CCST Newsroom

The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) and Blue Forest Conservation (Blue Forest) have received funding from the National Forest Foundation, US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, and USFS’s Innovative Finance for National Forests (IFNF) grant program to produce a peer-reviewed report aiming to connect forest management, wildfire smoke, and stakeholders paying high healthcare […]

  By Keleigh Friedrich, CCST Director of Communications Susan Hackwood is former Executive Director of the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) and Professor Emerita of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Hackwood received her PhD in Solid State Ionics from DeMontfort University, UK. Before joining academia, she was […]

  Training Tomorrow’s Cybersecurity Workforce The cybersecurity workforce is facing a shortage of trained professionals as we become more computer, data-driven, and network-based society. How can we prepare California’s workforce for the cybersecurity and IT labor market needs of the future? Join us for a CCST Expert Briefing as we discuss opportunities and challenges of […]

How does the ability to flip a switch and turn your lights on relate to my coastal ecology research—studying seaweed species and counting hermit crabs? More than you might think. A few months into my placement on the Assembly Utilities & Energy committee, I’ve been surprised to find much of what I learned about biology […]

Washington, DC—The California Council on Science and Technology is attending the 2023 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, themed around “Science for Humanity.” Returning in person this year, CCST coordinated two workshops, a scientific session, and an exhibitor booth for the CCST S&T Policy Fellowship in partnership with other state science policy fellowship programs. CCST has […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—At CCST’s Science Day symposium, CCST and the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) bring California’s natural resource policymakers and researchers together to proactively bridge emerging research activity and State policy needs. This event provides an opportunity to forge new collaborations between academic and state partners. Facing an ever-growing set of natural resource challenges, California […]

  What is the potential role for desalination in California’s water portfolio? Watch this CCST Expert Briefing, held during CCST S&T Week 2023, for a discussion on innovations in desalination research and opportunities to resolve challenges related to energy intensity and brine disposal. Featuring experts from the UCLA, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Irvine, Stanford University, and […]

CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellowship Program Places PhD Scientists into Policy Careers Apply to transform your PhD expertise into an impactful science policy career in California. START YOUR APPLICATION  |  Download Fellowship Flyer  |  Download Fellowship Poster Update 2/16: The application period had been extended by one month to March 31st. SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The California Council […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) is proud to announce California Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph and California State Senator John Laird as the recipients of the 2023 CCST Leadership Awards for Science in Public Service. The CCST Science in Public Service Award is given to public servants who have clear track records of championing science and technology issues, […]

  In January of 2022, I took my very first work trip as a CCST S&T Policy Fellow at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to observe a wildfire-impacted disaster site. After a three-hour drive—weaving through winding roads toward the Sierra Nevada mountains—I stepped out of the car in my uniform (a […]

SACRAMENTO, CA—We are excited to introduce the 2023 Class of CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellows. Now celebrating its 14th year, the program places PhD level scientists, engineers, and social scientists in Legislative and Executive Branch offices, training them for careers in public policy while helping to equip California’s decision makers with science-savvy staff. APPLY NOW: We are currently […]

CCST S&T Policy Fellowship Alums to Discuss the Application and Interview Process Learn about an opportunity to transform your PhD expertise into an impactful science policy career in California. Download Fellowship Flyer | Poster CCST employs a multi-step process to evaluate each candidate based on their potential success in the Fellowship. Watch this webinar to hear […]

Tick tock, tick tock. It’s been a year since I moved to Sacramento from Colorado, eager to transform my career, bask in the mild winter of California, and somehow contribute to state policy. I was uncertain and nervous. Whereas many of the other CCST S&T Policy Fellows are from California or California institutions, I couldn’t […]

CCST S&T Policy Fellowship Alums to Discuss the Day-to-Day Life of a Fellow Learn about an opportunity to transform your PhD expertise into an impactful science policy career in California. Download Fellowship Flyer Moving to Sacramento. Adjusting from lab to office. Working in policy. There’s a lot of new experiences and opportunities as a CCST […]

Work at CCST California’s most pressing public policy issues require solutions that engage the State’s extraordinary research and innovation enterprise.  CCST is a nonpartisan nonprofit created via the California Legislature in 1988 to provide objective advice from California’s leading scientists and research institutions on policy issues involving science and technology (S&T). Despite California’s rich intellectual […]

As a flowing river runs into a larger, standing body of water like a lake or the sea, it deposits sediment into a triangular shaped wetland known as a delta—most often with a narrow tip at the river opening into the broader end of the open water. Occasionally, this formation can happen in the reverse, […]

The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) has announced the appointment of CCST’s CEO Amber Mace, PhD, to their Board of Directors. An environmental science research institute and a non-profit, non-advocacy environmental science consulting firm, SFEI provides independent, objective science and/or science tools or studies to support landscape-scale land use, water quality and environmental monitoring, planning or […]

Why Choose the CCST S&T Policy Fellowship? Held Mon. Oct. 3, 2022 In this first of three informational webinars, hear directly from current and former CCST S&T Policy Fellows about the ins and outs of the CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellows program, the impact that the program has had on their careers, and the […]

Toward a Disaster Resilient California: Cultivating Data Security Practices in Precision Agriculture To feed a growing population affordably and in a way that minimizes greenhouse gas production, the farming industry will need to rely on innovative technologies such as precision agriculture. Watch this Expert Briefing to broadly explore the benefits of precision agriculture and the […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program at the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research in partnership with the California Council on Science & Technology (CCST) hosted a series of 6 public roundtables to discuss California-specific information and knowledge gaps that will help inform the scope of climate change research conducted as part of California’s Fifth Climate […]

What did you study in grad school and why did you decide to go into policy? As part of my biostatistics PhD program at the University of Washington, I investigated ways to use nutritional information from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis—designed to research predictors of cardiovascular disease—to identify heart-healthy diet patterns. I considered ways to […]