Dr. Micaela Colley
Over the past month, OSA has had some exciting staffing changes that we want to share with our community. The most significant change has been Micaela Colley’s transition in October to Washington State University’s Breadlab as their newest public plant breeder and research faculty member. Dr. Colley has been with OSA for almost twenty years and has been instrumental in building our foundational programs and leading various efforts for the organization, including as Executive Director, Director of Programs, and Co-Director of Research and Education. Micaela completed a PhD in 2022 focused on organic and participatory plant breeding under Dr. Edith Lammerts van Bueren at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. She has been practicing participatory research and plant breeding at OSA for a number of years, and is excited for this new chapter that will allow her to dedicate her time and talent to plant breeding with the Breadlab. OSA and WSU have been long-term partners on many projects throughout the years and will continue to collaborate on research and education projects to support organic seed production and the organic food system. Dr. Colley will continue to co-lead projects with OSA, including the OREI Carrot Improvement for Organic Agriculture, USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative on Carrots, and our OREI Spinach project. We are thrilled for this new opportunity to work with such an important colleague in her new role with WSU. Congratulations Miceala!
Molly Travis
As we continue to focus on our objectives outlined in OSA’s Strategic Framework, we are thrilled to expand our regional team in California with the hire of Molly Travis as our new California Research and Education Associate in November. Molly joins OSA with over ten years of experience in program management, project coordination, grants facilitation, and environmental education for sustainable agriculture and public lands management groups in California, Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest. She also has over a decade of experience in education and fieldwork, surveys, agriculture and forestry monitoring, plant identification, seed collection and storage. Molly will be our OREI OSPREY project manager, helping to coordinate this ambitious multi-state program aimed at advancing organic seed production practices and expanding the availability of high-quality organic seed. Molly joins our other R&E Associates, Michael Lordon (Midwest) and Susana Cabrera-Mariz (PNW) to build out our regional programming and will work closely with Dr. Jared Zystro, our national R&E Director.
Taylor Crosby
Taylor Crosby joined OSA in October as our Organic Farmers Association/Transition to Organic Partnership Program Intern. Taylor is currently a student at the University of North Texas in Dallas where she is majoring in applied Arts and Sciences with a focus on event management and hospitality. Her internship supports event coordination and various aspects of the Organic Seed Growers Conference, taking place in Corvallis, Oregon at Oregon State University from February 26 – March 1, 2025. Taylor has experience working with businesses in Texas to create and manage events and is a food systems enthusiast. She hopes to build her knowledge of event management systems through her internship with OSA. We are excited to have Taylor join our OSGC planning team as we prepare to host this national event for seed producers and the organic food system sector.
