About Us
The 2103-2014 season of QUEST focuses on the many ways in which science, technology, engineering and sheer ingenuity are being used to address sustainability issues related to our food, energy, water, climate, and biodiversity. Our stories highlight how the science of sustainability relates to us as individuals: impacting our daily lives, our health, our jobs, our communities, and more. QUEST’s goals are to explore a diverse array of topics that touch our lives, to spotlight innovations that connect different fields of study, and to offer accurate and insightful reporting that inspires people to engage in informed conversations about our changing world.
Launched in 2007, QUEST is KQED’s largest multimedia project to date. QUEST’s ultimate aim is to raise science literacy by inspiring audiences to discover and explore the latest science and environmental news, trends and issues. In September of 2012, QUEST received a prestigious grant of $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation to focus storytelling around sustainability science, and to expand its multimedia science reporting model to five additional public broadcasting stations across the country. As a result, QUEST now includes QUEST Northern California (KQED, San Francisco), QUEST Nebraska (NET, Nebraska), QUEST North Carolina (UNC-TV, North Carolina), QUEST Northwest (KCTS 9, Seattle), QUEST Ohio (WVIZ, WCPN, Ideastream, Cleveland) and QUEST Wisconsin (WPR, WPT, ECB, ICS, Wisconsin).
Contributing Stations
QUEST Nebraska
Nebraska Educational Telecommunications – NET – operates Nebraska's state-wide public radio and television networks from its headquarters in Lincoln. On a weekly basis, 100 thousand Nebraskans listen to NET Radio, and 1 million tune in to NET Television.
QUEST North Carolina
UNC-TV is the most powerful telecommunications vehicle in the state, with a potential audience of over 13.6 million citizens of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, and income levels in North Carolina and portions of Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Each year, UNC-TV produces more than 340 hours of award-winning original programs about North Carolina. With studios and administrative offices located in Research Triangle Park, UNC-TV operates 12 full-power television stations and 25 digital translators (most are located in the western counties), carrying a free broadcast signal to nearly every North Carolina home. In addition, UNC-TV is carried by every cable system in North Carolina and by satellite on both DirecTV and Dish Network.
QUEST Northern California
KQED serves the people of Northern California with a public-supported alternative to commercial media. Home to the most listened-to public radio station in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and an award-winning education program, and as a leader and innovator in interactive technology, KQED takes people of all ages on journeys of exploration — exposing them to new people, places and ideas.
QUEST Northwest
With 2.4 million viewers every week across Washington state and British Columbia, KCTS 9 is the Northwest's premier source for meaningful media that informs, involves and inspires. Productions and co-productions include Inside Passage, The Video Game Revolution, The Perilous Fight: America’s World War II in Color, three-time James Beard Award winner Chefs A’Field, and Nick Stellino’s popular cooking shows. Each year, KCTS 9 community outreach involves parents, educators and children through more than 70 workshops, screenings and conferences. For more information, visit KCTS9.org.
QUEST Ohio
ideastream© is public broadcasting and a whole lot more. ideastream is a non-profit organization that applies the power of media to education, culture and citizenship. It includes WVIZ/PBS, 90.3 WCPN and WCLV 104.9, educational and public service cable channels, broadband interactive video distance learning, the Internet and other interactive media. Based on careful and ongoing ascertainment of community needs, ideastream acquires, creates and delivers content that connects those who seek knowledge with those who have it.
QUEST Wisconsin
Quest Wisconsin is a partnership of the Wisconsin Media Lab(WML), Instructional Communications Systems (ICS), Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) and Wisconsin Public Television (WPT).
Past QUEST Contributing Stations
QUEST Philadelphia
2011
QUEST Philadelphia was offered by WHYY is Greater Philadelphia's leading public media provider, having served southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and all of Delaware for more than 50 years. An NPR and PBS member station, WHYY reaches and engages about 1 million television viewers and 410,000 radio listeners a week and 90,000 unique website visitors a month.
QUEST Team
Jason Black
Executive Producer
Jason enrolled in the Marine Corps for four years and led troops through cold weather training in Norway, France, and joint operations warfare training in Spain, Italy, Egypt, and Turkey. Jason graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a degree in Film & Digital Media and has been producing feature films, commercials, and music videos professionally ever since. Invited to join the Directors Guild of America union as a unit production manager in 2003, he then co-founded a production services corporation in Los Angeles called Blue Cactus Pictures. Blue Cactus was the producing company for fifteen feature films in four years. Black's films have screened in numerous international film festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Pusan, Milan, and Toronto. Black is thrilled to lead the extraordinary QUEST team..
