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The Department of Plant, Soil & Insect Sciences is housed in several buildings on campus. The major buildings are Fernald Hall (where the primary administrative offices are located), Stockbridge Hall, Bowditch Hall, French Hall, Clark Hall, the Agricultural Engineering Building and Hatch Laboratory. The buildings have numerous laboratories that are utilized for student and faculty research activities, as well as for classroom exercises. Fernald Hall, the departmental headquarters, has a large lecture hall, two teaching laboratories, a conference room, an insect museum, faculty laboratories and a copy facility, along with departmental, faculty, and graduate student offices.
The Department also has numerous greenhouses on campus with more than 11,000 square feet of bench space. These facilities are located adjacent to French Hall, Bowditch Hall, Clark Hall and Fernald Hall and are utilized extensively for classroom exercises and student research activities. Students enrolled in such courses as greenhouse management, horticultural crop production, hydroponics, organic farming, plant nutrition, as well as herbs, spices and medicinal plants receive hands-on training within the greenhouse facilities.
In addition, Umass Amherst Extension maintains and manages the Durfee Conservatory, a university plant resource located adjacent to French Hall. This arboretum, which dates back to the mid 1800's, contains many rare plants and collections, including a small "rain forest." Amid the hustle and bustle of campus, the Conservatory and it's many gardens offer students and visitors a treat for the senses. Several departmental courses utilize the Conservatory as a living laboratory to examine the unique collection of tropical and foliage plants.
Specialized equipment includes: gas chromatographs, high-pressure liquid chromatographs, liquid scintillation counters, gel electrophoresis apparatus and scanning densometers, thin-layer chromatographic linear analyzer, absorption and reflective spectrophotometers, preparative and ultra centrifuges, plate readers for immunoassay, and weather recording instrumentation. For behavioral studies, we have flight mills, wind tunnels, event recorders, and a variety of video recording and analysis equipment.
The UMass-Amherst Genomics Resource Laboratory (GRL) is housed in the department, and facilitates genome research for Five-campus faculty as well as some off-campus contractors. The GRL provides nucleotide sequencing service and a variety of genotyping platforms (including fragment analyses, gradient gel electrophoresis, and SNP detection). The GRL also has realtime PCR instruments available for use. The GRL is staffed with a full time managing consultant who can help with everything from study design to training laboratory personnel. More information can be found on the GRL web page.
In addition, PSIS faculty have facilities in their laboratories for insect cell and tissue culture, as well as equipment and expertise necessary for gene cloning and DNA amplification using polymerase chain reaction technology. Through the campus-wide Biotechnology Program , faculty and staff also have access to facilities for amino acid analysis, protein sequencing, and peptide synthesis as well as oligo-nucleotide synthesis, and cell sorting.
The College has its own GC/MS facility and the University maintains a modern imaging center with transmission and scanning EM.
Off-campus facilities include over 300 acres of farmland utilized for studies in turf, ornamental, vegetable, agronomic, small fruits, orchard crops and entomology.
The South Deerfield Farm, in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, encompasses more than 100 acres dedicated to the study of turfgrass, weeds, vegetables and agronomic crops, as well as for entomology field work. An 18 acre section of the farm is designated exclusively for turf research, and includes the Department's newest research, teaching, and maintenance facility, The Joseph Troll Turf Research Center.
The UMass Cold Spring Orchard Research & Education Center in nearby Belchertown, Massachusetts, encompasses more than 200 acres and includes an experimental orchard as well as a controlled-atmosphere storage facility for post-harvest studies. The Orchard is a living laboratory where students learn pruning, tree training, cultivar identification, post harvest handling, integrated pest management, and other production practices.
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