Stockbridge News

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Chancellor Reyes is wasting no time getting to know the ins and outs of UMass Amherst.  Stockbridge School of Agriculture is where UMass started, so Reyes decided to start here too.  Last week, Chancellor Reyes visited the Agricultural Learning Center, and toured the UMass Student Farm, just north of campus. Reyes also invited the Stockbridge Floral Design class to collaborate on ways to sustainably decorate the Hillside gardens at the Chancellor's house.

The 2023-2024 Best Global Universities rankings have been released by U.S. News and World Report.  For the fourth year in a row, the University of Massachusetts Amherst ranks #1 in the U.S., and #5 in the world for Agricultural Sciences.  Says Stockbridge Associate Director and Professor Dan Cooley, "Our consistently top ranking is due to an overall effort in the College of Natural Sciences, tackling the existential challenges of safe and sustainable food production in the face of pollution and climate change.”

Dr. Rachel Hestrin has been named a 2023-24 Advance Faculty Fellow by UMass ADVANCE, a research and programming organization seeking to promote gender and racial equity for faculty at UMass.  Hestrin will represent Stockbridge as she works on this year's theme, “Equitable Faculty Evaluation Practices.”  Stockbridge benefits from having several prominent women in science serving in our faculty, as well as an international cohort of top researchers from nine countries.

Alex Ayarian and Robert Stark are current Horticultural Science majors with an interest in growing food.  They teamed with Sustainable Food & Farming major Cameron Sullivan to create Supreme Microgreens, a portable business that grows and sells edible plants just past their seed stage.  Microgreens, such as red cabbage, purple top turnip, Romaine lettuce, Red Russian kale, Rambo radish and purple kohlrabi, can contain more than 40 times the vitamins and minerals found in regular vegetables.  Look for Supreme Microgreens at the next Friday Farmers Market on Goodell Lawn near the Old Chapel.

Soil ecology professor Ashley Keiser and her student research team have discovered that the amount of carbon in the soil drives how microbes process nitrogen, which in turn determines soil fertility.  The research, recently published in Biogeochemistry Letters, additionally shows that the relationship between soil carbon and nitrogen holds true across 14 ecosystems, from the tundra to the subtropics.   Soil carbon determines whether mineralized nitrogen is available in the soil as ammonium, or further transformed into either nitrates—easily lost to runoff and a contributor to toxic algal blooms, or nitrous oxide—which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere. 

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.