areas may include topics such as soil P dynamics, composting systems, local food system flows, or water quality monitoring. Students may gain exposure to skills such as GIS mapping, data interpretation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The experience is strengthened by regional hosts including the High Country Food Hub, community gardens, and Frontline to Farm beginner farmer training workshop, allowing students to connect their work to real-world sustainability and food system challenges. This applied, convergence-oriented experience is designed to build both technical competencies and an understanding of how diverse disciplines and community partnerships contribute to solving complex environmental issues.

Currently, limited information exists on soil and sediment phosphorus in South Carolina; this project aims to address these knowledge gaps. The REU student will collect soil samples from various agroecosystems and urban ecosystems across South Carolina to investigate soil phosphorus dynamics. The student will conduct GIS analyses, perform field sampling, and carry out wet chemistry analyses to assess soil phosphorus availability and develop phosphorus sorption indices for different urban and agricultural systems. The student will also have opportunities to engage with a range of stakeholders, including farmers, local government agencies, and environmental consulting firms, to better understand their perspectives and knowledge regarding phosphorus management.

We work in sensor/biosensor development for quantification of P. The project will focus on nanomaterial deposition to engineer custom coatings on carbon electrodes for P detection. We also work with communities for environmental monitoring. The primary focus will be sensor development (wet lab) and electronics.