@article{bourne_cuchiara_deviney_laxman_hendren_2025, title={Applying theory to practice in a large research center: creating and implementing tools for building convergence capacity in individuals and teams}, DOI={10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1639826}, abstractNote={The continued expansion of team science underscores the urgent need for shared, actionable models that can be validated to support effective interdisciplinary collaboration in scientific teams. This paper presents a practice-grounded framework for building convergence capacity in large, multi-institutional research environments, drawing on insights from the Science of Team Science (SciTS) and Integration and Implementation Sciences (I2S). Using the U.S. NSF-funded Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center as a case study, we explore how integration expertise can be strategically embedded within leadership structures to design and implement evidence-informed toolkits and conceptual models that scaffold convergence practices. These approaches operationalize convergence through three interdependent priority focal points -scaffolding effective teamwork and group integration capacity, cultivation and management of boundary objects, and investment in the integrative capacity and professional growth of the individuals that make up the teams-each supported by specific tools, facilitation strategies, and team development approaches that align with established theories of collaboration and integration. By translating convergence theory into replicable, field-tested practices, this study contributes to the development of team science models that are adaptable to diverse research contexts and challenges. We share how one example of a large research center incorporated literature- and practice-based convergence approaches into the organizational structure and research efforts from the onset of problem formulation and team formation, and we highlight how integration practitioners serve as catalysts-structuring processes, facilitating shared meaning-making, and fostering collective metacognitive awareness essential to interdisciplinary problem solving. Our reflections and observations in this manuscript emphasize the critical role that deliberate, resourced, theory-driven intervention can play in building the conditions for sustainable collaboration and effective knowledge co-creation.}, journal={Frontiers in Psychology}, author={Bourne, Kimberly and Cuchiara, Maude and Deviney, Alison and Laxman, Daniel and Hendren, Christine Ogilvie}, year={2025}, month={Dec} }