CCST Newsroom

Bruce Alberts, who has served on the CCST Board of Directors since 2006, has been selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to serve as editor-in-chief of its journal Science. The appointment takes effect in March 2008. AAAS President and Nobel laureate David Baltimore, a CCST Fellow, praised the selection of Alberts […]

CCST Fellow Arthur Kornberg, MD, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1959, died on October 26 of respiratory failure at Stanford Hospital. He was 89. Dr. Kornberg shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Severo Ochoa, MD, for discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of DNA. He was instrumental in building the […]

CCST Board Chair Karl Pister was presented with the Clark Kerr Award for Distinguished Leadership in Higher Education by the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, in a campus ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 25. The award recognizes extraordinary and distinguished contributions to the advancement of higher education. The Berkeley Division established the award in 1968 […]

In January 2008, CCST’s first-ever council chair from industry will step down, concluding a period of intense and fulfilling activity for the Council. Lawrence Papay, CEO and Principal of PQR, LLC and former sector vice president for the Integrated Solutions Sector at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), has served as chair since 2005. “This has […]

The perennial struggle to encourage California’s students to pursue and succeed in the sciences is by now well-known. While important efforts are being made to bolster the number of well-prepared science teachers in the classroom, there are also programs in place to connect the university community directly with the K-12 system. One such program at […]

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) is one of the leading such facilities in the nation. One of the four original sites in the Teragrid project, it is internationally recognized for its contribution to computational biosciences and computational approaches to earth sciences and genomics. SDSC is especially known for its role in creating and maintaining […]

Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) has significant potential to save California money – as much as $8 billion annually from greater efficiency and reduced medical errors, according to one study by the RAND institute – and improve substantially the quality of care. Implementing HIT, however, is expensive, requiring standardized electronic records, the computer equipment to store […]

In response to a request from State Senator Alan Lowenthal, CCST has begun a project in partnership with the Research and Technology Advisory Panel (RTAP) to develop strategies for both short- term and long-term support to California decision-makers on goods movement policy and infrastructure investment. “The main goal is to provide expertise and innovative thinking […]

The oceans are in a state of crisis as a result of a host of human-related factors, and California needs to focus on constructive long-term strategies to mitigate these problems, according to Leon Panetta, co-director of the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy and chairman of the Pew Oceans Commission. In 2003, the […]

On Friday, September 21, CCST Board Member Warren Baker, President of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and CCST Executive Director Susan Hackwood testified before the U.S. House Education and Labor Sub-Committee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness at a hearing held as part of the Competitiveness Crisis Council Summit at Cal Poly Pomona. The […]

The National Science Board (NSB) has released a draft report of a long-awaited plan to address challenges with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The report’s findings resonate strongly with CCST’s recent work on science and math teacher preparation in California and with its recommendations for a California response to similar issues raised in […]

The National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, the National Association of Academies of Science, and the California Council on Science and Technology co-sponsored a convocation on science and technology policy at the state level. The convocation, State S&T Policy Advice: Issues, Assets, and Opportunities,was held at the Arnold and […]

It is no surprise that one of the nation’s biggest engineering and construction firms is concerned about science and math education, said new CCST Council member Jude Laspa. “The workforce issues identified in Rising Above the Gathering Storm and Shaping the Future directly affect companies like Bechtel,” said Laspa. “We have a need for large […]

The NRC’s Board on Higher Education and Workforce has begun a 12-month project to develop a guide for enhancing professional education at the master’s degree level in the natural sciences in response to the needs of employers in industry and, to the extent possible, in government, and non-profits. The committee, chaired by former National Science […]

On February 8 and 9, the California Teacher Advisory Council (Cal TAC) participated in a meeting at the Beckman Center in Irvine that was organized by the National Research Council Center for Education. Cal TAC members served on the planning committee. “Enhancing Professional Development for Teachers: Potential Uses of Information Technology” brought together educators and […]

A meeting convened at Stanford in July 2006 by CCST Board member Arthur Bienenstock has led to a set of guidelines intended to protect the public interest when universities grant licenses for the rights to their latest scientific advances to private parties. “We hope that every university when considering the licensing of intellectual property will […]

The state is continuing its focus on healthcare information technology (HIT), with new action by both the Legislature and the Governor’s office to enable the creation and management of an effective HIT system in California. In March, the Governor issued Executive Order S-06-07 aimed at advancing California’s efforts to adopt health information technology (HIT), increase […]

With increasing consensus among policymakers that global warming is more than a hypothesis, the time is right for California to take on a leading role in understanding how climate change could affect it and how best to cope with it, according to CCST Council member G. Scott Hubbard and CCST Fellow Charles Kennel. The California […]

CCST’s response to the National Academies’ Rising Above the Gathering Storm report, Shaping the Future, has led to numerous discussions between CCST and a variety of institutions on implementing the recommendations in the report. “The Gathering Storm report highlighted the importance of improving America’s science and math education and economic environment,” said Larry Papay, CCST Council chair. “CCST’s report brought […]

The Critical Path Analysis of California’s Science and Mathematics Teacher Preparation System, a project conducted by CCST and the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, has met with a positive reaction and spurred action both in the state’s higher education systems and in the Legislature, and has been cited in the US Senate in support […]

Senator Dianne Feinstein cited CCST’s Critical Path Analysis of California’s Science and Mathematics Teacher Preparation System yesterday in a statement of support for a bipartisan measure to strengthen federal investments in educational opportunities for math, science, engineering and technology. “America’s economy is fueled by innovation, and innovation is enabled by a strong foundation in math and science. […]