Michelle Ann Williams
- Video Experience -
Earth Science Producer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Goddard Earth Sciences & Technology Research Faculty Fellowship, University of Maryland Baltimore County (Jan 2009 – present)
- Produce, shoot and edit video podcasts, web shorts and video files for the media and general public for broadcast and web distribution
- Liaison for the Goddard Earth Science Storytelling Team and the UMBC IRC animators for works-in-progress and conceptual review
- Supervising Producer, NASA for a Hungry World, a six episode video series highlighting NASA’s role in ensuring global food security
- Producer, Water, Water Everywhere, the educational web short about the water cycle for Earth Science Week 2009
- Producer, Observations of Our Changing Earth From Space, NASA’s Earth System Science at 20 Symposium Public Showcase at the National Academy of Sciences. Evening event featuring a scientific panel discussion and multimedia performance
- Producer, Celebrating 10 Years of NASA’s Earth Observatory, a celebration of NASA’s Earth Observatory website
- Producer, NSF 2009 Visualization Challenge submission A Guided Tour of LIMA (Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica) flyover video (over 123,000 views on YouTube)
Producer/Writer/Editor, VideoTakes, Inc. (2007-2009)
- Produced award-winning documentaries that were accepted and screened at domestic and international film festivals as well as broadcast on Link TV, Direct TV, Dish and cable networks.
- 2009 DC Environmental Film Festival and 2009 EcoFocus Film Festival selection for Nora! (Producer, 2009)
- 2008 Wildscreen International Wildlife and Environmental Film Festival selection, 2008 United Nations Film Festival, 2008 CINE Golden Eagle, and 2008 DC Environmental Film Festival Opening Night selection for Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War (Associate Producer, 2008)
- ITVA Peer Award (First Place) and Montana CINE International Honorable Mention for Educational Value for American Prairie Reserve(Associate Producer, 2007)
- CINE Golden Eagle, Children’s National Medical Center: Bereavement in the NICU (Producer, 2007)
Associate Producer, VideoTakes, Inc. (2006-2007)
- Chief contact for client communication on multiple simultaneous documentary, training and PSA video projects
- Wrote treatments, scripts and press releases
- Developed and implemented fundraising strategy; wrote proposals and grants
- Developed budgets (up to $350,000) and tracked accounting for each project
- Scheduled and organized location shooting, Conducted preliminary and on-location interviews on a wide variety of subject matters
- Maintained post production workflow
- Ensured effective client communication and ensured satisfaction
Assistant Network Manager, Discovery Production Group, Discovery Communications, Inc. (2005 – 2006)
- Liaison for the Discovery Production Group and the Science Channel & Discovery HD Theatre
- Maintained post production workflow
- Ensured effective client communication and ensured satisfaction
Production Coordinator, Discovery Production Group, Discovery Communications, Inc. (2004 – 2006)
- Produced five- and ten-second Ad Sales Billboards for air on all fourteen Discovery networks (average 50 spots per week)
- Organized and implemented new company-wide post-production projects such as the Squeezed Credit Initiative and Programmable Credit Beds
Intern, Discovery Production Group, Quality Control and Duplication, Discovery Communications, Inc. (2004)
-Relevant Work Experience -
Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders, Class of 2009-2010
- Plan and execute a two-year conservation campaign to restore wild populations of the Yellow-headed Amazon Parrot in Belize
- Collaborate with local NGOs, researchers and government organizations to implement a teacher training course, awareness campaign and volunteerism activities
Administrative Assistant, Prep Matters: educational consulting and test preparation company (2009-present)
- Education -
M.F.A. Film and Electronic Media, School of Communication, Center for Environmental Filmmaking, American University (2008)
- Thesis films Restoring Dyke Marsh (TRT 15:00) and Cutting Edge Conservation: Science at the Smithsonian (TRT 12:00)
B.S. Ecology, Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia (2004)
- HOPE Scholarship (1999-2004), Dean’s List (2001, 2003), Presidential Scholar (2003)
- Study Abroad University of Georgia Biological Station, San Luis, Costa Rica (2003)
- Miscellaneous -
- Board member and juror, EcoFocus film festival in Athens, GA (2008-present)
- Volunteer, International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, MT (2007)
- Co-author, “Food Preference and Bioenergetics of Golden mice (Ochrotomys nuttalli) and White-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus),” Georgia Journal of Science (2004)
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Bio
Michelle is a video and multimedia producer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She produces web videos about a variety of earth science-related topics including remote sensing, the water cycle, climate modeling, agriculture and Antarctica. These shorts appear on nasa.gov, the Goddard site, and a variety of other outlets including the local and national news community, iTunes podcasts, YouTube, Facebook and NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. In addition to video production, Michelle is also responsible for coordinating events like the public showcase for the Earth Systems Science at 20 symposium at the National Academy of Sciences in June 2009.
A Bachelors of Science in Ecology from the University of Georgia is the foundation for Michelle’s dedication to environmental and conservation documentary filmmaking. Michelle has been pursuing this interest since she created her first documentary in 2003 about the ecotourism industry in Costa Rica during a Tropical Ecology study abroad program at UGA.
Upon graduating from UGA, Michelle was selected for the competitive intern program at Discovery Communications where she worked in the Discovery Production Group. She was trained in Quality Control, which has served her well since the internship. At the conclusion of the internship she accepted a full-time position with Discovery and served as a Production Coordinator and eventually an Assistant Network Manager for the Science Channel and Discovery HD.
In 2005 Michelle was accepted as a Masters of Fine Arts candidate in the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at the School of Communication at American University. During her time at AU, Michelle established the student group Filmmakers for Social and Environmental Action in partnership with the Center for Environmental Filmmaking. Her two-part thesis documentary film focused on two successful conservation projects in the metropolitan Washington, DC area.
Michelle left Discovery in 2006 for a position at VideoTakes, Inc., an award-winning media production company based in Arlington, VA. As an Associate Producer and within a year a Producer, Michelle wrote, directed and produced videos for a wide range of clients including award-winning pieces for the American Prairie Foundation, SAIC, the Wallace Genetic Foundation and the Fund for Sustainable Tomorrows.
Michelle completed her M.F.A. in Film & Electronic Media with a concentration in Environmental Filmmaking from AU in August, 2008. In January, 2009 Michelle accepted her current position as an Earth Science Producer for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
In 2009, she co-founded the DC Media Collaborative, a group of the area’s most talented and creative multimedia professionals. Their first project addresses the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our nation’s capital. The project is currently in development.
She looks forward to combining her background in ecology with the skills she has gained in the filmmaking industry to continue creating meaningful, effective and entertaining science-based and social media for video and web.
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Select Client List
- The Alice Ferguson Foundation
- American Prairie Foundation
- American University Center for Environmental Filmmaking
- Children’s National Medical Center
- DC Water and Sewer Authority
- FRESHFARM Markets
- Fund for Sustainable Tomorrows
- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
- Wallace Genetic Foundation
