CCST Project

Fumigant Use in California and an Assessment of Available Alternatives

Process

CCST studies follow a process modeled after the National Academies study process with checks and balances at each stage. The report is a collaborative effort by a large number of experts serving in various capacities. See the report appendices for detailed information.

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Study Team

Steering Committee

Gerald Holmes, PhD
Committee Chair
Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
Alan Kolok, PhD
Committee Co-Chair
University of Idaho
Christine Carroll, PhD
CSU Chico
Julie Guthman, PhD
UC Santa Cruz

Authors

Christopher Simmons, PhD*
UC Davis
Jenny Broome, PhD
Plant Health Consulting

See Steering Committee member and Author bios below.
*Declared conflict of interest, described in bio.

Steering Committee Members

CCST study steering committees oversee the report authors, reach conclusions based on the findings of the authors and draft an executive summary.

Committee Selection and Approval

Selection of appropriate committee members, individually and collectively, is essential for the success of a study. All committee members serve as individual experts, not as representatives of organizations or interest groups. Each member is expected to contribute to the project on the basis of his or her own expertise and good judgment. A committee is not finally approved until a thorough balance and conflict-of-interest discussion is held, and any issues raised in that discussion are investigated and addressed. Members of a committee are anonymous until this process is completed.

Careful steps are taken to convene committees that meet the following criteria:

Expertise

The committee must include experts with the speciﬁc expertise and experience needed to address the study's statement of task. A major strength of CCST is the ability to bring together recognized experts from diverse disciplines and backgrounds who might not otherwise collaborate. These diverse groups are encouraged to conceive new ways of thinking about a problem.

Perspectives

Having content expertise is not sufﬁcient for success. It is also essential to evaluate the overall composition of the SC in terms of different experiences and perspectives. The goal is to ensure that the relevant points of view are, in CCST’s and the Program Committee’s judgment, reasonably balanced so that the SC can carry out its charge objectively and credibly.

Screening

All provisional SC members are screened in writing and in a conﬁdential group discussion about possible conﬂicts of interest. For this purpose, a "conﬂict of interest" means any ﬁnancial or other interest which conﬂicts with the individual’s service because it could signiﬁcantly impair the individual's objectivity or could create an unfair competitive advantage for any person or organization. The term "conﬂict of interest" is beyond individual bias. There must be an interest, ordinarily ﬁnancial, that could influence the work of the SC or that could be directly affected by the work of the SC, for an individual to be disqualified from serving. Except for a rare situation in which CCST and the Program Committee determine that a conﬂict of interest is unavoidable and promptly and publicly disclose the conﬂict of interest, no individual will be appointed to serve (or continue to serve) on a SC used in the development of studies while having a conﬂict of interest relevant to the required functions.

SC members and authors continue to be screened for conﬂict of interest at regular intervals throughout the life of the committee. (In addition to the SC and Authors, co-authors, peer reviewers and CCST staff working on each project are also screened for COI).

Point of View

A point of view or bias is not necessarily a conﬂict of interest. SC members are expected to have points of view, and CCST attempts to balance these points of view in a way deemed appropriate for the task. SC members are asked to consider respectfully the viewpoints of other members, to reﬂect their own views rather than be a representative of any organization, and to base their scientiﬁc ﬁndings and conclusions on the evidence. Each SC member has the right to issue a dissenting opinion to the study if he or she disagrees with the consensus of the other members. COIs are updated throughout the study process to capture any new or updated information and to ensure a continued lack of conflicts.

Considerations

Membership in CCST is taken into account in SC selection. The inclusion of women, minorities, and young professionals are additional considerations.

Committee Selection

Specific steps in the committee selection and approval process are as follows:

Step 1: Nominees

Staff solicit an extensive number of suggestions for potential committee members from a wide range of sources, then recommend a slate of nominees. Nominees are reviewed and approved at several levels within CCST.

Step 2: Provisional Committee

A provisional slate is then approved by the Program Committee of CCST's Board. The provisional committee members complete background information and conflict-of-interest disclosure forms. The committee balance and conflict-of-interest discussion is held at the first committee meeting. Any conflicts of interest or issues of committee balance and expertise are investigated; changes to the committee are proposed and finalized.

Step 3: Board Approval

The Program Committee of CCST's Board formally approves the committee. Committee members continue to be screened for conflict of interest throughout the life of the committee.

Committee Members' Bios

Gerald Holmes Chair

Director

Cal Poly Strawberry Center

Gerald Holmes is the Director of the Strawberry Center at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The Center is a partnership between Cal Poly and the California Strawberry Commission. Gerald received his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from UC Riverside in 1994 then worked as a University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor in Imperial County for three years. For the subsequent 12 years he was an Extension Vegetable Pathologist and Associate Professor at NC State University. He then worked six years as Product Development Manager for Valent USA Corporation before becoming Director of the Strawberry Center in 2014.

Alan Kolok Co-Chair

Professor Emeritus, Ecotoxicology

University of Idaho

Alan Kolok is an ecotoxicologist at the University of Idaho whose research focuses on the fate, transport, and biological impacts of anthropogenic chemicals, including pesticides. His academic background features a doctorate in environmental, population, and organismic biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a master’s degree in Fisheries and Aquatic Science from the University of Washington. He has published over 90 scientific, peer-reviewed papers on a variety of topics, including comparative physiology, environmental toxicology, environmental epidemiology, and the crowdsourced data revolution. He is also an editor for the journal, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, and recently authored, “Modern Poisons: A Brief Introduction to Contemporary Toxicology.”

Christine Carroll PhD

Associate Professor, College of Agriculture

CSU Chico

Christine Carroll is a Seattle-area native who earned her bachelor’s degree in economics at Arizona State University and a PhD in agricultural economics at UC Davis. Her doctoral dissertation looked for economically viable control options for Verticillium wilt in lettuce crops in Monterey and the Salinas Valley. That research project, and the collaboration with growers, plant pathologists, and other disciplines, got her hooked on agricultural economics. She joined the College of Agriculture in part because of the interdisciplinary structure of the college, which she sees as an opportunity build cross-disciplinary collaborations.

Julie Guthman PhD

Professor, Community Studies and Sociology

UC Santa Cruz

Julie Guthman is a geographer and retiring professor of sociology at UC Santa Cruz, where she has conducted multiple research projects on efforts to transform food production and consumption. This includes National Science Foundation- and USDA-funded projects that investigated the political economic challenges that California strawberry growers face for farming without fumigants or adopting more disease resistant varieties. Most recently, she has been the principal investigator of the UC-AFTeR Project, a multi-campus collaboration that investigated Silicon Valley’s recent forays into food and agriculture. Guthman’s prior publications include three multi-award winning monographs with a fourth book forthcoming in summer 2024, as well as an edited collection and over sixty articles in peer-reviewed journals. She has received an Excellence in Research Award from the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society, the Martin M. Chemers Award for Outstanding Research from the Social Sciences Division at UC Santa Cruz, and the Distinguished Career Award from the Cultural and Political Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers.

Author Bios

Christopher Simmons PhD

Professor and Chair of Food Science and Technology

UC Davis

Dr. Christopher Simmons' research focuses on food system sustainability, with emphasis on circular economy approaches for recycling residual organic matter to benefit soil and crop health. In particular, his team uses multidisciplinary approaches to understand and advance biosolarization - a technology that harnesses microbial fermentation of organic matter in agricultural soils - as strategy to control soil pests and pathogens, improve soil fertility and water retention, and maintain robust soil microbial communities. By examining the microbial ecology, nutrient cycling, biopesticides, and other pest suppression mechanisms associated with biosolarization, Dr. Simmons' team has adapted diverse food processing residues, such as tomato pomace, grape pomace, almond hulls, date residues, and onion peels, as biosolarization soil amendments to inactivate phytoparasitic nematodes, fungal pathogens, and weed propagules. Additionally, his team has worked closely with commercial growers to test and demonstrate biosolarization as a fumigation alternative that can deliver benefits to crop health and yield.

