@article{crane_merck_delanthamajalu_grieger_marshall_boyer_2024, title={Benchmarks for urine volume generation and phosphorus mass recovery in commercial and institutional buildings}, volume={23}, ISSN={["2589-9147"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wroa.2024.100227}, DOI={10.1016/j.wroa.2024.100227}, abstractNote={Phosphorus (P) is a finite resource and necessary nutrient for agriculture. Urine contains a higher concentration of P than domestic wastewater, which can be recovered by source separation and treatment (hereafter urine diversion). Commercial and institutional (CI) buildings are a logical location for urine diversion since restrooms account for a substantial fraction of water use and wastewater generation. This study estimated the potential for P recovery from human urine and water savings from reduced flushing in CI buildings, and proposed an approach to identify building types and community layouts that are amenable to implementing urine diversion. The results showed that urine diversion is most advantageous in CI buildings with either high daily occupancy counts or times, such as hospitals, schools, office buildings, and airports. Per occupant P recovery benchmarks were estimated to be between 0.04–0.68 g/cap·d. Per building P recovery rates were estimated to be between 0.002–5.1 kg/d, and per building water savings were estimated to be between 3–23% by volume. Recovered P in the form of phosphate fertilizer and potable water savings could accrue profits and cost reductions that could offset the capital costs of new urine diversion systems within 5 y of operation. Finally, urine diversion systems can be implemented at different levels of decentralization based on community layout and organizational structure, which will require socio-economic and policy acceptance for wider adoption.}, journal={WATER RESEARCH X}, author={Crane, Lucas and Merck, Ashton and Delanthamajalu, Shwetha and Grieger, Khara and Marshall, Anna-Maria and Boyer, Treavor H.}, year={2024}, month={May} }
 @article{baker_schunk_scholz_merck_muenich_westerhoff_elser_duckworth_gatiboni_islam_et al._2024, title={Global-to-Local Dependencies in Phosphorus Mass Flows and Markets: Pathways to Improving System Resiliency in Response to Exogenous Shocks}, volume={5}, ISSN={["2328-8930"]}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00208}, DOI={10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00208}, abstractNote={Uneven global distribution of phosphate rock deposits and the supply chains to transport phosphorus (P) make P fertilizers vulnerable to exogenous shocks, including commodity market shocks; extreme weather events or natural disasters; and geopolitical instability, such as trade disputes, disruption of shipping routes, and war. Understanding bidirectional risk transmission (global-to-local and local-to-global) in P supply and consumption chains is thus essential. Ignoring P system interdependencies and associated risks could have major impacts on critical infrastructure operations and increase the vulnerability of global food systems. We highlight recent unanticipated events and cascading effects that have impacted P markets globally. We discuss the need to account for exogenous shocks in local assessments of P flows, policies, and infrastructure design choices. We also provide examples of how accounting for undervalued global risks to the P industry can hasten the transition to a sustainable P future. For example, leveraging internal P recycling loops, improving plant P use efficiency, and utilizing legacy soil P all enhance system resiliency in the face of exogenous shocks and long-term anticipated threats. Strategies applied at the local level, which are embedded within national and global policy systems, can have global-scale impacts in derisking the P supply chain.}, journal={ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LETTERS}, author={Baker, Justin and Schunk, Nathan and Scholz, Matt and Merck, Ashton and Muenich, Rebecca Logsdon and Westerhoff, Paul and Elser, James J. and Duckworth, Owen W. and Gatiboni, Luke and Islam, Minhazul and et al.}, year={2024}, month={May} }
 @article{merck_grieger_crane_boyer_2024, title={Researchers must address regulatory regimes to scale up adoption of urine diversion systems in the US}, volume={4}, ISSN={["2634-4505"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ad59c3}, DOI={10.1088/2634-4505/ad59c3}, abstractNote={Abstract Urine diversion (UD) is a system-of-systems that involves source separation of waste to maximize recovery of valuable nutrients, including phosphorus. Recent research shows how UD systems offer valuable ecological benefits and can aid in water conservation efforts, and public perception studies suggest that UD systems are generally viewed positively by end-users and the general public. Nevertheless, adoption and implementation of this promising sustainability solution remains limited in many countries, including the United States (U.S.). In this perspective, we argue that in order to scale up adoption in the U.S., UD researchers and innovators must do more to address regulatory barriers. We draw on insights from political science research on “regulatory regimes” to introduce the array of regulations that apply to UD systems, with a focus on commercial and institutional buildings. We examine regulatory regimes all along the UD system-of-systems, beginning at the point of collection and ending at the point of beneficial reuse. We then propose next steps to address current regulatory challenges that impact adoption, with an emphasis on the importance of stakeholder coordination. Throughout, we argue that law and regulation plays a critical role in shaping adoption of UD technologies because: 1) different regulatory regimes will be important at different points in the system-of-systems, 2) there may be multiple regulatory regimes that apply to a single subsystem, and 3) it is important to consider that legal and regulatory definitions of a technology may not match scientific understanding.}, number={2}, journal={ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH: INFRASTRUCTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY}, author={Merck, Ashton and Grieger, Khara and Crane, Lucas and Boyer, Treavor}, year={2024}, month={Jun} }
 @article{merck_grieger_deviney_marshall_2023, title={Using a Phosphorus Flow Diagram as a Boundary Object to Inform Stakeholder Engagement}, volume={15}, ISSN={["2071-1050"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511496}, DOI={10.3390/su151511496}, abstractNote={Phosphorus (P) is essential for life on Earth, yet its current management is unsustainable. Stakeholder engagement is urgently needed to help ensure that scientific and technical solutions to improve P sustainability meet the needs of diverse groups, yet there are comparatively few studies that provide insights into stakeholder views, perceptions, or concerns. In this opinion, we use a mass flow diagram of P as a boundary object to understand the complex challenges of sustainable P management. In particular, we map US stakeholder groups onto the mass flow diagram to incorporate human factors into mass flows at a national scale. Our approach is grounded in well-established social–scientific methodologies, such as stakeholder mapping and social network analysis, but is applied in a novel way that can be generalized to other mass flows and geographic areas. We then suggest ways that researchers can use the annotated flow diagram to identify both knowledge gaps and research gaps in stakeholder engagement, especially in interdisciplinary or convergence research contexts.}, number={15}, journal={SUSTAINABILITY}, author={Merck, Ashton W. and Grieger, Khara D. and Deviney, Alison and Marshall, Anna-Maria}, year={2023}, month={Aug} }
 @article{merck_2022, title={From Commodification to the Common Good: Reconstructing Science, Technology, and Society}, volume={113}, ISSN={["1545-6994"]}, DOI={10.1086/721291}, abstractNote={Previous articleNext article No AccessRecentHans Radder. From Commodification to the Common Good: Reconstructing Science, Technology, and Society. 312 pp., bibl., index. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019. $45 (cloth); ISBN 9780822945796.Ashton W. MerckAshton W. Merck Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Isis Volume 113, Number 3September 2022 Publication of the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/721291 Views: 41Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.}, number={3}, journal={ISIS}, author={Merck, Ashton W.}, year={2022}, month={Sep}, pages={684–685} }
 @article{merck_grieger_kuzma_2022, title={How can we promote the responsible innovation of nano-agrifood research?}, volume={137}, ISSN={["1873-6416"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.envsci.2022.08.027}, abstractNote={The use of nanotechnology and engineered nanomaterials in food and agriculture (nano-agrifoods) may provide numerous benefits to society. At the same time, there is also a chance that nano-agrifood innovations may pose new or unknown risks to human or environmental health and safety. To understand these issues and be more responsive to public concerns, researchers are beginning to discuss and adopt an emerging best practice in science and technology communities known as “responsible innovation” (RI). Originally developed by researchers over ten years ago, RI is now a well-established framework that is already a part of science policymaking in the European Union (as “responsible research and innovation”). In the United States, however, there are numerous structural and institutional barriers for scientists to align their research with RI principles and goals. This perspective briefly reviews RI, why it is needed for nano-agrifoods, and how it could be institutionalized more effectively in the U.S. to ensure that future nano-agrifood research is better aligned with societal needs, expectations, and concerns. This work also identifies several pathways to institutionalize RI in nano-agrifoods, ranging from a public legal mandate to privately enforced organizational norms. Further, a set of strategies and/or best practices for implementing RI in the U.S. context is presented that are applicable to both public and private organizations. While key findings from this work are focused on the need for RI of nano-agrifoods in the U.S., implementation of these best practices could have positive benefits for other emerging technologies and in other national contexts as well. • More attention to responsible innovation (RI) is needed for nano-agrifood research. • Pathways to institutionalize RI in U.S. nano-agrifood research are outlined. • Best practices to achieve RI include priority-setting, incentives, and monitoring. • Public-private cooperation can help promote RI in the U.S. context.}, journal={ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & POLICY}, author={Merck, Ashton W. and Grieger, Khara D. and Kuzma, Jennifer}, year={2022}, month={Nov}, pages={185–190} }
