Session Description: This session will introduce Convergence Research efforts within STEPS (Science and TEchnologies for Phosphorus Sustainability), an NSF Science and Technology Center funded in October of 2020. STEPS is a convergence research community of diverse researchers who address the complex challenges in phosphorus sustainability - at once a limited, critical nutrient and a harmful, overabundant pollutant - by integrating disciplinary contributions across the physical, life, social, and economic sciences. During the multiple years that led up to the funding of this 8 university, 30+ investigator Center with as many self-identified disciplinary backgrounds, project leaders intentionally included Team Science and convergence expertise within the team, and welcomed evidence-based methods for collaboration and convergence into the fabric of the planning and the culture. Examples include the incorporation of named Boundary Objects, collaboration planning best practices, group commitment to epistemic humility, interdependence, and knowledge co-creation. In this session, three researchers and practitioners from the Center will share our approaches, our plans to research ourselves, and welcome insight and feedback from the INTEREACH community. 

Speakers:

• Christine Ogilvie Hendren, Ph.D., Director, Research Institute for Environment, Energy and Economics and Professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Appalachian State University

• Anna-Maria Marshall, Ph.D., Associate Professor Sociology and Law, Gender and Women's Studies, and Global Studies Programs and Courses at University of Illinois

• Gail Jones, Ph.D., Alumni Distinguished Professor of STEM Education at North Carolina State University and a Senior Fellow at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation