Two turfgrass students weigh and evaluate a sample core of turfgrass, on a green lawn, with mountain and sky background

STOCKBRIDGE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE

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  • 3 students ride on a tractor on the UMass Student Farm

    8 New Paid Research Internships Will Shape the Future of Farming

    The most recent jobs report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) anticipates that employer demand for college graduates with degrees and expertise in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and the environment (FARNRE) will exceed the number of available graduates.   Funded by a USDA grant, eight paid, full-time internships will be offered to UMass students each summer through 2026.  The internships train students in technology-enhanced agricultural sciences, supporting and promoting sustainable food production systems.
  • Sue Scheufle speaks on mic to people riding in a farm wagon with bench seating

    Agricultural Research Showcased on Annual Farm Tour

    Nearly 100 guests and presenters rode in tractor-pulled wagons to 12 different research sites on the grounds of the UMass Crop and Animal Research and Education Farm in South Deerfield.  Current research at Stockbridge School of Agriculture focuses on themes such as sustainability, reduction of inputs like water and pesticide, improvement of crop yield and quality, and a deeper understanding of how microbiomes in soil affect growth factors in farming.  The showcased research projects were as varied as the participants, and represent the broad range of innovative topics pursued by researchers in the UMass community.
  • 4 Diverse students walking on campus wearing UMass shirts

    Stockbridge Enrollments Increase Despite National Downtrend

    This Fall, Stockbridge welcomes 72 new students to its hallowed halls and fertile fields.  The Fall 2023 entering class is 38% larger than the Fall 2020 class recruited during the COVID-19 pandemic, and represents a full return to pre-pandemic enrollment levels.  The national trend for college enrollments has been tracking downward for several years, posing a recruitment challenge for public and private colleges alike.  So how is Stockbridge bucking the trend?
  • Dr. Hannah Naughton next to a model of the carbon cycle in soil

    Stockbridge Welcomes New Faculty in Biogeochemistry

    Dr. Hannah Naughton, a soil biogeochemist, joins us this Fall as our newest professor at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture.  Dr. Naughton’s research is focused on how topography and hydrology, coupled with plants, can control whether soils act as a greenhouse gas source, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, or as a greenhouse gas sink, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into forests, oceans, and soils.  Her project improves our ability to predict microbial carbon processing, and to better extrapolate how such processing will affect both soil health and our climate.
  • UMass Mascot Sam the Minuteman poses with chef and students in dining commons over food.

    UMass Wins "Best Campus Food" for 7th Year in a Row

    The Princeton Review's 2023 rankings for "Best Campus Food" have again placed UMass Amherst in the very top slot.  It's the 7th year in a row that the largest collegiate dining program in the country has also been recognized as the best.  UMass Dining emphasizes locally sourced foods while delivering healthy, sustainable, delicious, diverse, and authentic culinary experiences to help build community through food.  Each year, UMass Dining buys a literal ton of produce from the UMass Student Farm, a sustainable organic vegetable farm enterprise run by students in the Sustainable Food & Farming major at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture.
  • Mamedov Headshot, Book cover, pictures of herbs

    Mamedov Reveals Pharmacological Properties of Asian Herbs

    Stockbridge Professor Nazim Mamedov has been telling the international scientific community about the pharmacological properties of specific herbal plants native to Syria and Iran.  His research, published in two chapters of the new anthology Biodiversity, Conservation and Sustainability in Asia, will refresh and advance the content of his courses on herbal medicine.  In a small study using Syrian rue plant, 90% of participants reported improvement of their mild to moderate anxiety and depression symptoms.  He also showed that the essential oils in thymus, the plant behind the popular spice thyme, have antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antioxidative properties.

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.

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Om Parkash Dhankher Headshot

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