Paula S. Apsell
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Paula S. Apsell (born July 4, 1947) is the television Executive Producer Emerita of
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
's ''
NOVA A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...
'' and was director of the WGBH Science Unit. Among Apsell's signature award-winning NOVA productions are "The Elegant Universe" with Dr. Brian Greene, "Einstein's Big Idea" narrated by
John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. He studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his John Lithgow filmography, diverse work on stage and screen. He has rece ...
, and "Rx for Survival" in conjunction with Vulcan Productions. Apsell is widely considered among the most influential journalists in science communications and education in the U.S. and abroad.


Early life

On July 4, 1947, Apsell was born in
Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...
. Apsell grew up in
Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, along the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsu ...
and graduated from
Marblehead High School Marblehead High School is a public high school located in Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States. History The school has approximately 879 students. The current campus began construction in 2001, and opened for the 2002–2003 school year. In ...
. Her father, David Schwartz, was a navigator in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and her mother, Evelyn, opened the first consignment clothing store in Massachusetts. Her grandfather was a cobbler and an immigrant from
Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
.


Education

In 1969, Apsell graduated from
Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
with a degree in psychology. In 1983-84,
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
awarded her the
Vannevar Bush Vannevar Bush ( ; March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II, World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almo ...
Fellowship in the Public Understanding of Science. She studied evolutionary biology, and health policy among other topics. Apsell received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from
Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...
"for her central role in enhancing public understanding of science" and another from
Dickinson College Dickinson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1773 as Carlisle Grammar School, Dickinson was chartered on September 9, 1783, ...
in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census ...
.


Career

Apsell's career began in broadcasting at WGBH. Apsell is an executive producer and film director. Paula Apsell began her broadcasting career right out of college at Boston's WGBH station when she was hired to type and distribute the stations daily program logs. Within a year she was hired at WGBH radio where she developed the award-winning children's series "The Spiders Web." She also served as an on-air newsreader and statehouse reporter for WGBH radio. In 1975, Apsell switched over to WGBH-TV as a production assistant for NOVA's second season. One of Apsell's first productions was NOVA "Death of a Disease" which was the first long-form documentary on the eradication of smallpox. In the late 1970s Apsell was producing documentaries on artificial intelligence and genetic engineering; topics that rarely existed in the mainstream prior to the 21st century. In 1981, Apsell went to Boston's ABC affiliate,
WCVB WCVB-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on TV Place (off Gould Street near the I-95/ MA 128/Highland Avenue inte ...
, and was a producer for medical correspondent Dr. Timothy Johnson. At WCVB, Apsell produced "Someone I Once Knew," a groundbreaking program essentially introducing the story of
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
and
dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
into the public sphere. Apsell was asked to take over the top post at NOVA in 1985 where she remained for the three-and-a-half decades. Among Apsell's most notable NOVA's include "The Miracle of Life" sequel "Life's Greatest Miracle," "The Fabric of the Cosmos" with Brian Greene, and "Making North America" with Dr. Kirk Johnson. Other of Apsell's acclaimed productions are the giant-screen films " Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure" and "Special Effects" which was nominated for an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
. In 2005, Apsell launched a NOVA spin-off series, NOVAScienceNow hosted first by Dr. Neil De Grasse Tyson and later by technology journalist
David Pogue David Welch Pogue (born March 9, 1963) is an American technology and science writer and TV presenter, and correspondent for ''CBS News Sunday Morning''. He has hosted 18 ''Nova'' specials on PBS, including '' Nova ScienceNow'', the ''Making Stu ...
. In 2011, in addition to overseeing the NOVA franchise, Apsell taught science communications at the
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara dedicated to theoretical physics. KITP is one of 20 Kavli Foundation (United_States)#The Kavli Institutes, Kavli Institutes ...
at the
University of California Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...
. In October 2018, Paula Apsell received the
Lifetime Achievement Emmy The Lifetime Achievement Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of the significant lifetime achievements of an individual in the American television industry. They are analogous to other awards based on cumulative achievement g ...
s Award from the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. Apsell is the first science journalist to receive this award. On May 21, 2019, WGBH announced that Apsell would be named Senior Executive Producer Emerita. WGBH also announced an annual scholarship in her name in recognition of Apsell's career achievements in science broadcasting, communication, and education. The Paula S. Apsell/WGBH STEM Boston Public School Scholarship will be granted to Boston public school students. Following her departure from NOVA, Apsell became CEO of Leading Edge Productions and started producing ''The Resistance Project'', a documentary about Jewish resistance to the Holocaust. Apsell is a fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS) and served a full term on the
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With ...
board. Apsell is a public speaker, moderator, and lecturer at WGBH member stations, universities nationwide, film and science festivals such as
Sundance A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada * Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated pl ...
and the
Aspen Ideas Festival Founded in 2005, the Aspen Ideas Festival (AIF) is a week-long event held in Aspen, Colorado in the United States. The Aspen Ideas Festival program of events includes discussions, seminars, panels, and tutorials from journalists, designers, inno ...
and conferences such as
TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...
.


