Female landscaping student stands with her landscaping design models

STOCKBRIDGE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE

2-year and 4-year career-minded degrees through hands-on learning

COME GROW WITH US!

Upcoming Events

All Events

Stockbridge News

All News
  • 7 students pose at conference

    Stockbridge Presents Latest Research at Agronomy, Crops and Soil Conference

    Stockbridge sent a large contingent of faculty and students to St. Louis, Missouri to present their latest research at the conjoined annual international conference of three allied professional organizations.  The American Society for Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, jointly host this premier gathering of ideas, solutions, and innovation from across the field of environmental sciences. Students presenting their research at a conference like this learn important skills including how to organize data, how to respond to professional critiques of their work, and how to communicate science to a non-science public.
  • Chancellor Reyes uses shovel to help landscaping students plant a tree

    Landscape Students Plant Class of 2027 Tree With Chancellor Reyes

    Students from the two-year Landscape Contracting associate degree program welcomed Chancellor Reyes to the planting of a class tree intended to welcome students entering this Fall 2024.  Landscape Contracting students spend time in their drafting studios inside the ultra-modern Olver Design Building, learning to design landscape space.  In the building's dedicated assembly space, students learn how to build landscape elements which they install on campus in collaboration with the University's professional Landscape Management department.  Students receive close attention due to a low student-faculty ratio, and are advised by Mike Davidsohn who is both an alum of the program and it's long-time director.  
  • Diagram of Microplastics Sources and Organisms Affected

    Microscopic Zooplankton in Water Escalate the Threat from Nanoplastics

    Dr Baoshan Xing's latest research on waterborne nanoplastics has identified microscopic life that accelerates the degradation of microplastics into nanoplastics.  Prominently featured in both Scientific American, and by the Environment section of British news outlet The Guardian, Xing's research is fueling efforts to ban modern dissolvable plastics, such as laundry "pods," that actively pollute our water, soil, and naturally grown foods. “We need to collaborate with toxicologists and public health researchers to determine what this plague of nanoplastics is doing to us," says Xing.
  • Reyes poses in group shot of Stockbridge faculty and Turf Research Center staff

    Chancellor Reyes Visits Our Turf Research Center

    Soon after visiting the UMass Student Farm, Chancellor Reyes asked to learn more about the university's Joseph Troll Turf Research Center which, at over 100 years old, is the longest running turf research center in the nation.   The overall goal of the Center is to provide practitioners with the tools needed to produce healthy functional turf in the most economically viable, and environmentally sound manner possible. The land and resources provided by the Center are central to the Stockbridge School's 2-year and 4-year degrees in Turfgrass Science and Management.
  • Princeton Review Top 20 Green Colleges badge and Stockbridge seal

    UMass is Largest New England University in Top 20 Green Colleges List

    In the Princeton Review's 2024 Ranking of Green Colleges, UMass rose by 10 spots to #18, and is the largest university in New England to make the Top 20 Green Colleges List. The list recognizes colleges that exhibit superb sustainability practices, a strong foundation in sustainability education, and a healthy quality of life for students on campus. “In the top 20 list this year, we are only one of five institutions with 20,000 or more students. This shows how UMass is a sustainability leader across all of higher education,” says Ezra Small, campus sustainability manager. 
  • Bezanson holding award plaque and shaking hands with man; New England ISA wordmark and photo of award.

    Bezanson Receives Dennis Ryan Arboriculture Award from New England ISA

    Kristina Bezanson, certified arborist and coordinator for the Stockbridge Arboriculture associate degree program, has been chosen to receive the coveted 2023 Ryan Award, as granted by the International Society of Arboriculture's New England chapter. The Dr. H. Dennis P. Ryan III Award is the highest honor bestowed by the ISA New England chapter.  It is given in recognition of outstanding service in advancing the principles, ideals, and practices of arboriculture.

Merchandise for Stockbridge School of Agriculture

Spotlight Scholar

Prof Dhankher Awarded Highest Honor by Crop Science Society of America

Stockbridge is proud to be the academic home of 2023 UMass Amherst Spotlight Scholar Om Parkash Dhankher.

Plant and agriculture biotechnologist Om Parkash Dhankher was recently named an ASA Fellow by both Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and the American Society of Agronomy (ASA).  Awarded to fewer than 0.3% of the members, CSSA and ASA Fellowship is the highest honor bestowed by each organization.

Dr. Dhankher is an internationally recognized leader in the field of phytoremedation of arsenic-contaminated soils, and the development of climate-resilient crops, and environmentally safe nanomaterials, for sustainable agriculture.

Om and his students are currently at work on several projects, including genetic refinement of plants to maximize their ability to remove pollution from soil, the development of rice cultivars best suited to resist the uptake of arsenic from soil, and the engineering of oil seed crops into bio-fuels.

Dr. Dhankher's work represents some of the cutting-edge research happening at Stockbridge School of Agriculture every day.

Read More
Om Parkash Dhankher Headshot

Explore Our School

Award-winning teaching, research opportunities, and interdisciplinary programs in a diverse, inclusive community of excellence.