October 31, 2018
On October 1, Paula Apsell (’84) — member of the inaugural class of Knight Science Journalism fellows — collected a trophy to which few science journalists can lay claim: An Emmy statuette. In a ceremony at Frederick Rose Hall in New York City, the Senior Executive Producer of NOVA became the first science journalist to receive the Lifetime Achievement Emmy for News & Documentary. From Broadway World:
PBS President Paula Kerger presented the award, noting, “You cannot tell the story of NOVA without telling the story of Paula Apsell … I am so grateful to the Academy for recognizing Paula for her relentless curiosity, for making science relatable, and for all that she does to encourage and empower young women.”
Luminaries such as physicist Sylvester “Jim” Gates and documentarian Doug Hamilton paid tribute to Apsell on the Emmy website, citing her leadership and commitment to excellence.
In her acceptance speech, Apsell called the award a recognition not just for herself but for NOVA and for science. Citing a current political climate in which facts are often treated as fungible, she called for the media to assume a greater role in informing debates and policies on issues like climate change, energy, and artificial intelligence. “We have the power to restore faith in facts, to cast light on the patient accumulation of evidence that is the scientific process, and to remind people of the vital role that science can play in building a better world,” she said.
Well put, Paula, and congratulations!
For years, Colombia native Angela Posada-Swafford (’01) has been writing a series of young-adult novels based on science done by researchers she’s followed during her decades-long reporting career. She’s happy to announce that the series, originally written in Spanish, is now being translated into Mandarin. So far, she’s written eight novels, and seven more are on the way. The plots are fictitious and center on Aunt Abigail, a science journalist, and her four nephews and nieces as they live out science-related adventures. The novels are read in literature, biology, and physics classrooms throughout Colombia and Mexico — and now they’ll be read in a few schools in China, too!
And in other alumni news…
Teresa Carr (’18) won a Folio Award in the Investigative Journalism category for her Consumer Reports cover story, “Too Many Meds? America’s Love Affair With Prescription Medication,” which explored the question of whether pills are doing more harm than good. Congrats!
Wallace Ravven (’93) published a New York Times feature on a surprising scientific find about birds and climate change: “California’s Birds Are Testing New Survival Tactics on a Vast Scale.” The piece has great visuals, including a 1910 photo of field biologists looking like dead ringers for Jesse James and his gang.
And as the nation was gripped by the Brett Kavanaugh nomination hearings, Mark Harris (’14) published this timely Wired feature on lie detectors: The Lie Generator: Inside the Black Mirror World of Polygraph Job Screenings.
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