Leadership

Dr. Nicole Martin is an Assistant Research Professor and the Associate Director of the Milk Quality Improvement Program (MQIP) in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. Nicole grew up in the beautiful Southern Tier of New York State where she began a lifelong love of dairy by working on a local dairy farm. She received her BS (’06), MS (’11) and PhD (’18) degrees in Food Science from Cornell University with minors in microbiology and animal science.

Nicole works closely with dairy industry stakeholders including producers and processors to drive the farm to consumer dairy research conducted in the MQIP. Nicole’s research interests take a holistic approach to dairy product quality and safety, with the mindset that providing consumers with high quality dairy products must start at the farm and be a priority throughout processing, distribution, and retail. In particular, Nicole is interested in the transmission of dairy associated spoilage organisms from environmental niches into raw and processed dairy products, strategies to reduce or eliminate this transmission, the implications of spoilage organisms on finished product, and the development of practical, industry relevant methods of detection.

Nicole is an active member of the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) and was awarded the ADSA Foundation Scholar Award in Dairy Foods in 2019. Nicole currently serves as the chair of the ADSA Dairy Foods Division and is a section editor for the Journal of Dairy Science. She is also a member of the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) and the New York State Association of Food Protection (NYSAFP). Nicole is a regular contributor to the Cornell Dairy Foods Extension programs, teaching courses in Fluid Milk Processing for Quality and Safety, The Science of Yogurt and Fermented Dairy Products and Membrane and Evaporation and Drying Technology.

Laura Colby is a principal scientist in dairy foods at Land O’Lakes Inc.’s farmer-owned cooperative, where she has worked since 2016 in dual roles as a technical leader and people leader. She had experience working at Kraft Heinz, Quest International (acquired by Givaudan), Monsanto, and General Mills prior to joining Land O’Lakes. Colby studied food science and chemistry at the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her areas of focus include natural cheese, cheese, dairy flavor generation, cultures and enzymes, enzyme-modified cheeses, novel fermentations, cheese quality improvements, and more. She is passionate about developing technical leaders while delivering business value.

Colby has served ADSA in volunteer roles over the past seven years, including as a member-at-large of the Dairy Foods Division, judge for the Dairy Foods Division Graduate Student Poster Competition, chair and judge for the Dairy Foods Division Graduate Student Oral Presentation Competition, member of the ADSA Dairy Foods Student Engagement Subcommittee, and as an abstract reviewer. Colby is engaged with National Dairy Foods Research Centers and recently served on a strategic planning team for the Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center. She has previously served in numerous leadership roles within the Institute of Food Technologists sections, divisions, and student association, where she influenced and improved programming, governance, student involvement, outreach, marketing, and more, having served on both Chicago and Minnesota Section Institute of Food Technologists boards. Colby has had formal leadership training as well as informal leadership development through practice over more than two decades. She is excited about the future of ADSA and its role in advancing dairy animal agriculture and the dairy foods industry.

Hadi is a Research and Development Manager at Tillamook County Creamery Association. He holds a PhD degree in Food Science from University of Guelph, Canada. He obtained his MS degree in Dairy Product Technology from California Polytechnic State University- San Luis Obispo. Prior to moving to the United States, Hadi received a DVM degree from Karaj University in Iran.

Hadi’s areas of expertise include dairy chemistry and processing, casein micelle functionality in different dairy systems as well as cheese technology and aging. Hadi has several years of experience in the industry leading the full lifecycle of projects from ideation to commercialization. In his current role at Tillamook, he leads new product development in multiple product categories in addition to managing Tillamook’s long term external research collaborations with the national dairy research centers and other academic and industry partners. Prior to joining Tillamook, Hadi worked at the Kraft Foods as a research and product development scientist, where he worked on brands such as Philadelphia and Velveeta, etc.

Hadi has been the primary author and co-author of several publications in the areas of milk proteins processing and functionality. He currently serves on the industry advisory board to Oregon Dairy Industries and several dairy research centers across the U.S. including BUILD, CDR, SDFRC. Since 2019, Hadi has also served as an adjunct industry partner to the Food Science Department at Oregon State University, where he leads research collaborations with the faculty and graduate students.

Hadi has been involved with the Dairy Foods Division of the ADSA ever since he was a graduate student and continued his support of ADSA as an industry professional over the years. He has served on different technical committees as a member and been the Chair to MPE (Milk Proteins and Enzymes committee) since 2020.

Phil Cardoso is an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his DVM and MS degrees from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and his PhD from the University of Illinois. Since 2012, Cardoso has established a unique program and online presence that seamlessly blends his teaching, extension, and research efforts. Cardoso’s Dairy Science program places students in applied positions and academia. He and his students have published over 80 peer-reviewed manuscripts (original research and invited reviews) and 3 invited book chapters to date

Cardoso currently teaches an online course on dairy nutrition and diet formulation that has enrolled over 70 students from more than 15 countries. His program is built from questions from dairy producers and focuses on the dairy cow’s diet as a medical prescription for improved performance, health, and fertility. That is achieved by understanding the impact of nutrition on metabolism, reproduction, and health in dairy cows, as well as mechanisms of metabolic adaptation to stressors. Cardoso is active in service to professional societies. He is a past president of the ADSA Midwest section board of directors and was a member and chair of the Journal of Dairy Science Management Committee. He served on the Discover Conferences Steering Committee and co-chaired Discover 39 on Transition Cows in 2020. 