Disclosure of Conflict of Interest

As a key part of CCST’s formal study process, CCST screens all provisional authors and Steering Committee members to ensure that no individual appointed to serve on a committee has a conflict of interest — any ﬁnancial or other interest which conﬂicts with the individual’s service because it could signiﬁcantly impair the individual's objectivity or could create an unfair competitive advantage for any person or organization. An objective determination is made whether a conflict of interest exists given the facts of the individual's financial and other interests, and the task being undertaken by the committee. A determination of a conflict of interest for an individual is not an assessment of that individual's behavior, character, or ability to act objectively despite the conflicting interest. For situations where CCST and the Program Committee determine that a conﬂict of interest is unavoidable, CCST will promptly and publicly disclose the conﬂict of interest.

Through this assessment we have concluded that proposed author Dr. Christopher Simmons has a conflict of interest.

We have also concluded that for this study to accomplish the tasks for which it was established, its members must include individuals with research and expertise in alternatives to fumigation.

After an extensive search, we have been unable to find another individual with the equivalent expertise of Dr. Christopher Simmons in evaluating alternatives to fumigation, and the Steering Committee has concluded that this conflict of interest will not inappropriately influence the outcome of the study.

Jenny Broome PhD

Independent Consultant

Plant Health Consulting

Janet C. “Jenny” Broome, PhD, Independent Consultant, Plant Health Consulting. Dr. Broome received her PhD and MS degrees in plant pathology from UC Davis and a BA degree in biology from Swarthmore College. Dr. Broome was previously a Senior Research Manager and Scientist at Driscoll’s Inc. leading the Global Plant Health Department. Her team worked on berry pathogen diagnostics and developing and extending best management practices for nursery plant propagation and for independent growers. Her research at Driscoll’s focused on pre-plant soil plant health treatments such as anaerobic soil disinfestation, organic amendments, soil solarization, mobile soil steam pasteurization treatments, crop rotations relevant to organic berry crop production, as well as chemical fumigant alternatives to methyl bromide. In addition, she created the host plant resistance team to work with breeding and molecular biology teams to increase breeding efficiency through marker assisted selection. Before her 12 plus years at Driscoll’s, she worked at UC ANR’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for 13 years, and as a Senior Environmental Research Scientist for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. She is currently an Independent Consultant seeking to establish a UC Santa Cruz adjunct research professor position and engaged in plant health research projects in grapes and berries. She has numerous publications and over the years has served on scientific advisory committees for state and federal agencies as well as for industry and academic programs.

Peer Review

The process of peer review is the cornerstone of the research evaluation process in the physical sciences, life sciences and engineering.

All CCST reports are peer reviewed using guidelines and processes established by CCST to assure the highest scientific and technical standards. Guidelines are similar to those of the National Academy of Sciences, adapted to be appropriate for California.

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Our Mission

To engage leading experts in science and technology to advise State policymakers - ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.

Projects

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CCST Project

Fumigant Use in California and an Assessment of Available Alternatives

Overview

Responding to a request from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), CCST will conduct a review of current fumigant use in California and a comprehensive assessment of available alternatives to these fumigants. Broadly, a fumigant is a volatile or volatilizable chemical compound used as a pesticide. Fumigants can be used as an insecticide, fungicide, disinfectant, nematicide, herbicide, and even a rodenticide. They can be applied in a wide variety of settings such as in the home, in structures, healthcare and food facilities, for crop growth and management, and to control vector-borne or animal-borne diseases.

Nominate an Expert

The study will assess: 1) the present state of fumigant use in California (including ways to mitigate emissions for post-harvest applications), 2) currently available alternatives for these fumigants and the extent of their use, 3) past and on-going research dedicated to fumigant alternatives, 4) viability of adopting these alternatives to effectively manage pests in California, 5) barriers to wide-scale adoption of alternatives, and 6) and areas where research may still be needed to answer some of these questions.

Although fumigants are used in a variety of settings, the study will focus on three uses of fumigants; preplant soil fumigation, post-harvest commodity fumigation, and structural fumigation.

Fumigants covered in the study will be limited to:

Agricultural pre-plant soil fumigants
- 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D)
- Chloropicrin
- Dazomet
- Metam-Sodium
- Potassium N-Methyldithiocarbamate (Metam- potassium)
- Methyl bromide

Post-harvest commodity fumigants
- Sulfuryl Fluoride
- Phosphine
- Propylene oxide
- Methyl bromide

Structural fumigants
- Sulfuryl Fluoride

CCST is currently building the study team. The study is expected to be completed by Fall of 2025. A final report on the 1,3-D is expected to be completed by Fall of 2024 and a final report on the remaining fumigants is expected to be completed by Fall of 2025.

CCST is seeking nominations of individuals with relevant expertise to serve in various roles in support of this study, such as steering committee members, authors, report monitors, peer reviewers, and subject matter experts. Please submit names, affiliations, relevant areas of expertise and contact information for individuals who are qualified to serve in support of this study. Self-nominations are welcome.

Calls for Expertise

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CCST Project

The Human Health Benefits of Improving Forest Health in California

Overview

The public health impacts of wildfire smoke are a severely under-represented and under-quantified impact of recent catastrophic wildfires. The economic impacts of wildfire smoke to public and private health systems cost billions of dollars and disproportionately impact disadvantaged communities. This study from CCST and Blue Forest shows that improving the health of California's forests can not only reduce the risk of wildfire, it can also benefit people's health. There may even be an opportunity for the health sector to be part of the forest restoration solution. In a future where smoke is inevitable, better collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies with interested healthcare partners is a pathway to building healthier forests and communities.

An image of the cover of the report, which has a blue stripe down the left side, and the title with details on a white background and a photo of the King Fire.

This project is in partnership with Blue Forest. The study was supported by a grant entitled "Linking Public & Forest Health: Developing a Cost Benefit Model to Reduce Wildfire Smoke Impacts with Forest Management" from the Innovative Finance for National Forests (IFNF) program, which is co-managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. Additional funding to CCST was provided as part of CCST's Disaster Resilience Initiative, which is supported by an allocation of one-time funds from the State of California to accelerate the transmission of information between science and technology experts and policymakers to increase California's resilience to ongoing, complex, and intersecting disasters. Additional funding to Blue Forest was provided by the J.M. Kaplan Fund and Alumbra Innovations Foundation to support the development of conservation finance efforts that lead to positive impacts and outcomes.

Updates and Notes

Sept. 20, 2023
Changes for clarity were made to the discussion of U.S. EPA (2021) to ensure a more accurate and nuanced summary of the CAIF report results in Table 12 and on pages 109-110.

Calls for Expertise

Apr 20, 2023

(Update: Call Closed) Call for Peer Review: Study on the Links Between Forest Health, Wildfire Smoke, and Public Health

Nominate

Jun 22, 2022

(Update: Call Closed) Call for Public Health Perspectives: Forest Health, Wildfire Smoke, and Public Health

Nominate

Peer-Reviewed Primer

Key Challenges for California's Energy Future

Process

In 2022, CCST staff consulted with policymakers and more than 30 experts across California’s preeminent academic and research institutions to identify energy issues that needed additional attention given policy conversations and their importance to California’s clean energy future. This process identified eight high-level key challenges, which are explored across the eight sections of this document.

The sections highlight major challenges and opportunities, environmental justice and equity considerations, and resources for more information. In the future, other topics could be added to this list of eight as needs and relevance arise. Neither the set of topics chosen for sections nor the sections themselves are comprehensive, but are aimed at succinctly summarizing the status, challenges, and potential solutions.

Project Team

Authors

Rhianna Hohbein, PhD
Lead Author
CCST
Miriam Aczel, PhD
Author
UC Berkeley

Steering Committee

Jane Long, PhD
Steering Committee Chair
Independent Consultant & CCST Distinguished Expert
Michael Mastrandrea, PhD
Stanford University
Louise Bedsworth, PhD
UC Berkeley
Colin Murphy, PhD
UC Davis
Arun Raju, PhD
UC Riverside

Our Mission

To engage leading experts in science and technology to advise State policymakers - ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.

Projects

Web Search

Social Media Links

Peer-Reviewed Primer

Key Challenges for California's Energy Future

Overview

In 2022, CCST consulted with policymakers and more than 30 experts across California’s preeminent academic and research institutions to identify energy issues that needed additional attention given policy conversations and their importance to California’s clean energy future.

This process identified eight high-level key challenges, which are explored across the eight sections of this document. These sections highlight major challenges and opportunities, environmental justice and equity considerations, and resources for more information.

This peer-reviewed energy primer begins with an "Overview of California’s Energy Transition," prepared by the Steering Committee describing a framework for California’s energy transition and key highlights.

The cover of the report featuring a white background, with a yellow on blue chart showing energy demand increasing.

Read Overview

Download (PDF)

Table of Contents (Excerpts)

Read excerpts of each section below and download the primer to read them in full. Words in bold can be found in the document's Glossary section.

Overview of California’s Energy Transition

An overview authored by the Steering Committee describing a framework for California’s energy transition and key highlights.

The system of energy sources and applications we enjoy today has evolved over hundreds of years and has gone through multiple transformations over that period. Our complex energy system has many interacting technical and governance components. The current energy system emits greenhouse gases and causes other environmental impacts including air, water, and soil pollution. Low-income and communities of color disproportionately experience the negative impacts of our current energy system.

Motivated by the dire and mounting risks of climate change and opportunities for a more prosperous, just, and healthy California, we are in the midst of a rapid transition of our energy system and other aspects of our economy that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Strong, rapid action guided by careful, evidence-based, and inclusive planning can help minimize the impact of climate change while securing a safe, prosperous, and equitable future for all Californians.

At a high level, decarbonizing energy has three fundamental elements:

Maximize efficiency and electrify energy use across sectors to the greatest extent possible.
Provide affordable, accessible, and reliable carbon-free electricity for a highly electrified economy.
Decarbonize activities that cannot be electrified by using clean fuels, efficiency, conservation, and better land use planning and infrastructure.

We are now entering an era of fundamental, large-scale structural changes to the energy system, during which the choices we make must ensure that the future energy system has adequate capacity and is both reliable and cost effective.

...

Continue reading the full overview online

1. Electrification and Grid Development

Grappling with an aging power grid and a rapidly expanding demand for electricity.

Overview

California’s decarbonization strategy calls for vehicle and building electrification*, but as more vehicles and homes are powered by electricity, there will be increasing demand placed on California’s grid. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) estimates that electricity demand could increase in the state by 76% by 2045 (relative to demand in 2022).¹

The challenge of meeting these new demands comes alongside California’s concurrent transition to 100% renewable and zero-carbon resources as mandated by SB 100 (de León, 2018) and the integration of distributed energy resources like rooftop solar. These new and increasing demands require upgrades and expansion of a grid that is already challenged by wildfires, extreme heat, and weather events.^2,3

Transmission infrastructure carries high-voltage electricity over long distances to distribution substations. These substations reduce the voltage and then transfer the power to distribution networks that deliver the lower voltage electricity over short distances to consumers. Both transmission and distribution infrastructure will need to be upgraded to accommodate additional demand and new energy resources. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO)—which oversees the operation of approximately 80% of California’s bulk electric power system, transmission lines, and electricity market—estimates that adding and upgrading transmission lines to meet predicted demand will cost $30.5 billion over the next 20 years.⁴

Download the Full Report to continue reading

Section topics:

Increasing demand for electricity
Changing energy supplies
Reliability challenges
Scale, impacts, and challenges of necessary grid infrastructure development
Environmental Justice and Equity Considerations
Relevant Policies
Relevant State Institutions

^{1 California Air Resources Board. (2022). 2022 Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality. Available at: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/2022-sp.pdf.}
^{2 California ISO. (2022). California ISO extends Flex Alert to Thursday, Sept. 1. Available at: http://www.caiso.com/Documents/california-iso-extends-flex-alert-to-thursday-sept-1.pdf.}
^{3 California ISO, California Public Utilities Commission, and California Energy Commission. (2021). Root Cause Analysis: Mid-August 2020 Extreme Heat Wave. Available at: http://www.caiso.com/Documents/Final-Root-Cause-Analysis-Mid-August-2020-Extreme-Heat-Wave.pdf.}
^{4 California ISO. (2022). 20-Year Transmission Outlook. Available at: http://www.caiso.com/InitiativeDocuments/Draft20-YearTransmissionOutlook.pdf.}

2. Utility-Scale Solar and Wind Development

Dramatically scaling California’s capacity to produce renewable energy without compromising the State’s natural and working lands.

Overview:

Approximately 28% of California’s energy is currently provided by utility-scale wind and solar facilities (as of 2022).⁴²

SB 100 (de León, 2018) requires that by 2045, 100% of retail electricity will be provided by zero-carbon and renewable resources.

Many alternatives exist (e.g., geothermal, natural gas with carbon capture and storage, nuclear, hydro-, solar, and wind power). Due to low costs and high resource availability, solar and wind power will likely comprise the majority of California’s energy portfolio in a zero-carbon, renewable future.43

Distributed solar resources (e.g., rooftop solar) are and will continue to be important. Expanding this resource could avoid some of the impacts of utility-scale solar. However, these distributed resources will likely not meet all demand for renewable electricity. Further, utility-scale facilities are much more cost-effective than these small-scale applications.⁴⁴To meet predicted demand, unprecedented construction of utility-scale solar and wind facilities will be required.⁴⁵

For example, California currently has 18 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar;⁴⁶the SB 100 Joint Agency Report projects that an additional 70 GW of utility-scale solar will be required by 2045. Each GW of solar currently requires between 2,900 and 4,200 acres of land on average.⁴⁷The state is also committed to protecting and managing natural and working lands as a strategy for meeting the state’s goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (as per SB 1386, Wolk, 2016).

In siting utility-scale solar and wind, the state must consider clean energy needs, while also supporting other land use priorities such as agriculture, wildlife conservation, and recreation. New utility-scale solar often requires new transmission to deliver power to customers; this infrastructure presents its own siting challenges.

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Section topics:

Wind and solar production
Challenges to siting renewable facilities
Possible synergies among land uses
Environmental impacts of renewable energy installation
Environmental Justice and Equity Considerations
Relevant Policies
Relevant State Institutions

^{42 Nyberg, M. (2023). 2022 Total System Electric Generation. California Energy Commission. Available at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/2022-total-system-electric-generation.}
^{43 Gill, L., Gutierrez, A., and Weeks, T. (2021). 2021 SB 100 Joint Agency Report, Achieving 100 Percent Clean Electricity in California: An Initial Assessment. California Energy Commission, California Public Utilities Commission and California Air Resources Board. Publication number: CEC-200-2021-00. Available at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/publications/2021/2021-sb-100-joint-agency-report-achieving-100-percent-clean-electricity.}
^{44 Ramasamy, V. et al. (2022). U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System and Energy Storage Cost Benchmarks, with Minimum Sustainable Price Analysis: Q1 2022 (No. NREL/TP-7A40-83586). National Renewable Energy Lab.}
^{45 Gill, L., Gutierrez, A., and Weeks, T. (2021). 2021 SB 100 Joint Agency Report, Achieving 100 Percent Clean Electricity in California: An Initial Assessment. California Energy Commission, California Public Utilities Commission and California Air Resources Board. Publication number: CEC-200-2021-00. Available at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/publications/2021/2021-sb-100-joint-agency-report-achieving-100-percent-clean-electricity.}
^{46 Nyberg, M. (2023). Electric Generation Capacity and Energy. Available at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/electric-generation-capacity-and-energy.}
^{47 Bolinger, M., and Bolinger, G. (2022). Land Requirements for Utility-Scale PV: An Empirical Update on Power and Energy Density. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 12(2), pp. 589-594.}

3. Reliability and the Need for Clean, Firm Power

Managing the intermittency of renewable resources.

Overview:

Wind and solar resources are integral to California’s path to decarbonization, but these weather- and season-dependent resources introduce reliability challenges. To cost-effectively resolve these challenges and still meet net-zero by 2045 (as per AB 1279, Muratsuchi, 2022), the state will need clean, firm power—carbon-neutral power that can be delivered for as long as needed in the amount needed.

Utility-scale wind and solar currently comprise the majority (74%) of California’s portfolio of renewable energy.⁹⁶In 2022, 26.8% of the total electricity generated in-state came from these intermittent renewable resources (19.9% and 6.9% from solar and wind, respectively).⁹⁷Moreover, demand for electricity is expected to increase 76% (relative to demand in 2022) by 2045 as a result of population growth and electrification efforts.⁹⁸

Energy storage, demand response, and grid regionalization can alleviate some—but not all—of the challenges associated with intermittent renewable resources. A diverse portfolio that also includes clean, firm power—be it geothermal, nuclear, renewable hydrogen, natural gas with carbon capture and storage, or something else—would address seasonal fluctuations and extreme weather events and is predicted to result in significantly reduced system costs and therefore lower electricity rates.

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Section topics:

The nature of renewable intermittency
Batteries and other energy storage
Demand response
Coordination across states
Clean firm power options
Geothermal energy
Nuclear power
Hydropower
Natural gas with carbon capture and storage
Hydrogen
Environmental Justice and Equity Considerations
Relevant Policies
Relevant State Institutions

^{96 Nyberg, M. (2023). 2022 Total System Electric Generation. California Energy Commission. Available at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/2022-total-system-electric-generation.}
^{97 Nyberg, M. (2023). 2022 Total System Electric Generation. California Energy Commission. Available at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/2022-total-system-electric-generation.}
^{98 California Air Resources Board. (2022). 2022 Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality. Available at: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/2022-sp.pdf.}

4. Decentralizing the Grid

Deploying, integrating, and coordinating distributed energy resources to improve energy resilience.

Overview:

California’s power grid—which is more than a century old in some places—is challenged by the growth in energy demand, addition of renewable resources, and increasingly common extreme heat and wildfires.

If effectively leveraged, distributed energy resources (DERs) can help enhance energy resilience for consumers and the grid at large. This umbrella term includes small-scale energy resources—like rooftop solar panels, back-up generators, and batteries—that either store or generate energy and that are usually behind-the-meter (as opposed to utility-scale energy resources like power plants). DERs also include technologies that help reduce or shift energy demand (i.e., demand response and energy efficiency).

California is embarking on plans to modernize the electric grid by further integrating and coordinating these distributed resources.155 However, California’s grid operators and electric utilities have numerous hurdles to overcome if they are to fully realize the benefits of DERs.

For example, transitioning from California’s historically centralized grid—whereby power is generated by a small number of large power plants and then transmitted across long distances to consumers across the state—to a more decentralized grid that also draws power from innumerable DERs will take a fundamental shift in grid management and introduces numerous challenges.

Download the Full Report to continue reading

Section topics:

DERs defined
Distributed solar power
Distributed battery storage
Demand response
Battery electric vehicles
Energy efficiency
Challenges
Coordinating DERs: Strength in numbers
Supporting distributed energy resources in California
Net energy metering
Environmental Justice and Equity Considerations
Relevant Policies
Relevant State Institutions

^{155 California Public Utilities Commission. (2021). Order Institute Rulemaking to Modernize the Electric Grid for a High Distributed Energy Resources Future. Available at: https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M382/K451/382451995.PDF.}

5. Carbon Capture and Storage

Capturing difficult-to-mitigate emissions.

Overview:

Carbon capture and storage* (CCS) is the process of capturing, compressing, transporting, and sequestering carbon dioxide (CO₂). Most proposed applications for CCS involve capturing CO₂ that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere during industrial processes, particularly fuel combustion. However, new applications are emerging that remove CO₂ from ambient air (known as “direct air capture” or DAC). The captured carbon can then be sequestered in geologic formations (see Figure 5.1). A small fraction could also be used for other industrial applications (like concrete, fuels, or plastic). Much of the cost and complexity of CCS relates to separating CO₂ from other gases, especially oxygen and nitrogen.¹⁹⁹Where CO₂ is present in higher concentrations, this separation is typically easier and less expensive.

**Figure 5.1.** Captured CO2 may be injected into depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline reservoirs. Adapted from California Air Resources Board. (2022). Carbon Capture and Sequestration.
Available at: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/carbon-capture-sequestration/about.

In its proposed scenario for reaching a net-zero economy by 2045 (as per AB 1279, Muratsuchi, 2022, 2022), the California Air Resources Board (CARB) includes CCS—and DAC—to limit emissions and minimize leakage from hard-to-decarbonize sectors.²⁰⁰This aligns with the findings of multiple studies on climate change that have found few, if any, feasible trajectories to climate stabilization without significant amounts of CCS.²⁰¹

CCS deployment has historically been slow, but the pace is quickening. Globally, just over 40 commercial CCS facilities are operational, but 142 are either being constructed or at an advanced stage of development.²⁰²Early CCS projects have produced mixed results: many have been in continuous operation for several years, but others have closed or been cancelled due to both technical and economic challenges.

The extent to which California should rely on CCS to achieve its emissions reduction goals has generated much debate. Opponents argue that CCS does not achieve the emissions reductions promised, prolongs the life of polluting industries that are often located in disadvantaged communities, and distracts from opportunities for direct emissions reductions.

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Section topics:

CCS in California
Carbon capture rates
Potential risks
Environmental Justice and Equity Considerations
Relevant Policies
Relevant State Institutions

^{199 Congressional Research Service. (2022). Carbon Capture and Sequestration in the United States. Available at: https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44902.pdf.}
^{200 California Air Resources Board. (2022). 2022 Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality. Available at: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/2022-sp.pdf.}
^{201 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2022). Summary of the 56th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the 14th Session of Working Group III: 21 March - 4 April 2022. Earth Negotiations Bulletin, 12(795), pp. 1-32.}
^{202 International Energy Agency. (2023). Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage. Accessed on 10/19/2023 at: https://www.iea.org/energy-system/carbon-capture-utilisation-and-storage.}

6. The Future of the Natural Gas System

Reducing natural gas consumption to meet climate and air quality laws while ensuring a reliable energy supply.

Overview:

More natural gas is consumed in California than in any other state except Texas. Of all natural gas consumed in state, approximately 32% is used to generate electricity; 33% is used in industry; 22% is used for residential purposes (e.g., heating and cooking); 12% is used for commercial applications; and 1% is used for vehicle fuel (Figure 6.1).²⁴⁷Approximately 36% of California’s power is derived from natural gas (as of 2022).²⁴⁸ However, meeting the State’s climate and air quality laws requires nearly eliminating consumption of natural gas—other than at facilities with carbon capture and storage (CCS)—by 2045.

**Figure 6.1.** Natural gas use across sectors in California in 2022. Data are from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2023). Natural Gas Consumption by End Use.
Available at: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_cons_sum_dcu_SCA_a.htm.

Policies are being implemented that reduce California’s dependence on natural gas due to its impacts on climate and health (via electrification, increasing energy efficiency, building more renewable resources, etc.). Between 2001 and 2022, in-state natural gas use declined by 15%²⁴⁹despite a 14% increase in population over the same period.²⁵⁰The California Energy Commission (CEC) predicts close to another 12% reduction by 2035 (relative to 2020 levels).²⁵¹

Currently, natural gas is most commonly used as an energy carrier for heat production. Renewable electricity can replace natural gas in most of these applications. However, some current uses of natural gas—particularly for firm power (i.e., power that can be delivered for as long as needed in the amount needed) and as a feedstock for chemical industries—may not be feasible to replace with renewable electricity. The key challenges for policymakers will be to transition most natural gas uses to lower-carbon alternatives while preserving the capacity to supply the hard-to-replace sectors and reducing the environmental impacts of natural gas extraction, distribution, and use, particularly methane leaks and air pollution caused by natural gas combustion.

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Section topics:

Climate, health, and safety impacts
Decarbonizing buildings
Natural gas infrastructure
Meeting electricity demand
Reducing carbon intensity
Environmental Justice and Equity Considerations
Relevant Policies
Relevant State Institutions

^{247 U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2022). California Natural Gas Consumption by End Use. Independent Statistics & Analysis. Accessed on 11/01/2022 at: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_cons_sum_dcu_SCA_a.htm.}
^{248 California Energy Commission. (2023). 2022 Total System Electric Generation. California Energy Commission. Available at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/2022-total-system-electric-generation.}
^{249 U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2022). Natural Gas Delivered to Consumers in California (Including Vehicle Fuel). Accessed on 11/22/2022 at: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n3060ca2m.htm.}
^{250 USA Facts. (2022). Our Changing Population: California. Accessed on 12/15/2022 at: https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/population-and-demographics/our-changing-population/state/california?endDate=2021-01-01&startDate=2001-01-01.}
^{251 Javanbakht, H. et al. (2022). Final 2021 Integrated Energy Policy Report, Volume IV: California Energy Demand Forecast. California Energy Commission. Publication Number: CEC-100- 2021-001-V4. Available at: https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=241581}

7. Decarbonizing Transportation

Transitioning to zero-emission vehicles and reducing vehicle miles traveled.

Overview:

The transportation sector accounts for about 38%³⁰⁰of California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (50% if including emissions from fuel production), 80% of smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions, and 95% of diesel particulate matter emissions.³⁰¹

Achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2045 (as per AB 1279, Muratsuchi, 2022) requires the vast majority of the transportation sector to transition to vehicles that can be powered by zero, or near-zero carbon energy. Zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) probably cannot satisfy every transportation demand, so California has adopted a portfolio approach to decarbonizing the transportation sector.

Critical complementary strategies include supporting markets for low- and carbon-free fuels, improving access to active transportation through safe pedestrian and bicycle pathways, optimizing city planning, and mitigating barriers to public transportation and decarbonization technologies in lower income and rural communities.

The transition to carbon-neutral transportation is likely to provide significant co-benefits, including improvements to air pollution, public health, environmental equity, and economic development.

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Section topics:

Decarbonizing vehicles and fuels
Zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs)
Supporting the electric vehicle transition
Low-carbon fuels
Reducing vehicle miles traveled
Environmental Justice and Equity Considerations
Relevant Policies
Relevant State Institutions

^{300 California Air Resources Board. (2022). Current California GHG Emission Inventory Data. Accessed on 10/17/2023 at: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/ghg-inventory-data.}
^{301 California Air Resources Board. (2021). Advanced Clean Trucks: Accelerating Zero-Emission Truck Markets. Accessed on 12/01/2022 at: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2021-08/200625factsheet_ADA.pdf.}

8. Cap-and-Trade

Leveraging market mechanisms to incentivize decarbonization through 2030 (and beyond?)

Overview:

As part of its implementation of AB 32 (Nunez, 2006), the California Air Resources Board (CARB) launched the statewide Cap-and-Trade Program in late 2012. The program initially covered greenhouse gases (GHGs)—including carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O)—produced by the industrial and electricity sectors. Emissions associated with transportation fuels and natural gas distributors were added to the program in 2015.

Currently about 80% of statewide emissions are covered by the cap, including emissions from electricity imports and fuel imported and consumed in the state.³⁵⁰

As a result of implementation decisions, the direct contributions of Cap-and-Trade to emission reductions achieved in California are suspected to be modest in comparison with other programs.³⁵¹Proceeds from the Cap-and-Trade auction are deposited into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). The GGRF supports programs that contribute to additional emission reductions (see Figure 8.1).³⁵²The future role of Cap-and-Trade in driving emission reductions through 2030 (when the program is currently set to expire) is uncertain depending in part on the performance of complementary programs. Analysts have cautioned that excessive banked allowances jeopardize California’s ability to reach 2030 emission reduction targets.^353,354

**Figure 8.1.** Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund project investments by agency and program, all-time (as of May 31, 2023). Data are for “implemented” projects, notably not including the in-process High Speed Rail Project. Data are from the California Climate Investments Data Dashboard by CARB. (2023). Smaller categories may not be visible here. View online for full data.

Compared to the 2017 Scoping Plan, CARB’s 2022 Scoping Plan predicts a much more modest role for Cap-and-Trade in driving future reductions in GHG emissions. However, the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee—established by AB 398 (Eduardo Garcia, 2017) to analyze the performance of Cap-and-Trade—has recommended several reforms that could make the program play a larger role in driving emission reductions.

Facilities regulated by Cap-and-Trade are disproportionately located in communities with greater numbers of residents of color and residents living in poverty. Environmental justice advocates argue the program inadequately addresses pollution in these communities, because it does not require these facilities to directly reduce emissions if the operating firms satisfy their compliance obligations in other ways.

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Section topics:

Cap-and-Trade Fundamentals
Challenges
Environmental Justice and Equity Considerations
Relevant Policies
Relevant State Institutions

^{350 California Air Resources Board. (2022). Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting, 2021 Emissions Year Frequently Asked Questions. Available at: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/classic/cc/reporting/ghg-rep/reported-data/2021mrrfaqs.pdf.}
^{351 Legislative Analyst’s Office. (2019). Assessing California’s Climate Policies. Available at: https://lao.ca.gov/handouts/resources/2019/Assessing-California-Climate-Policies-022019.pdf.}
^{352 California Climate Investments. (2023). 2023 Annual Report: Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds. Available at: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/auction-proceeds/cci_annual_report_2023.pdf.}
^{353 Legislative Analyst’s Office. (2017). Cap-and-Trade Extension: Issues for Legislative Oversight. Available at: https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3719.}
^{354 Burtraw, D. et al. (2022). 2021 Annual Report of the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee. Available at: https://calepa.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/01/2021-IEMAC-Annual-Report.a.pdf.}

Glossary

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2023 Impact Report

California's Federal Labs & Research Centers

Federal Labs Quick Reference

CCST can assist California Legislative and Executive offices in navigating federal research resources in the State of California.

For assistance, please contact CCST.

Name	Title	Federal Lab	Email	Website
Lisa Lockyer	Government Affairs	NASA's Ames Research Center	[email protected]	www.nasa.gov/ames
Michele Johnson	Office of Communications	NASA's Ames Research Center	[email protected]	www.nasa.gov/ames
Cindy Lee	Government Affairs	NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory	[email protected]	www.jpl.nasa.gov
Jim Hawley	State and External Relations	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	[email protected]	www.lbl.gov
Dan Krotz	Strategic Communications	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	[email protected]	www.lbl.gov
Steven R. Bohlen	Senior Director, Government and External Affairs	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory	[email protected]	www.llnl.gov
Scott F. Wilson	State Government Liaison	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory	[email protected]	www.llnl.gov
Patrick Sullivan	Government Relations	Sandia National Laboratories/California	[email protected]	www.sandia.gov
Michael Ellis Langley	Corporate Communications Specialist	Sandia National Laboratories/California	[email protected]	www.sandia.gov
Erika Bustamante, PhD	State Government Relations	SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory	[email protected]	www.slac.stanford.edu
Melinda Lee	Communications	SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory	[email protected]	www.slac.stanford.edu

Our Mission

To engage leading experts in science and technology to advise State policymakers - ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.

Projects

Web Search

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2023 Impact Report

California's Federal Labs & Research Centers

Six federal laboratories and science centers have formal partnerships with CCST. The following reports offer a glimpse of the resources and expertise that each lab can offer to California’s decision makers, including examples of ongoing collaborations with universities, businesses, and agencies, and where federal research has been successfully translated into policy advice or industry solutions.

NASA

• NASA's Ames Research Center
• NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

DOE

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Sandia National Laboratories-California
• SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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California's Federal Laboratories

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NASA's Ames Research Center

www.nasa.gov/ames

Moffett Field, Santa Clara County
(AD-23, SD-13)

Eugene L. Tu, PhD, Center Director

Lisa Lockyer, Government Affairs
[email protected] | (650) 604-3009

Michele Johnson, Office of Communications
[email protected] | (650) 604-6982

NASA’S PORTAL TO SILICON VALLEY

NASA’s Ames Research Center applies the spirit of Silicon Valley to NASA’s mission, and there's a little bit of Ames in every launch and flight. The numerous one-of-a-kind facilities here and interconnected areas of expertise are vital elements of the nation’s strategy for exploration.

Ames combines biology and space technology with two driving aims: detecting life off of our planet and understanding how Earth life is different in space, so healthy humans can explore from the Moon to Mars. Closer to home, Ames leads the national research initiative to devise the best ways for commercial drones, flying cars and aircraft to safely share America’s skies.

NASA in Silicon Valley contributes to the nation’s technical prowess as only a government research organization can: when research matures to a place where others can do it, they seek out partners. NASA Ames serves as an active portal bringing together specialized NASA R&D along with a research cluster of affiliated high-tech companies, universities, and other federal laboratories. To advance both NASA’s mission and the American economy, Ames shares its knowledge… and moves on to the next unknown.

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Founded in the San Francisco Bay Area more than 80 years ago, NASA’s Ames Research Center has shaped the region with its passion for knowledge and technology. Today, by bridging public and private partnerships to capitalize on the innovation and entrepreneurship resident here, Ames is helping NASA take essential steps forward to the Moon – through Silicon Valley. In parallel, the Ames presence in this important region offers California easy access to NASA technologies, facilities, and expertise. Ames and its partners provide California with the opportunity to quickly connect to a wide range of potential solutions to challenging regional concerns.

Many NASA-developed technologies and discoveries have practical applications and significant future commercial value through the creation of new industries, products, services, and jobs (e.g., small, inexpensive satellites). NASA Ames is deeply committed to collaborations, both public and private. In fiscal year 2022, the NASA Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs provided more than $31 million in Phase I and Phase II awards to California firms, and an additional $19 million in Post Phase II investments through Phase II-Extended, Sequential Phase II, and Civilian Commercialization Readiness Program awards to assist the firms in bridging the “valley of death” to bring their technologies to the marketplace.

Resources and Expertise for California Governance

NASA Ames’ service to both the state and region includes:

Being a trusted source of subject matter experts.
Unique aerospace and earth science technologies.
Advanced modeling and simulation capabilities.
Testing facilities and intellectual property, which support collaborations that lead to regional economic development.
Core competencies in air traffic management, entry systems, advanced computing and IT systems, intelligent/adaptive systems, cost-effective space missions, aero-sciences, astrobiology and life sciences, and space and earth sciences.

NASA Ames develops groundbreaking technologies for NASA missions, while seeking to promote collaboration with U.S. industry. NASA Ames has partnered with the California Department of Water Resources, the California Department of Parks, the California Natural Resources Agency, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Such collaborations offer breakthroughs each year for the benefit of the American public. NASA Ames continues to expand partnerships that can leverage taxpayer-funded NASA research and technology for the benefit of the State of California and the country.

Success Story: Small Business Goes to Mars

The Mars 2020 Rover was one of the most highly anticipated robotic missions in NASA’s history. Specialized ultraviolet lasers developed by Photon Systems of Covina, California, under the NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, will help the Mars Rover trace miniscule amounts of chemicals such as amino acids — the building blocks of life. Back here on earth, Photon Systems is working with both Pfizer and DuPont to repurpose this technology for quality control checks of manufacturing equipment, and to look for trace amounts of contaminants in manufactured pills and food products. Commercial revenue stemming from this SBIR-funded technology has exceeded $8 million.

Success Story: Setting Aircraft Efficiency Standards

While most people equate NASA with space exploration, the agency helps set standards across the general aviation industry and influences how Americans fly every day. Empirical Systems Aerospace, Inc. of San Luis Obispo, California, received SBIR awards to increase efficiency in commercial aircrafts, resulting in lower fuel costs and fewer harmful emissions. The work has led to follow-on NASA contracts, subcontracts with the Department of Defense, and increased collaboration with many of the nation’s top companies.

Recent Headlines

“Traffic Jam at 400 feet – NASA and the FAA are working to revolutionize air traffic control for the drone era.” – Bloomberg, July 21, 2022

“The Capstone Launch Will Kick Off NASA’s Artemis Moon Program” – Wired, June 24, 2022

“NASA Needs to Find Ice on the Moon. This Rover Will Lead the Search” – New York Times, June 11, 2020

Legislators Say...

“NASA Ames is a vital source of innovation in the Silicon Valley region. The scientific breakthroughs developed there are a great boon to all Californians.” — Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto)

“Thanks to the ingenuity of NASA Ames’ research and development, the technology pioneered for exploration of space also has important applications in meeting the challenges we face on Earth. From COVID to climate change, and water treatment to disaster response, NASA Ames offers solutions that can help us battle the emergencies that confront us today and aid us in building resilience for our future.” — Senator Josh Becker (D-San Mateo)

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

www.jpl.nasa.gov

Pasadena/La Cañada Flintridge, Los Angeles County
(AD-41, SD-25)

Laurie Leshin, PhD, Director

Cindy Lee, Government Affairs

FROM DEFENSE TO DISCOVERY

NASA JPL’s roots date to the 1930s, when students at Caltech — collectively known as the “Suicide Squad” — gathered to test rocket engines near Pasadena, California.

