Content Advisor

Susanne Simpson is a two-time Emmy award winner and two-time Academy Award nominee for her documentaries and dramas for PBS. She is Executive Producer of MASTERPIECE and MASTERPIECE Studio.

Prior to MASTERPIECE, Susanne was Senior Producer at NOVA, where she directed and produced several films including Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel? She executive produced five productions in IMAX, including the critically acclaimed Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure and received an Oscar nomination as Producer of Special Effects, Anything Can Happen. She is a member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Academy for Television Arts & Sciences.

Content Advisor

Paula Apsell was Executive Producer and Director of NOVA and the WGBH Science Unit for 33 years, building NOVA into the most popular science series on American television and receiving every major broadcasting award including the Emmy; the Peabody; the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism award; the duPont-Columbia University Gold and Silver Batons; and an Academy Award nomination for Special Effects, Anything Can Happen.

Paula has been recognized with numerous individual awards and in 2018, she became the first science journalist to receive the Lifetime Achievement Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Literary Advisor

Jean Thompson is the author of fourteen books of fiction, including the New York Times best seller, The Year We Left Home, and National Book Award Finalist Who Do You Love?

She has received fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts and has taught fiction writing at the University of Illinois, Northwestern University, Wichita State University, Reed College, San Francisco State University, and in the Warren Wilson Program for Writers.

Story & Editorial Advisor

Bonnie Koehler is an Emmy nominated motion picture and television film editor with over 45 years of experience. She is on the Board of Directors of American Cinema Editors and a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Bonnie began her film career in the Bay Area on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Star Wars. She is currently writing a memoir about her reel world adventures.

Aviation and Technology Advisor

Deborah Douglas is the director of collections and curator of science and technology at the MIT Museum and a research associate with the MIT Program of Science, Technology, and Society. Prior to joining the museum's staff in 1999, Debbie worked as an independent scholar specializing in the history of technology and science. She is a leading expert in the field of gender and aviation and the author of American Women and Flight Since 1940.

Animation Advisor

Gary Rydstrom has sound designed and mixed many films for Skywalker Sound including Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, A River Runs Through It, Toy Story, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, Finding Nemo, and Ready Player One. He has won seven Academy Awards and two Career Achievement awards. He was the director of two animated shorts for Pixar, the Oscar-nominated Lifted, and Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation, and the animated feature Strange Magic for Disney/Lucasfilm.

Palliative Care Advisor

Dawn Gross is a national thought leader on end of life care - committed to transforming the taboo around talking about death. She is board certified in hospice and palliative medicine and practices at UCSF. She is the creator and host of the radio program, Dying To Talk; co-founder and CEO of the communication consulting corporation, Dyalogues; and, co-creator of the education curriculum, Death Ed. Her writing has appeared in JAMA, Science and Annals of Internal Medicine and in the New York Times. Her first book is nearing completion.

Science and Engineering Advisor

Cindy Lowney is a civil and environmental engineer who develops mathematical models of environmental systems. She has worked in both the private and public sectors as an engineer and researcher, and has taught environmental management at the University of San Francisco. Cindy is committed to finding new ways to clarify and communicate scientific concepts.