There may not be a sweeter college graduation assignment than making ice cream. That was the challenge this spring for 26 seniors in the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Students who developed the winning flavor saw it produced and sold by neighboring Maple Valley Creamery. (Boston Globe 9/22/15)
News from the Media
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UMass Amherst students create ice cream flavor for Hadley creamery
September 23, 2015 -
UMass participates in discussion on Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change
September 22, 2015Craig Nicolson, environmental conservation, took part in a panel discussion of Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change held Sept. 21 in Northampton. “No matter who you are and where you come from, this is an encyclical that is for you,” he said, noting that the pope directed the message to every person on the planet. (Gazette, 9/22/15)
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Cranberry Country: The A, Bee, C's of pollination, Anne Averill advises
September 21, 2015UMass Amherst and the UMass Cranberry Station are studying the decline of bees that pollinate cranberry crops. Anne Averill, environmental conservation, is examining bumblebee colony growth in pesticide-free unmanaged conservation sites versus managed bogs.
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UMass Amherst Faculty among "World's Leading Scientific Minds"
September 21, 2015AMHERST, Mass. – Seven University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty members are among “the world’s leading scientific minds,” whose publications are again among the most influential in their fields, according to a survey by leading multinational media and information firm Thomson Reuters.
The Thomson Reuters compilers, who set out to identify “some of the best and brightest scientific minds of our time,” recognized UMass Amherst food scientists Eric Decker and David Julian McClements, and soil chemist Baoshan Xing of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, among others. (News Release 9/18/15)
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UMass Watershed Scientists Offer National Flood and Runoff Assessment
September 19, 2015The first continent-wide, multi-factor analysis of climate and land cover effects on watersheds in the United States, provides a broad new assessment of runoff, flooding and storm water management options for use by such professionals as land use and town planners and water quality managers. (Environmental Protection, Storm Water Solutions, 9/15/15; Waterbucket.ca, 9/19/15; News Office release)
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Downtown Temporary Parks Educate Pedestrians: UMass students participate
September 18, 2015Students from landscape architecture and regional planning created a small park in downtown Amherst on Sept. 16 as part of Park(ing) Day, an international event when people transform parking spaces into parks. As part of their project, they built a demonstration bioswale that they say could send cleaner water into the Campus Pond. (Gazette, 9/18/15)
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UMass receives $1 million to continue Holyoke G&E energy saving project
September 14, 2015The National Science Foundation’s Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity program has announced a three-year, $1 million grant to three UMass Amherst researchers and others to work with Holyoke Gas & Electric Co. (HG&E) to develop smart energy services. Preshant Shenoy, Simi Hoque and David Irwin are co-principal investigators. (Republican, 9/14/15; News Office release)
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Pick-your-own apples above average: Extension comments
September 5, 2015This weekend officially kicks off apple picking season throughout the region and orchard explorers are expected to find an above average selection.
According to Jon Clements, a member of the University of Massachusetts extension team, the major threat to the apple crop as the season opens would be a hurricane or hail - both could damage the fruit and dampen picking enthusiasm. (Milford Daily News, 9/5/15) -
Ten weird majors: UMass Amherst's Stockbridge School of Agriculture makes list
September 4, 2015Turfgrass science and management, UMass Amherst: Amherst's Stockbridge School of Agriculture offers both bachelor of science and associate of science degrees in the production and maintenance of grassed areas. The best part? Students can concentrate on either the business or science aspects of the industry. Talk about choice! (boston.com 9/3/15)
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Jody L. Jellison Named Director of Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment at UMass Amherst
September 3, 2015AMHERST, Mass. – Jody L. Jellison, a plant biologist and pathologist and longtime leader of agricultural research and Extension programs, has been named director of the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. (Republican, 9/03/15, Boston Business Journal,8/31/15; News Office Release)
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Native-Seeds Strategy for Damaged Landscapes: UMass Weighs In
August 30, 2015Bethany A. Bradley, environmental conservation, says fires in the Great Basin of the West are often not caused by drought but by wet weather that encourages the growth of invasive weeds such as cheatgrass. Her comments are in a story about how federal officials are trying to replant burned areas with native plants before the invasive species can take over. (Summit Daily 8/31/15)
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Coca-Cola to replenish 100% of water use, Rees comments
August 27, 2015Coca-Cola Co. and its bottling partners expect to be replenishing 100 percent of the water used in their factories by the end of 2015, reaching a longstanding conservation goal five years ahead of schedule. (Bloomberg Business,8/25; Financial Review [Australia], 8/26)
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McGovern leads state, federal officials on farm tour of western Massachusetts
August 25, 2015SOUTH DEERFIELD — Congressman Jim McGovern, flanked by a dozen federal and state agricultural officials, including representatives from UMass Extension Service and the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, rolled into western Massachusetts on August 25 as part of a two-day tour of farms around the Congressional district. Katie Campbell-Nelson, a University of Massachusetts Amherst Extension educator, was present at several of the farms where she teaches pest management practices. (8/25 Republican, 8/25 Hampshire Gazette, 8/25 Recorder)
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Certain wildlife species could benefit from pipeline, while others suffer, says UMass professor
August 11, 2015NORTHFIELD — The Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.’s proposed Northeast Energy Direct project, in some cases, may benefit certain species but could cause significant harm to others.
