News from the Media

While energy policy debates continue in the Massachusetts House and Senate, many city and town governments are charging ahead with local efforts to boost the use of renewable power sources.

“In Massachusetts, we can get 100 percent of our energy from renewable sources,” said Ben Hellerstein, state director of the Environment Massachusetts Research and Policy Center. (Wicked Local Needham 8/2/16)

D. Julian McClements, food science, is teaming up with Kayon Partners, an investment group and business development firm, to commercialize foods that enhance the body’s ability to absorb drugs and vitamins. (CNBC.com, 7/18/16)

Make-It Springfield, Springfield's downtown community makerspace, is establishing more permanent roots in the City. Make-It Springfield began as a temporary pop-up project on June 1, 2016, a collaboration between MassDevelopment, the University of Massachusetts Design Center in Springfield, and the Springfield Business Improvement District. "We are excited to see a broad array of UMass faculty and students participate in Make-It Springfield next semester." said Michael DiPasquale, an assistant professor in the University of Massachusetts Extension and Program Director of the UMass Design Center in Springfield. facebook.com/MakeItSpringfield/

Massachusetts is in the midst of the worst plague of gypsy moth caterpillars since 1981, said Joseph Elkinton, an entomologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “It’s everywhere,” Elkinton said. “You can hear the frass falling,” he added, using the scientific term for caterpillar droppings. “And you can hear the chewing; it’s quite a dramatic phenomenon.” (Boston Globe 6/30/16)

Welcome to the year of the gypsy moth caterpillar. The tiny critters are feasting on leaves and wreaking havoc on trees, mostly oak, but not exclusively. “I would say almost surely this is the largest outbreak we’ve seen since 1981,” said Joe Elkinton, professor of entomology in UMass Amherst’s department of environmental conservation. “This is unprecedented. It’s been 35 years." (Enterprise News 6/28/16)
 

The lights are finally on in a small storefront on Worthington Street in downtown Springfield, just in time for the official June 8 kick-off gala for Make-It Springfield, the “pop-up makerspace” that’s aimed not just at refurbishing the empty storefront it moved into, but also providing opportunities for residents that they might not otherwise get.

Michael DiPasquale, the director of the UMass Amherst Design Center in Springfield and one of the people responsible for making the project a reality, has been making the rounds. (Valley Advocate 6/16)

“I would say almost surely this is the largest outbreak we’ve seen since 1981,” said Joe Elkinton, professor of entomology in UMass Amherst’s department of environmental conservation. “This is unprecedented. It’s been 35 years. I don’t think it’s anywhere as bad as it was in 1981, but it’s more widespread than in recent years.”  (Taunton Daily Gazette 06/18/16)

An article examining the factors that make the West Chop pitch pine tree perfectly suited for Atlantic islands mentions a recent report from the UMass Amherst Center for Food, Agriculture, and the Environment that found last year the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation had found southern pine beetles in traps on Martha’s Vineyard. The department had not, however, observed any signs of infestation or any trees killed by the beetle, the only serious threat facing pitch pines on Martha’s Vineyard. (Martha’s Vineyard Times, 6/8/16)

AMHERST, Mass. – As New England's blueberry season approaches, University of Massachusetts Amherst doctoral candidate Matt Boyer says a fungal pathogen of highbush blueberries known as mummy berry is a common threat to growers, and if left untreated can destroy up to 50 percent of a crop. It is so named because it produces dead-looking, berry-shaped lumps instead of healthy berries. (Scienmag 6/2/16)