Project Team

Filmmakers

Tom Keiter, Executive Producer

With twenty-five years as a documentary filmmaker and fifteen years experience on the film and video faculty at Penn State, Tom Keiter brings a wealth of production knowledge and experience to the Geospatial Revolution Project.

His work has received national recognition from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys), CINE Golden Eagle, the International Film and Video Festival, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Keiter was the project architect and executive producer for Liquid Assets, the public service media project on water infrastructure, and has served as executive producer or producer/director on numerous public television documentaries.

Stephen Stept, Director of Production

Stephen Stept has enjoyed a long and versatile career as a writer-producer-director of both narrative and documentary television for network, cable, and public television. He has done award-winning programs for PBS’s American Experience, American Masters, and American Playhouse. He also has written and directed work for PBS luminaries Bill Moyers, David Grubin, and the late Henry Hampton.

Stephen’s list of honors includes the DuPont, Peabody, Emmy, Humanitas, and Writers Guild Awards.

Stephanie Ayanian, Producer

Stephanie Ayanian is a senior producer/director for Penn State Public Broadcasting and serves as the producer for the Geospatial Revolution Project. She was the producer and co-director of Liquid Assets.

Ayanian's work as an independent producer led to a 2005 Superfest Best of Festival award and a 2006 Black Maria Film Festival Second Place award. She also was chosen to create the 2006 Philadelphia International Film Festival opening trailer.

Josh Dasal, Writer/Director

Josh Dasal is a senior producer/director for Penn State Public Broadcasting and serves as writer/director for the Geospatial Revolution Project. He was a creative consultant for Liquid Assets.

His credits include writer/producer of the HDFest Best Documentary, The Mars Underground for Discovery Channel, as well as executive producer of the short film, Easter Sunday, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh. He has crafted projects for director Wes Craven and Sony Screen Gems. He also has worked with Academy Award-winning actors Brock Peters and Terrence Howard. He is a Silver Telly award recipient and producer of campaigns for Johnson & Johnson, the Hartford Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Industry.

Joe Myers, Consultant

Joe Myers is creative director at Penn State Public Broadcasting. He has received Mid-Atlantic Emmy best documentary honors for his A Road to Independence and Grange Fair: An American Tradition, now in national distribution with PBS.

Project Management

Elaine Brzycki, Project Manager and Funding Relations

Elaine Brzycki has more than twenty years experience in higher educational administration, with a focus on communications, fine arts, engineering, and education. Brzycki oversees the Geospatial Revolution Project outreach initiative and facilitates relationships with the partners. She served as project manager and development executive for the Liquid Assets project.

As manager of Penn State Public Broadcasting's grants and contract relations, she works with corporations, foundations, and organizations interested in funding public media projects.

Lindsey Faussette, Project Associate

Lindsey Faussette, a Penn State Graduate in Arts and Women’s Studies, has worked for Penn State University for ten years, and has been a part of the Penn State Public Broadcasting production and outreach teams for the last three.

As a project associate she assists with funding, community outreach initiatives, and project management. She served as a production coordinator for the Liquid Assets project and for many other local productions and national documentaries.

Melanie Doebler, D.Ed., Project Director and Funding Executive

Melanie Doebler has more than twenty-five years experience working in program planning, development, and evaluation in a variety of academic and field settings.

As the director of public engagement for Penn State Public Broadcasting, she serves as project director and development executive for public media projects. She is the project director and funding executive for the Geospatial Revolution Project.

Faculty Liaison

Karen Schuckman, Faculty Liaison

Karen Schuckman is an instructor at Penn State and a former mapping industry executive. She brings
expert knowledge in geospatial technologies to the Geospatial Revolution Project team.

Her professional experience includes floodplain mapping, disaster response and preparedness, critical infrastructure, and transportation. She is a past-president of the
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), former vice-chair of the NOAA Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES), and member of the Committees on Floodplain Mapping Technologies and FEMA Flood Map Accuracy of the National Research Council.

Multimedia

Steve Nelson, Design & Communications

Steve Nelson is a multimedia specialist with Penn State Public Broadcasting and serves as a designer for the Geospatial Revolution Project.

With more than fifteen years experience, Nelson led the web and print design work for the Liquid Assets project and has recently completed projects including wpsu.org, nano4me.org, and domesticviolence.psu.edu.