Dr. Stephen Rich appointed as Department Head of PSIS

Dr. Stephen M. Rich was appointed as the new Head of the Department of Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences (PSIS). He is a native of northern New York, where he completed his BS in Biology at St. Lawrence University (1989). Dr. Rich did his graduate work at the University of Vermont (M.S.), Harvard University (S.M.), and University of California (Ph.D.). He is the author of more than 50 research articles, and recipient of several awards including the William Procter Award from Sigma Xi (2000), the Pfizer Research Excellence Award (2002), and an NIH LRP Award for Pediatric Research (2004-2008). He joined the PSIS faculty at the University of Massachusetts in 2005, after having served as an Assistant Professor for 6 years at Tufts University. Dr Rich also currently serves as Director of the UMass Amherst Genomic Resource Laboratory, an important campus-wide research facility.

Dr. Rich’s training is in Genetics. His research foci are on the genetics of the agents and vectors of infectious diseases. The two main areas of this research are in the study of Lyme Disease and other tickborne pathogens in North America, and Human Malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. His work is funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as various state and federal health agencies including the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NH-DHHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. Rich becomes the third Department Head of PSIS since the merger of three academic units several years ago. The department is one of the largest in the newly created College of Natural Sciences, with some 31 faculty members. PSIS supports training programs leading to Associates (Stockbridge School) and Baccalaureate undergraduate degrees, as well as two graduate programs granting to M.S. and Ph.D. in Entomology as well as in Plant and Soil Sciences. In addition to its academic and research missions, the Department encompasses the UMass Extension Agriculture and Landscape Program.

Dr. Rich takes leadership of the Department at a critical point. “Like all Departments in the newly created College of Natural Sciences, we face the challenge of defining our mission and how it fits into the larger objectives of the new College,” says Rich. “Bringing all the Life Science departments together in a single college gives us an opportunity to think about how our undergraduate and graduate education programs can be retooled to better train the students enrolled in them. I am confident that our Department, with its outstanding cadre of faculty, will play a vital role in bringing the College and the University to its proper level of ascendancy.”

For more information about Dr. Rich and his research program, please see his website at:

http://www.umass.edu/richlab/