Dr. Steve Phillips is a native of Oklahoma and attended Cameron University for his B.S. and Oklahoma State University for his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. After completing his Ph.D., Steve joined the faculty at Virginia Tech as a soil fertility research and extension specialist. In 2007, Steve left academia and joined the International Plant Nutrition Institute as North American Director and spent the next 12 years leading applied research and educational outreach programs around the world focused on improving the performance of diverse cropping systems through enhanced crop nutrition and precision agriculture technologies. Most recently, Steve served as Principal Scientist for the African Plant Nutrition Institute where he led research and extension activities across the continent. Steve has authored over 200 scientific and extension publications and provided keynote lectures on precision crop nutrition at events in over 20 countries.