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Museum Expansion Project
BIO ON PAUL G. BERNHARD
Principal
Paul Bernhard Exhibit Design & Consulting
Paul Bernhard is a writer, producer, designer and exhibit developer based in Houston and Marina del Rey. He currently works with the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) as content specialist for the museum’s Wiess Energy Hall, an 8,500 square-foot permanent exhibition exploring the science and technology of hydrocarbons and other energy sources.
For that exhibition, Bernhard wrote and produced an animated musical video with four original songs about energy; a high resolution, computer-generated flyover of energy sources such as wind farms and solar arrays; and dozens of 3D computer animation productions that have since been adapted for clients around the world. Bernhard also wrote, produced and appeared as “Captain Mercaptan” in the “Geovator,” a multi-screen, electro-mechanical, immersive experience that takes visitors on an imaginary journey to the bottom of an oil well and back.
In 2008, Bernhard served as project manager for the HMNS summer exhibition Geopalooza: A Hard Rock Anthology, and in 2007 worked as a consulting producer on Via Marina, a skateboarding video released by Studio 411. In 2006, Bernhard developed a major new exhibit for the Caspian Energy Centre, operated by BP in Baku, Azerbaijan. As part of that exhibition, he produced an original video featuring an animated character introducing the centre and showcasing Azerbaijan’s petroleum industry.
In 2005, Bernhard developed the HMNS exhibition Gold: Natural Treasure, Cultural Obsession, subsequently presented by the American Museum of Natural History. He has contributed to exhibits for the Texas Heart Institute, the California State Mining and Mineral Museum, the John P. McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science, and projects in China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, and South Korea.
From 1996 to 2000 Bernhard wrote, produced, and appeared as “Doctor Howie Do-It,” a character he created for the Telly Award-winning television program Science Quest, airing on PBS affiliates throughout the United States. Bernhard created comic educational sketches that answered such questions as “What would television news have been like during the Ice Age?” “What would the sun say if he gave a press conference?” and “What’s the dress code at the exclusive night spot ‘Club Mollusk’?”
Bernhard served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy from 1985 to 1989. In 1997 he was recalled to active military service as the United Nations Liaison Officer for Operation Uphold Democracy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He retired from the Naval Reserve as a Commander in 2004.
Bernhard has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, magna cum laude, from Duke University.
