‘UMass Rising: The University of Massachusetts at 150’ pictures

“UMass Rising: The University of Massachusetts at 150’’ chronicles the school’s first 150 years. Take a look at select images from the book.

Pictured: Engineering students in the 1950s. The School of Engineering opened in 1947 offering four majors, agricultural, electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering. By 1951, the school graduated 250 students.

Summer School demonstration of horses, carriages, and saddle types in 1908. Summer sessions were part of President Kenyon Butterfield’s outreach to local farm communities. Men and women came to campus to take short courses or attended traveling exhibits and lectures designed to enrich and liberate them from the potential drudgery of farm life.

Edwueme Michael Thelwell. Thelwell was the first chair of one of the first Afro-American Studies departments in the nation established at UMass Amherst in 1970. An English professor, he called the department, “the most scintillating gathering of black intellectuals anywhere in the world.’’

UMass Amherst marching band. Under the direction of beloved director George Parks, the band moved from traditional military style programs to more rhythmically interesting pieces with dancelike choreography. In 1998, the band won the prestigious Sudler Trophy, given annually for excellence to one college marching band in the nation.

Cloned calves. In 1988, UMass Amherst researchers James Robl and Steven Stice grabbed world attention when they announced that they had created two identical genetically engineered calves, George and Charlie.

Varsity women’s softball team. The program is among the winningest athletic teams at UMass Amherst.

Ice hockey on Campus Pond, year unknown.

Microbiologist and UMass Amherst researcher Derek Lovley at the site on the Potomac River where he discovered the Geobacter bacterium. It not only can break down oil-based pollutants and radioactive materials, but its hair-like pili conduct electricity very effectively along metallic-like “microbial nanowires,’’ feeding electrons to other microorganisms that can produce methane gas. This is an important step in converting organic wastes to methane, which can be burned to produce electricity.