 @article{grieger_merck_cuchiara_binder_kokotovich_cummings_kuzma_2021, title={Responsible innovation of nano-agrifoods: Insights and views from U.S. stakeholders}, volume={24}, ISSN={2452-0748}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.impact.2021.100365}, DOI={10.1016/j.impact.2021.100365}, abstractNote={To date, there has been little published work that has elicited diverse stakeholder views of nano-agrifoods and of how nano-agrifoods align with the goals of responsible innovation. This paper aims to fill this research gap by investigating views of nano-agrifoods, how well their development adheres to principles of responsible innovation, and potential challenges for achieving responsible nano-agrifood innovation. Using an online engagement platform, we find that U.S. stakeholder views of responsible innovation were dominated by environmental, health, and safety (EHS) contexts, considerations of societal impacts, opportunities for stakeholder engagement, and responding to societal needs. These views overlap with scholarly definitions of responsible innovation, albeit stakeholders were more focused on impacts of products, while the field of responsible innovation strives for more "upstream" considerations of the process of innovation. We also find that views of nano-agrifoods differed across applications with dietary supplements and improved whitening of infant formula viewed least favorably, and environmental health or food safety applications viewed most favorably. These findings align with the larger body of literature, whereby stakeholders are expected to be more supportive of nanotechnology used in agricultural applications compared to directly within food and food supplements. Overall, participants indicated they held relatively neutral views on research and innovation for nano-agrifoods being conducted responsibly, and they identified key challenges to ensuring their responsible innovation that were related to uncertainties in EHS studies, the need for public understanding and acceptance, and adequate regulation. In light of these results, we recommend future research efforts on EHS impacts and risk-benefit frameworks for nano-agrifoods, better understanding stakeholder views on what constitutes effective regulation, and addressing challenges with effective regulation and responsible innovation practices.}, journal={NanoImpact}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Grieger, Khara D. and Merck, Ashton W. and Cuchiara, Maude and Binder, Andrew R. and Kokotovich, Adam and Cummings, Christopher L. and Kuzma, Jennifer}, year={2021}, month={Oct}, pages={100365} }
 @article{merck_2021, title={The Fox Guarding the Henhouse: Coregulation and Consumer Protection in Food Safety, 1946-2002}, volume={22}, ISSN={["1467-2235"]}, DOI={10.1017/eso.2021.52}, abstractNote={Regardless of one’s political persuasion, there are a few basic tasks that most citizens would consider to be “essential” functions of government, and food inspection counts among them. Publicly mandated inspections served various functions over the decades: to prevent fraud and establish confidence in the marketplace, to ensure orderly marketing through quality assessment and grading, and to protect consumers from potentially hazardous or unsafe products. From milk to meat, fertilizer to fruits, inspections of food and other agricultural commodities became a widely accepted—and important—function of governments well before the twentieth century.1 Even in the infamous “America First” budget of 2017, which proposed billions in cuts across a swath of nonmilitary government programs, the Trump administration proposed a “fully funded” Food Safety and Inspection Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).2 Food inspectors have worked through government shutdowns and global pandemics; inspection is unquestionably “essential work.” Yet citizens frequently disagree over what inspection should mean, who should carry it out, and how they should accomplish that task. In “The Fox Guarding the Henhouse,” I analyze the prospects and limits of business selfregulation in food safety inspection through a study of the growth and development of the American poultry industry. Drawing on archival records, original field interviews, newspapers, periodicals, and government documents, I show how the debate over how to achieve “safe” and “inspected” chicken influenced not just the laws and regulations but also the organizational structure of firms, the nature of market competition, the trajectory of technological innovations, and even the biology of meat-type chickens. The project also reveals how an emerging system of international trade affected post-1945 developments in U.S. law and policy, and how American business leaders worked alongside regulators to reshape global standards at the turn of the twenty-first century. The dissertation begins in the mid-1950s, when an unlikely coalition of consumer advocates, organized labor, and a nascent poultry industry mobilized their congressional representatives to establish mandatory government inspection of poultry products in interstate commerce. This broad consensus around the need for “government inspection” of food}, number={4}, journal={ENTERPRISE & SOCIETY}, author={Merck, Ashton W.}, year={2021}, month={Dec}, pages={921–929} }