Michelle (Shelly) Rhoads is currently an associate professor in the School of Animal Sciences at Virginia Tech. Her recent research involves investigating aberrations in metabolic and endocrine profiles, with a particular focus on interactions between fertility, insulin, and glucose in heat-stressed dairy cattle. Additional topics of research interest include growth hormones, insulin-like growth factor-1, ghrelin, and the reproductive hormones of cattle. The primary aim of her research is to elucidate factors involved in the regulation of fertility in order to develop management programs that optimize reproductive capacity.

Rhoads was born and raised on her family’s dairy farm in mid-Missouri, where she was active in day-to-day operations and eventually built her own small herd of Holsteins. After receiving a BS in animal science from the University of Missouri, Rhoads went on to earn an MS from Cornell University with W. Ronald Butler, then returned to the University of Missouri for her PhD with Matthew Lucy. Before coming to Virginia Tech, Rhoads was a USDA-funded post-doc and assistant professor at the University of Arizona. She is a frequent invited speaker at local, national, and international meetings, where she shares her research findings with producers, students, peer scientists, industry professionals, government officials, and other stakeholders.

Rhoads has served as a member of the ADSA Physiology and Endocrinology Program Committee (2022–present), a member of the Journal of Dairy Science (JDS) Editorial Board (2017–2022), and an invited Speaker at the ADSA Annual Meeting (2018). She is a frequent contributor of publications to JDS and JDS Communications as a corresponding author and frequently reviews for both journals. In addition to the ADSA activities listed above, Rhoads has served on the Editorial Board for Frontiers in Animal Science (Animal Nutrition section). She is a member of two USDA-NIFA Multistate Research Projects (NE2227 and NC1201). Her experience with NE2227, in particular, has prepared her for the ADSA Board, as she served in multiple capacities (director, secretary, and chair) and hosted and organized two of the annual meetings. She has served on multiple committees for the Society for the Study of Reproduction in addition to multiple committees within her institution at the university, college, and departmental levels. All of these experiences have prepared her for working with peers at multiple institutions to accomplish a common goal and have taught her the importance of timeliness in completing tasks.

Trevor DeVries is a professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Animal Biosciences at the University of Guelph (Guelph, ON, Canada). DeVries received his BSc in agriculture in 2001 and his PhD in 2006 from The University of British Columbia. Following that, he spent one year as a postdoctoral fellow with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. In 2007, he was appointed faculty at the University of Guelph.

DeVries maintains a very strong, productive research program focused on understanding the links between dairy cow behavior, nutrition, and management. His work has led to fundamental discoveries and practical solutions that have collectively contributed to improvements in dairy cattle performance, health, welfare, and efficiency. Over his career, he has authored or coauthored more than 225 peer-reviewed papers. He joined the JDS Club 100 in 2019 with over 100 papers published in the Journal of Dairy Science (JDS). His accomplishments in research over the years have been recognized in his reception of several awards from ADSA and other professional organizations. DeVries is committed to extending his research work to the field, as evidenced by over 375 invited research presentations to audiences worldwide.

DeVries’ teaching at the University of Guelph has spanned diploma, degree, and graduate students, including instructing applied diploma and undergraduate courses in dairy production, dairy cattle nutrition, and dairy herd management. He is also the coach of the University of Guelph Dairy Challenge team.

>DeVries works diligently in public service, serving on several university committees as well as various local, national, and international professional committees. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge. For ADSA, he has served as the Production Division Council chair, the Overall Program Committee chair for the 2022 ADSA Annual Meeting, and a member of several section committees.

DeVries has served as an editorial board member for JDS and JDS Communications for several years and has recently joined JDS Communications as a section editor. He was also an invited section editor and chapter author for Large Dairy Herd Management, a book published by ADSA.

Federico Harte is a professor in the Food Science Department at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU), with a 75% research and 25% teaching split. He received a BSc in agricultural engineering from the University of Uruguay and a PhD in biological systems engineering from Washington State University. He was a consultant and faculty member at the University of Uruguay and the University of Tennessee – Knoxville before joining PSU in 2014. His teaching focuses on food engineering and dairy processing (undergraduate) and food rheology (graduate).

For the last 10+ years, Harte’s research has focused on developing novel functionality from milk proteins for food and pharmaceutical application, and the use of novel processing technologies in the dairy industry, with support from state and federal agencies as well as the dairy industry. The core of Harte’s original research is published in the Journal of Dairy Science, where he was editor for the dairy foods section from 2016 to 2021. He has been an active member of the American Dairy Science Association since 2007 and has served as a member of the ADSA Foundation Board of Trustees.