During the 1940s and 1950s, JPL grew as it developed rockets and other technologies for the U.S. Army. JPL designed, built, and operated America’s first satellite, Explorer 1, launched in 1958. Explorer 1 also delivered the first science finding from space — the discovery of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts. Later that year, Congress established NASA, and JPL was transferred to the space agency.

Since then, NASA JPL has sent robotic spacecraft to all of the planets in the Solar System, and is responsible for all four rovers that have explored the surface of Mars. In addition, NASA JPL conducts significant programs in earth sciences, space-based astronomy, and technology research and development.

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Home to Mars rovers, space telescopes and an array of Earth-orbiting satellites, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is one of NASA’s premier research facilities. Beginning in the 1960s, NASA JPL made news as it created America’s first satellite and sent the first robotic spacecraft to the planets. As of 2017, NASA JPL is responsible for 19 spacecraft and 10 major instruments carrying out active missions. In addition, NASA JPL developed and manages NASA’s Deep Space Network, a worldwide system of antennas that communicate with interplanetary spacecraft.

As a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), NASA JPL is staffed and managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This unique relationship creates an intellectual infusion with a university campus whose faculty and alumni have garnered 31 Nobel Prizes, 53 National Medals of Science, and 12 National Medals of Technology.

This Caltech-JPL synergy is boosted by cooperative initiatives, dedicated research seed funding, and joint-faculty appointments. Furthermore NASA JPL’s research is conducted in 1,138 laboratory or technical rooms in 76 buildings on the main campus and extends into space with 29 currently active missions.

Success Story: ArterioVision

Initially developed at NASA JPL, the FDA-approved ArterioVision software is helping doctors diagnose and monitor treatments for hardening of the arteries in its early stages, before it causes heart attacks and strokes. ArterioVision software converts standard ultrasound data of plaque and blood flow within the carotid artery to measure arterial thickness — an early indicator of atherosclerosis. ArterioVision has been licensed by Caltech to Medical Technologies International, Inc. of Palm Desert, California, via NASA JPL’s Innovative Partnership Program.

Success Story: Drought Monitoring

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) named three scientists at NASA JPL as recipients of its Remote Sensing and Drought Science Service award. The award recognizes ongoing assistance provided by researchers who have been working closely with the department on drought or climate science projects. The researchers used remote sensing data to map the ongoing sinking of land in California’s San Joaquin Valley caused by groundwater extraction. The scientists’ work found that some parts of the valley sank more than a foot during the 2014 irrigation season alone. “DWR is pleased to recognize the work that these scientists have performed in developing new methodologies for monitoring land subsidence in response to our multi-year drought,” said then DWR Director Mark Cowin.

Resources and Expertise for California Governance

NASA JPL’s expertise is of particular potential benefit to California in two broad areas: 1) regional decision support systems based on Earth observations and models, and 2) advanced technology and earth science. Resources include airborne and spaceborne instruments that remotely:

Measure ground subsidence due to aquifer discharge and recharge or natural events.
Provide multi-decade observations of sea level rise.
Measure changes in coastal regions due to erosion and changes in plant health.
Detect and help quantify greenhouse gas emissions and characterize ozone sources.
Quantify with high accuracy water stored as snow.
Assess the health of forest ecosystems for post-fire land management restoration decisions.
Detect changes and threats to critical infrastructure such as the Bay-Delta levees.
Provide information on damage extent for emergency response teams following natural disasters.

NASA JPL is advancing technology in the areas of energy systems, robotics, miniaturized sensors, artificial intelligence, autonomy and remote sensing. These advances in natural hazards, climate change and ecosystems science will offer deep insights for California policymakers.

Recent Headlines

“As NASA’s Cassini Mission Flames Out Over Saturn, Scientists Mark Bittersweet End Of Mission” — Los Angeles Times, Sep. 15, 2017

“NASA’s JPL open-sources an anti-face-touching wearable to help reduce the spread of COVID-19” – Techcrunch, June 25, 2020

“NASA’s Perseverance rover makes safe landing on Mars” – Los Angeles Times, February 18, 2021

Legislators Say...

“The dedicated scientists at NASA JPL are continuously pushing the boundaries of human discovery, from a mission to Mars to new insights into how Earth’s lands, oceans, and climate are evolving. The discoveries and technologies made there improve the lives of all Californians and make us more resilient when confronting natural disasters and climate change. And, how about the amazing Perseverance and its helicopter!” — Senator Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge)

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

www.lbl.gov

Berkeley, Alameda County
(AD-14, SD-09)

Michael Witherell, PhD, Director

Jim Hawley, State and External Relations
[email protected]

Dan Krotz, Strategic Communications
[email protected]

A BEACON OVER BERKELEY

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) was founded in 1931 by Ernest Orlando Lawrence. Considered the father of multidisciplinary team science, Lawrence was a University of California (UC) Berkeley physicist who won the 1939 Nobel Prize in physics for his invention of the cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator that opened the door to high-energy physics and the foundation of today’s Nobel Prize-winning accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider.

Today, Berkeley Lab is managed and operated by the University of California system for the Department of Energy (DOE). Berkeley Lab’s close relationship with UC Berkeley brings the intellectual capital of the university’s faculty, postdocs and students to bear on the nation’s great scientific questions, a partnership that underpins the lab’s extraordinary scientific productivity.

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At the forefront of science, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to nonclassified research. Berkeley Lab scientists search for cleaner, more reliable sources of energy while making innovations in energy efficiency, green building design, and electric grid modernization. They study the Earth to understand why the climate is changing and how that impacts sectors such as agriculture.

The Berkeley Lab also designs, builds, and houses some of the world’s most powerful microscopes, x-ray beams, and supercomputers. Berkeley Lab researchers aim to coax more power from solar cells, build better batteries, and develop clean biofuels for the future. They study questions as awe-inspiring as the formation of the universe, as relevant as water production and desalination, and as important as cybersecurity. They also can provide expertise on oil and gas geosciences, genetic analysis, and chemical and materials sciences.

The Berkeley Lab partners with a number of California agencies — including the California Energy Commission, the California Geologic Energy Management Division, the Department of Water Resources, California Public Utilities Commission, and the California Air Resources Board — to support our state’s ambitious clean energy and environmental goals.

Success Story: Smart Windows

Imagine a window shade with a brain. Researchers at the Molecular Foundry designed a thin coating of nanocrystals, embeddable in glass, that can dynamically modify sunlight as it passes through a window. Unlike existing technologies, the coating provides selective control over visible light and heat producing near infrared (NIR) light, so windows can maximize both energy savings and occupant comfort in a wide range of climates. These smart windows use small jolts of electricity to switch the material between NIR-transmitting and NIR-blocking states, and can independently control blocking of visible versus NIR light. This innovation led to the creation of Heliotrope Technologies based in Alameda, CA.

Success Story: Building California’s BioEconomy

The DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in Emeryville is led by the Berkeley Lab. Researchers had discovered a new, environmentally-benign way to manufacture malonic acid, a high-value chemical used in electronics manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and food processing. Until recently, malonic acid production required toxic chemicals such as cyanide. Working with experts at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit (ABPDU), the biotech startup Lygos, located in Berkeley, demonstrated the scalability of the new biomanufacturing process at production costs competitive with conventional technologies. To date, JBEI has generated more than 160 patent applications, 90 licenses, and six start-up companies — five of which are located in California.

Resources and Expertise for California Governance

Berkeley Lab houses many “user facilities” — state-of-the art lasers, instruments, and computers available for industry and university use. In 2022, more than 14,000 researchers (approximately 40 percent from California institutions) accessed these facilities, representing nearly one third of the total for all DOE user facility traffic nationwide. Work conducted at Berkeley Lab user facilities has led to the development of better medicines, new materials, and more efficient solar cells and batteries.