Lisa Landers
Managing Editor
Lisa is an Emmy nominated producer and writer whose work includes documentaries, museum exhibitions, and educational multimedia. Her work has covered a diversity of subject matter including natural history, ecological and social issues, cultural exploration, music, and architecture. She’s developed and produced films for broadcasters such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Channel, and the Discovery Channel. Her work as an exhibition developer and multimedia producer has been featured at institutions including the American Museum of Natural History, the National Building Museum, and The Tech Museum. Her writing has appeared in print online publications for Rough Guides Travel, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Earthwatch Institute, among others. Lisa holds a B.A. in architectural studies from Tufts University.
Adrienne Calo
Lead Coordinating Producer
Adrienne has been a producer of PBS films, specials, and series for the last 12 years. In 2006, she joined the KQED arts series, "Spark" as Coordinating Producer, and became Series Producer in its 6th season. Segments she produced for the series earned her four Northern California Emmy nominations. Adrienne then went on to work with social justice media company The Working Group, serving as a producer on their national PBS film “Not In Our Town; Light In the Darkness”, a portrait of a Long Island community in the aftermath of a hate crime. Most recently, Adrienne was the Coordinating Producer of the national PBS series "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders", which uses music to tell stories about international culture and politics. In the course of her broadcasting career, Adrienne has also contributed to programming for ABC News/Nightline, This Week in Northern California, and Austin City Limits.
Jessica Neely
Education Manager
Jessica, an Oakland native, joined KQED in 2004 for the R&D and pilot phases of QUEST. She is a graduate from UC Davis with a Bachelors of Science in Evolution and Ecology and holds a single subject teaching credential in Biology and General Science from Mills College. She began her career at the Sacramento Zoo in educational programming and outreach. She then taught high school science at San Lorenzo High School for four years where for three years she was the Science Department Chair. Jessica ran the national educational outreach for the first season of Jean Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures in 2006 and returned to QUEST as the science education manager.
QUEST Alumni
KQED
Joshua Cassidy, Multimedia Producer, Science & Environment
Sevda Eris, Media Publicist and Community Outreach Coordinator, Science & Environment
Andrea Kissack, Senior Editor, Science & Environment
Sue Ellen McCann, Executive Producer, Science & Environment
Craig Miller, Editor, Science & Environment
Jenny Oh, Interactive Producer, Science & Environment
Linda Peckham, TV Series Editor
Gabriela Quirós, TV Producer, KQED Science & Environment
Paul Rogers, Managing Editor, Science & Environment
Craig Rosa, Senior Interactive Producer, Science & Environment
Sheraz Sadiq, TV and Interactive Producer, Science & Environment
Molly Samuel, Multimedia Producer, Science & Environment
Lauren Sommer, Radio Reporter, Science & Environment
Amy Standen, Radio Reporter, Science & Environment
Andrea Swensrud, Project Supervisor, Science Education
Amy Miller, TV Series Producer
Chris Bauer, Media Producer
Adam Sopko, Associate Director, Foundation Relations
Mike Kahn, Hub Content Coordinator
Michael Goode, TV Associate Producer
Ifanyi Bell, Associate Media Producer
Joan Johnson, TV Associate Producer
Sarah Kass, TV Segment Producer
Lindsay Kelliher, TV Associate Producer
Suzanne Romaine, Business Manager
Josh Rosen, TV Series Producer
Laurie Schmidt, TV Series Editor
Sandy Schonning, Series Manager
Contact Us
We would like to hear your thoughts about QUEST on television, radio, the Web, and in the classroom. Send your comments to: questkqed@gmail.com.
Formal and informal Educators who would like to become involved with the educational outreach program should contact: QuestEd@kqed.org.
Chelsey Juarez, a UC Santa Cruz doctoral candidate in forensic anthropology, has developed a novel technique to help identify the remains of migrants who die crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Site design by Kemper Barkhurst of Identified Media, based on the WP-Sublime Theme from Solostream.
Additional icons provided by famfam
