CCST Newsroom

Dear Friends and Colleagues — The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST), in partnership with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Simons Foundation, is now providing multiple grants for institutions to explore the creation of science and technology policy fellowship programs in their state legislature. We invite you to submit a letter of […]

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab) Cyclotron Road program launched just two years ago with a mission: to help move cutting-edge technologies from the lab to market. Now the program has selected its second cohort of innovators, while the first cohort has begun receiving national acclaim. “Our mission is to identify the best and brightest […]

One year ago, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) gave 13 underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to literally shoot for the stars. Earlier this May, these students shared the initial fruits of this new career development program. A $5 million grant from NASA’s Minority University […]

CCST has released a report intended to help inform the growth of a statewide network of makerspaces linked to California Community Colleges as a key partner in developing a workforce for the innovation economy. Promoting Engagement of the California Community Colleges with the Maker Movement is a guide to develop a sustainable network which aligns with the […]

Riverside has been selected as the new site for the California Air Resources Board (CARB) motor vehicle and engine emissions testing and research facility, a decision that will bring a $366 million facility and more than 400 high-tech jobs to Riverside. One of the goals of the facility is to be a National and International […]

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) has been recording underwater video with remotely operated vehicles for over 25 years. Its ever-growing library of underwater footage, which now exceeds 24,000 hours, has long been a tremendous resource for researchers. The challenge, however, has always been to comb through the vast data set for relevant images. […]

A group of girls from Washington Middle School in La Habra has been making waves with their plans for helping schools to save water. The Water Guardians have been recognized for their outstanding service and dedication at the district, city, and state levels, and their message of conservation continues to find widespread support at each […]

When Einstein announced his theory of relativity in 1915, he rewrote rules for space and time which had stood unchanged since the days of Sir Isaac Newton, transforming theoretical physics and astronomy. Over the decades which followed, one aspect of the theory remained unobserved: the existence of gravitational waves. That changed on September 14, 2015, […]

As Board Chair, I’ve been proud to work with fellow Board members to shape a proactive agenda for CCST that addresses critical issues for the State of California. I’m enormously grateful to the many donors who’ve chosen to support our work. Their support sustains our growth enabling CCST to fulfill our core mission such as […]

A new year means new beginnings. And for ten highly accomplished scientists and engineers, 2016 will mean a year of public service and leadership training in the California State Legislature. I am thrilled to introduce to everyone the 2016 Class of our CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellowship! Our latest Fellowship cohort hail from as far away as Chicago […]

California, like most states, grapples annually with the rising cost of healthcare overall, particularly the cost of pharmaceuticals. The California budget for FY 2015-16 has $200 million marked for the new Hepatitis C drug alone. Consequently it’s not surprising that a variety of policy initiatives have been floated to try and stem the rise in […]

The discovery of antibiotics was one of the most significant advances in medical care in the 20th century. However, more than seven decades after penicillin was first used to treat infections, the use of these medications has become extremely and, according to some, unnecessarily widespread both in patient care and livestock management. A coordinated strategy […]

The importance of high-tech innovation to California’s economy has long been understood and appreciated. Despite this fact, the current and potential impact of maritime technology innovation has been little studied, and California should focus more on this dynamic growth sector in years to come, according to The Maritime Alliance. “The coastal and ocean economies already […]

  The University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) has been named as the West Coast hub for a major public-private consortium dedicated to advancing research and manufacturing of integrated photonic technology. The announcement caps a distinguished history at UCSB of research in this potentially transformational technology. Photonics is the use of light to transmit large […]

Charles “Chuck” Shank, CCST Senior Fellow and former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has been named as a recipient of the Enrico Fermi Award. The Fermi Award has been presented to outstanding scientists since 1956 in recognition of “distinguished achievement, leadership, and service related to all basic and applied research, science, and technology” […]

SACRAMENTO – In collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) today released a peer-reviewed independent scientific assessment that discusses how hydraulic fracturing and acid well stimulation could affect water, atmosphere, seismic activity, wildlife and vegetation, and human health in California. The report also identifies knowledge […]

A new institute for materials research at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) is poised to become one of the leading such research centers in the state, offering significant opportunities to academic and industrial researchers in a wide range of disciplines in the Southern California area and beyond. “The research community in our area is […]

A state initiative jointly led by the University of California (UC) San Diego and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory called Cal-BRAIN has awarded over $1.9 million to seed projects around California designed to create new technologies capable of measuring brain activity in greater depth, breadth, and detail than is currently possible. Cal-BRAIN (the California Blueprint […]

California continues to work towards more sustainable water use, with the State exploring numerous strategies in the face of the most severe drought conditions in recorded history. For the first time in California history, the Governor directed the State Water Resources Control Board to implement mandatory water reductions in cities and towns across California to […]

California’s economic woes of the past decade are well-known by now. The cost of doing business in the state remains high, according to Forbes, and the state’s business tax climate has been criticized by organizations such as the Tax Foundation. It was a surprise to some, as a result, when Bloomberg recently called California the “best state […]

Former UC President and UC Irvine Chancellor Jack Peltason, a CCST Senior Fellow, has died at 91 of Parkinson’s disease. “He was passionate that science should inform policy,” said CCST Executive Director Susan Hackwood. “Jack Peltason was a true leader and a thoughtful scholar.” During his distinguished career, Peltason served as the President of The […]