Awards

* 1994
Boston Museum of Science The Museum of Science (MoS) is a nature and science museum and indoor zoological establishment located in Science Park, a plot of land in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, Massachusetts, spanning the Charles River. Along with over 7 ...
Bradford Washburn Award for her career contributions to science journalism. * Carl Sagan Award given by the Council of Scientific Society Presidents * 2007 Planetary Society's Cosmos Award * International Documentary Association's Pioneer Award * Gold Baton, the highest honor of the annual Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards * Peabody Awards - "The Elegant Universe," "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial," "Odyssey of Life" * 2001 Emmy Award for NOVA's "BioTerror" * Emmy Award - "Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance" * 2002 Emmy Award - "Why the Towers Fell" * Emmy Award - "The Elegant Universe" * George Foster Peabody Award - "The Elegant Universe" * 2005 Emmy Award - "Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge" * 2009 Emmy Award in the Outstanding Informational Programming - " A Walk to Beautiful" * 2014 Outstanding News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Science And Technology Programming. * 2016 Prix Galien USA Award. Presented by Dr. Roy Vagelos. * 2018 Lifetime Achievement Emmy which was presented by PBS president
Paula Kerger Paula Kerger (born ) is an American media executive who has served as president and chief executive officer of PBS since 2006. Early life and education Kerger grew up outside Baltimore, Maryland, where her grandfather, a college physics profes ...


''NOVA'' programs

"
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
Escape Tunnel", 2016 "
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
’s Sunken Secrets", 2014 " Cold Case JFK", 2013 "Engineering Ground Zero", 2012 "Judgment Day:
Intelligent Design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...
on Trial", 2008 "Origins: How Life Began", 2004 "The Deadliest Plane Crash", 2006 "
Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 â€“ 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...
's Battle For The Heavens", 2002 "Cracking the Code of Life" "Building Big" "Surviving
AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
", 2000 (AAAS Westinghouse Journalism Award) "
Siamese Twins Conjoined twins, popularly referred to as Siamese twins, are twins joined '' in utero''. It is a very rare phenomenon, estimated to occur in anywhere between one in 50,000 births to one in 200,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in south ...
", 1995 " Iceman", 1993 "Machine that Changed the World", 1992 "Miracle of Life", 1983


Personal life

Apsell's husband is Sheldon Apsell Ph.D., a physicist, executive of MicroLogic, Inc and a founder of Kronos. They have two daughters.


See also

*
Nova (American TV series) ''Nova'' (stylized as ''NOVΛ'') is an American popular science television program produced by WGBH-TV, WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, since 1974. It is broadcast on PBS in the United States, and in more than 100 other countries. The program has ...
* Nova ScienceNow


References


Addition sources

* U.S. Public Records Index, Provo, UT * Boston Globe, Nov 25, 1985., pg. 37 * Boston Globe, Nov 4, 1994., pg. 35
Brandeis Review



External links



* {{DEFAULTSORT:Apsell, Paula S 1947 births Living people Television producers from Massachusetts American women television producers Brandeis University alumni People from Marblehead, Massachusetts