Scott Jackson, associate professor of wetlands and wildlife conservation at the University of Massachusetts, has developed a Natural Resource Assessment report, outlining core habitats susceptible to harm from the installation of a pipeline and compressor station. (Recorder 8/11/15)
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Trans fat replacements an ‘experiment' on public says Head of Food Science at UMass
August 10, 2015With trans fats on the way out, Americans can expect to see new shortenings in their snack foods. But will the replacements be any better?
In the future, customers can expect to see monounsaturated or “high oleic” oils in their foods.
“This is going to be the next trend. We’ll see our consumption of monounsaturated fats going way up,” said Eric Decker, head of the Department of Food Science at UMass Amherst. “This is the next big experiment on the United States population.” (The Commercial Appeal 8/7/15)
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Orchards expect apple bumper crop, UMass Extension comments
August 10, 2015Jon Clements of UMass Extension, who works at the university’s Cold Spring research orchard in Belchertown said he has every reason to believe that this year’s crop will be above average.
“There hasn’t really been anything that’s had an adverse effect on it,” Clements said. “There was no spring frost, and the bloom was normal. We actually had a heavy bloom, there were lots of flowers. There was just no stress to the trees this year, there’s plenty of fruit out there.” (Recorder 8/7/15)
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UMass biochemist, Elizabeth Vierling Secures $682,982 NSF Grant to Study Plants Under Stress
August 6, 2015AMHERST, Mass. – Biochemist Elizabeth Vierling at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently received a three-year, $682,982 National Science Foundation grant to study how plants respond, at the molecular and cellular level, to stress in their environment and the role of a regulatory protein called S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR). (8/5/15 News Release, 8/5/15 4-Traders.com, 8/6/15 Republican)
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High school students spend week at UMass exploring world of farming, food
August 6, 2015AMHERST – In recent years, the University of Massachusetts has offered a number of summer programs, but until this year a program in sustainable agriculture was missing. Ten students from around the country came to campus to the one-week program the last week of July. Their only regret was it wasn't two weeks long.
UMass Stockbridge School of Agriculture instructor Sarah Berquist taught the program on sustainability and food systems. She said the summer is perfect for a program like this because "harvest is abundant." And she said the program "is a great opportunity to spread the word about our great program." (8/6/15 Mass Live)
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Lessons On The Birds And Trees: UMass adjunct professor, David Bloniarz, interviewed
July 30, 2015A new program about environmental awareness kicks off in western Massachusetts today. The US Forest Service along with the University of Massachusetts, the city of Springfield, and the nonprofit Regreen Springfield will hold a series of workshops to highlight the importance of trees, birds and water in urban neighborhoods. WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with David Bloniarz, a researcher with the U.S. Forest Service. To listen, click here.
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Scientists, lawmakers seek solution to honeybee crisis. UMass professor comments
July 29, 2015Massachusetts honeybees are disappearing without a trace. Hives are left barren of bees, save for a small cluster of larvae, nurse bees, and an abandoned queen.The question is: Why?
Tuesday on Beacon Hill, scientists and lawmakers convened to explore the phenomenon of colony collapse disorder and to seek ways to protect decimated bee populations.
“We saw a 40 percent loss in bees this year in Worcester County,” Kenneth Warchol, program director of the Worcester County Beekeepers Association, said in an interview. “Bees are like canaries in a coal mine — they’re sending us a message that something’s wrong here.”
