CCST Newsroom

CCST Releases First Report in California’s Energy Future Policy Project
The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) has released the first report in a new series which analyzes how California can effectively construct a policy framework to help the state meet its ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals over the coming years. The California’s Energy Future – Policy (CEF-P) project follows on CCST’s landmark […]
CCST Honored By Legislature for 25th Anniversary
The California Legislature has unanimously approved a resolution honoring the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) for its first 25 years of service to California. Assembly Concurrent Resolution 75 (ACR 75) honors CCST for having “successfully represented California’s science and technology professions at the highest level and providing independent and objective analyses to the […]
Cal TAC Symposium Examines Efficacy of Digitally Enhanced Education
Cal TAC brought together education leaders from around California last week to discuss what current research says about the effect of digital teaching and learning platforms, tools, programs and resources. “The role of information technology has shifted from that of an enabler to that of a transforming culture,” said keynote speaker CCST Senior Fellow Mohammad […]
CCST Senior Fellow Brings Science to Fiction
Art Chester has years of experience both as a research scientist and as a manager in a major private research facility. His experience in both the research and research management communities has helped shape an understanding of the importance of bridging the communications gap between specialists and the general community. Chester is using this experience […]
CCST Council Meeting: Taking a Closer Look at China
The June CCST Council meeting focused on the impact that China’s quest to become a global science, technology and innovation leader will have on California, and the global community as a whole. The dinner speaker, Tai Ming Cheung, is the director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) at UC San Diego. IGCC […]
CCST Report Examines Role of Biofuels in California’s Energy Future
CCST has released the seventh and final report in its California’s Energy Future (CEF) project, “California’s Energy Future: The Potential for Biofuels“. The CEF project seeks ways the State could meet the mandated reductions of the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, exploring possible energy strategies for California through in-depth […]
CCST Council Member Katherine Yelick Honored by ACM Council on Women
CCST Council Member Katherine Yelick has been honored by the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) Council on Women, which has named her the 2013-2014 Athena Lecturer. The Athena Lecturer award celebrates women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computer science. Yelick, a Professor of Electrical Engineering Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley and also the […]
CCST Council Member Named President of KAIST
CCST Council Member Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang has been appointed the new president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Korea’s leading technology school. Kang’s four-year term is scheduled to begin on February 23. “I did not expect this development,” said Kang. “KAIST is facing some organizational challenges, and there was a need […]
Cal TAC Briefs Legislators in D.C. on Digital Education Work
A delegation from the California Teacher Advisory Council (Cal TAC) spent three days in Washington, D.C. last week, introducing Cal TAC as an organization dedicated to strengthening STEM teaching and learning throughout California, and briefing Senate staff and Congressional members about their current work on digitally enhanced education. The delegation included Cal TAC Chair Brian […]
Newly Appointed S&T Policy Fellows Arrive in Sacramento
The California Science and Technology Policy Fellowship program has placed its fourth consecutive group of fellows in the California state legislature, continuing to build on a growing legacy of making S&T expertise available to lawmakers in a way most states do not have. Each year, the program places ten professional scientists in yearlong appointments in […]
New CEF Report Examines California’s Building and Industrial Efficiency
CCST has released the sixth publication in its California’s Energy Future (CEF) project, “California’s Energy Future: Building and Industrial Efficiency“. The CEF project focuses on exploring possibilities for California’s energy strategy through the coming decades, seeking ways the State could meet the mandated reductions of the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels […]
Integrating Digital Media into Teacher Preparation: Cal TAC Summit Report
A new summary report has been released detailing the proceedings of a June 2012 summit on integrating digital media into teacher preparation in California. (Click here for the report.) The summit, convened by the California Teacher Advisory Council (Cal TAC), brought together science and math teachers, university faculty, philanthropists, and technical experts to develop a strategy […]
Innovation and Entrepreneurship, from Existing Data
A successful culture of innovation depends as much on enabling entrepreneurship as on the ideas themselves, according to CCST Council Member Atul Butte, who spoke at the October Council meeting. Butte, MD, PhD, an associate professor and chief of systems medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University, runs a laboratory which focuses on […]
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050: California’s Energy Future
CCST has released the next report in the California’s Energy Future (CEF) series, which focuses on exploring possibilities for California’s energy strategy through the year 2050. Portraits of Energy Systems for Meeting Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets examines a variety of scenarios for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “We believe that the CEF energy system portraits report […]
CCST Conducting Water Technology Survey
CCST is seeking input from water experts on the future of California’s water plans. “Science and Technology for California’s Water Future” is a yearlong project to determine how innovations in science and technology can be used to improve California’s integrated water management. Through the use of an on-line survey CCST is working to identify innovative technology […]
California Legislature Recognizes Science and Technology Policy Fellows
The 2011-2012 group of California Science and Technology Policy Fellows has received acknowledgments from both the Assembly and the Senate, marking the program’s third year of success. “As policy makers, our most urgent priority is to create the kind of twenty-first century jobs that will restore health to California’s economy,” said Speaker of the Assembly […]
CCST, CSUSB Lead STEM Task Force
CCST Executive Director Susan Hackwood is co-chairing the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Task Force with Herb Brunkhorst, Chair of the Department of Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education at California State University, San Bernardino, in a bid to develop a blueprint on how to improve teaching, learning, and equal access to STEM-related courses and […]
Council Meeting Features Screening of College Access Documentary
CCST’s June Council meeting featured a special presentation, a private screening of the award-winning feature-length documentary “First Generation,” narrated by Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood. The film tells the story of four California high school students – an inner city athlete, a small-town waitress, a Samoan warrior dancer, and the daughter of migrant field workers, […]
CCST Releases Updated Overview of Digitally Enhanced Education in California
CCST has released a new overview on the status of digitally enhanced education in California in a two-volume report that covers the specifics of California’s digital education landscape and policies. Digitally enhanced education is a broad term related to the use of technology in education, including everything from instructional materials (computers or other electronic devices […]
Report Raises Significant Concerns about State Corrections Investment in Technology to Block Contraband Cell Phone Use at Prisons
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) released a report today advising the State of California to use security screening systems, similar to those in airports, in state prisons before investing millions in untested technology intended to block calls by inmates from contraband cell phones. (Click here to get the report.) […]
Air Resources Board, CCST Launch Online Climate Change Research Database
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) and the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) have unveiled a public database of climate change research projects and programs taking place in California, focusing on projects or programs receiving federal funding. The California Climate Change Research Database includes research in a wide range of fields, including air […]