Stockbridge News

Dr. Xing's invited presentation, "Microplastics Reduce Lipid Digestion in Simulated Human Gastrointestinal System," was given at the Symposium on Effects of Nano- and Microplastics on Human Health in October.  "You are what you eat," says Dr. Xing, Director and professor at Stockbridge School of Agriculture, "and now we can illustrate how the body's ability to digest lipids is potentially diminished by the presence of microplastics in the foods we eat."  The symposium was a part of "CRIS Science Day 2022," hosted by the Center for Research on Ingredient Safety, at University of Michigan's Institute for Integrative Toxicology.

Stockbridge graduate students Arthur Siller and Alexa Smychkovich have each been awarded grants in the amount of $15,000 for their ongoing research on the science of soil and crop management.  The two grants, totaling $30,000 were competitively awarded by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, a decentralized source of grants to support "the science and finance of the agricultural community in the Northeast United States," said Dr. Hashemi.

A new scientific anthology highlights the future of phytoremediation – using plants and soil microbes to clean contaminated environments – and the future of the bioenergy production industries.  Stockbridge professor and agriculture biotechnologist Om Parkash Dhankher is both an author and a co-editor of the book Bioenergy Crops: A Sustainable Means of Phytoremediation (CRC 2022). The comprehensive book provides researchers with the latest updates in the field, detailing the most promising plant and alga species for producing bioenergy, harnessing microbial fuel cells, constructing wetlands, and repairing damaged soils.

New research from Stockbridge entomology professor John Stoffolano concerning “synanthropic” flies—or the non-biting flies that live with us—argues that we need to pay far more attention to them as disease carriers. While epidemiologists have focused their attention on the biting flies that can spread diseases by transferring infected blood from host to host, it turns out that what the non-biting flies regurgitate is a far greater risk to human health. “I’ve been working on synanthropic flies since I was a graduate student in the 1960s,” says Stoffolano, “And synanthropic flies have largely been ignored... We should pay attention to the ones that live among us because they get their nutrients from people and animals that shed pathogens in their tears, feces and wounds.”

Long before there were riding lawnmowers, sheep kept the grass short in parks and public spaces. Why not, in the era of global climate change, bring sheep back to help mow the lawns at the University of Massachusetts Amherst?  On September 23 and 24 from 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM, a small flock of sheep from the Hadley Farm will be coming to the UMass Amherst campus as part of a student-led, participatory reimagining of our campus land, how it’s used and valued, and toward what ends. We invite you to join us!

Our newest faculty member, Dr. Rachel Hestrin, has been named a 2022-23 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, “Recognizing Research and Crediting Collaboration Equitably.”  Stockbridge benefits from having several prominent women in science serving in our faculty, as well as an international cohort of top researchers from around the globe.

On May 23, 2022, Smith Vocational-Agricultural High School in Northampton suffered a fire in the main shop for their Horticulture/Forestry program, displacing some 25-30 students and and causing extensive damage. Stockbridge School of Agriculture has responded by making a cash donation of $1000 to the Horticulture/Forestry program at Smith Voc to help replace some of the equipment their students use daily.  The donation is also intended to encourage the efforts of Smith Tech students, and to demonstrate the power of community ties in our region.

Stockbridge professors Marco Keiluweit and Baoshan Xing are co-editors of a new book providing a state-of-the-art overview of research in soil biogeochemical processes, and strategies for greenhouse gas mitigation under climate change. Multi-Scale Biogeochemical Processes in Soil Ecosystems: Critical Reactions and Resilience to Climate Changes (Wiley 2022) offers a systematic and interdisciplinary approach to sustainable agricultural development and management of soil ecosystems in a changing climate.  This authoritative text is essential reading for scientists, engineers, agronomists, chemists, biologists, academic researchers, consultants, and other professionals whose work involves the nutrient cycle, ecosystem management, and climate change.

Stockbridge professor Elsa Petit has co-authored research that may save the wine industry. An international collaboration has uncovered how Grapevine Trunk Diseases (GTDs) function. One fungus produces iron molecules, another fungus produces hydrogen peroxide, and the two come together to create a bomb-like effect inside the woody bases of grapevines. We'll soon be able to remediate the disease through bio-controls -- intentional releases of bacteria and fungi that produce antioxidant compounds to protect vines from disease. These are newly emergent research opportunities for Stockbridge students! Click for article, or copy/paste this URL to see video of Petit's research in the news! https://bit.ly/StockbridgeGrapevineResearch

Stockbridge Plant and Soil Sciences alum Dave Johnson ('97) was recently awarded the E.J. Marshall platter for his management of the team that restored, prepared, and maintained the golf course for the 2022 U.S. Open.  Johnson started as an assistant superintendent after earning his Stockbridge degree.  Today he is Director of Agronomy for The Country Club in Brookline, MA, where he manages a crew of 36 turfgrass specialists and 100 volunteers. Watch video of them preparing the course: https://twitter.com/TheGCSNetwork/status/1538661655403499522 (copy/paste) And see video of Johnson accepting the award: https://twitter.com/turfgrassfed/status/1538660597998317568 (copy/paste) Click anywhere for an article about Johnson's career path that began at Stockbridge.

Joseph (Joe) C. Mawson, 89, passed away peacefully at home, Wednesday, May 25, 2022.  Employed by the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management from 1958 till retirement in 1996, Mawson's area of expertise was Forest statistics, inventory, management, computer application and growth analysis. He consulted with MA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation on the management and growth analysis of MA forests and the USDA Forest Service.  Mawson was a founding member of the Massachusetts Association of Professional Foresters.

Sustainable EweMass is a remarkable collaboration between the Stockbridge School of Agriculture and Hadley Farm, testing the transfer of some University’s lawn-mowing duties to the Stockbridge Sheep flock. The first test run of the program occurred on April 26 and 27, on the patch of grass between the Isenberg School of Management and the Fine Arts Center.  Inspired by a program called Sheepmowers, Britt Crow-Miller and her 26 students spent the spring semester brainstorming how to engage the campus community in a discussion on alternative methods of managing UMass lands to better support the University’s mission.  “Do big, mono-cultured green lawns, maintained by fossil-fuel burning machines and petrochemical fertilizers, accurately reflect our values and aspirations as a campus community?”