The user facilities at the Berkeley Lab include:

The Advanced Light Source produces extremely bright x-ray beams for examining the atomic and electronic structure of materials. Applications range from environmental, material science, and biology.
Molecular Foundry is the DOE’s largest nanoscience center, allowing researchers to engineer new materials from fuel cell components to proteins.
The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) includes one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) provides reliable, high-bandwidth connections that link scientists at federal labs, universities, and other institutions.
The Joint Genome Institute helps researchers solve energy and environmental challenges with high throughput genomic capabilities and data analysis.

Too numerous to detail, other notable user facilities include the FLEXLAB, the Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit, and other assets available to government, university, and corporate users.

Recent Headlines

“Here’s where experts say California’s historic snowpack presents the greatest flood risks” – SF Chronicle, April 5, 2023

“How climate change will make atmospheric rivers even worse” – The Washington Post, January 12, 2023

“Solar + batteries at home can provide backup power during disasters” – Ars Technica, September 29, 2022

Legislators Say...

“Berkeley Lab is home to world renowned scientific leaders. These brilliant minds are crafting the technology we need — today and tomorrow — to advance our lives, protect our planet, and enhance our economy. Berkeley Lab researchers are on the cutting edge of technological transformation, for California and the world.”— Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley)

“Berkeley Lab is a world leading scientific institution. Its facilities are used by researchers across the state. Its scientists are helping lead the way on new technologies and innovations to tackle big challenges—from climate change, to energy storage and clean water, creating jobs for our state.”— Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland)

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

www.llnl.gov

Livermore, Alameda County
(AD-16, SD-07)

Kim Budil, PhD, Director

Steven R. Bohlen, Senior Director, Government and External Affairs

Scott F. Wilson, State Government Liaison
[email protected]

SCIENCE AND SECURITY IN THE ATOMIC AGE

Originally established by Edward Teller and Ernest Lawrence as a branch of the UC Radiation Laboratory, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been a pillar of the Tri-Valley community since 1952.

Today, LLNL is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. It is operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC — a partnership of Bechtel National, the University of California, BWX Technologies, Amentum, the Texas A&M University System and Battelle Memorial Institute. LLNL’s defining responsibility is ensuring the safety, security, and reliability of the nation’s nuclear deterrent — yet its responsibilities have evolved with America’s changing needs.

The LLNL mission of making the world a safer place now aligns with our nation’s most challenging security problems — terrorism, energy security, climate and environmental change — through R&D investments in computing, engineering, and life and physical sciences. California can only stand to benefit, as LLNL cultivates partnerships with industry innovators regionally and statewide.

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Impact to the Region and State

Since its founding in 1952, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been an icon in northern California, applying cutting-edge technology to enhance our nation’s security and solve some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Those goals are met, in part, through strategic partnerships with California industry and academia. LLNL currently has active commercial licenses with more than 75 companies (34 in California)as well as dozens of active cooperative research and development agreements. Licensing and royalty income in recent years has topped $8 million annually representing more than $300 million in annual sales of products based on LLNL technologies. LLNL licensed technologies have enabled the launch of numerous new businesses that are helping drive economic growth locally, regionally and beyond.

LLNL’s procurements through California businesses ($509 million) and annual payroll ($1.19 million) directly contribute to the regional economy. Additionally, LLNL has deep and longstanding relationships with the University of California and California State University systems, which serve as workforce pipelines for many of its most sought after positions.

Success Story: Laser Power

LLNL is home to one of DOE’s flagship user facilities, the National Ignition Facility (NIF). In December 2022, NIF, the world’s largest and most energetic laser, achieved ignition: meaning it produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. This first of its kind feat will provide unprecedented capability to support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Stockpile Stewardship Program and will provide invaluable insights the prospects of clean energy fusion, a game-changer for efforts to achieve a net-zero carbon economy. LLNL’s long-standing leadership in high-performance computing is indispensable for effectual design and interpretation of these complex NIF experiments.

Success Story: Radiation Security

A public-private partnership between LLNL and Tennessee-based ORTEC helped speed critical homeland-security technology to the marketplace. Radscout is a portable radiation detector developed by LLNL’s weapons program for emergency first responders and inspection personnel who need rapid detection and identification of material to determine the nature and scope of a threat. The product, now under the names of Detective and DetectiveEX, has been used to screen for dangerous radioisotopes in luggage or shipping containers and rapidly reports its results on-the-spot. The detector also is being used at border crossings, cargo ship docks, and transportation terminals.

Resources and Expertise for California Governance

LLNL has missions in biosecurity, counterterrorism, defense, energy, intelligence, nonproliferation, science, and weapons. LLNL’s fundamental work in science, technology, and engineering — such as basic research and development to achieve the breakthroughs applied directly by LLNL programs– is spread across three disciplinary organizations: Computation, Engineering, and Physical and Life Sciences:

In addition to designing, developing, and deploying high-performance computing capabilities, the Computations Directorate assures that mission and program goals are attained by delivering outstanding computer science expertise and creative technology and software solutions. Computation also possesses technical expertise in information technology services and solutions that help missions.
The Engineering Directorate undertakes projects with high technical risk, integrates and extends technologies, and uses the extremes of both ultrascale and microscale to achieve results. LLNL engineers develop systems that push technologies to their extremes.
The Physical and Life Sciences Directorate delivers science that ensures the success of LLNL’s national security programs, anticipates their future needs, and provides innovative solutions to the hardest scientific problems facing the nation and our state.

Recent Headlines

“Scientists Achieve Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough with Blast of 192 Lasers” – New York Times, Dec. 13, 2022

“Speeding up detection of climate change response to emission reductions” – LLNL, April 14, 2022

“California Can Be Carbon Neutral in 25 years—with Drastic Action” – Scientific American, February 1, 2020

Legislators Say...

“LLNL is a huge contributor to California’s economy, providing high-end jobs, bringing in federal research dollars, and forming academic and industrial partnerships. I never hesitate to hold up LLNL as a shining example of the technological and entrepreneurial excellence that the Bay Area can offer.” — Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda)

“LLNL has been a leader in national security and fundamental science for generations, and its many contributions, inventive technologies, and passion for STEM education have helped shape California’s and the East Bay region’s thriving innovation ecosystems. We’re proud to have such an important institution as part of our community.” — Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda)

Sandia National Laboratories-California

www.sandia.gov

Livermore, Alameda County
(AD-16, SD-07)

Andy McIlroy, PhD, Associate Labs Director for California

Patrick Sullivan, Government Relations
[email protected]

Michael Ellis Langley, Corporate Communications Specialist
[email protected]

NATIONAL SECURITY FROM “A” TO “Z”

From its origins as a single-mission engineering organization for nonnuclear components of nuclear weapons, Sandia National Laboratories now has multiple programs involved in a broad spectrum of national security issues. As one of three National Nuclear Security Administration research and development laboratories, Sandia provides exceptional service in the national interest by applying science to help detect, repel, defeat, or mitigate threats to national security.

Sandia began in 1945 as the “Z-Division” — the weapons design, testing, and assembly branch of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. It officially became Sandia Laboratory in 1948, and in 1956 a second site was opened in California’s Livermore Valley. In 1979, Congress made Sandia a Department of Energy National Laboratory. In 1993, Sandia became a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) laboratory under Lockheed Martin Corporation. Today Honeywell International, Inc., manages and operates Sandia as National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC.

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Impact to the Region and State

The California campus of Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia California) has delivered essential science and technology to resolve the nation’s most challenging issues for more than 55 years.

Many of these nationwide security challenges — like alternative energy, transportation, immigration, port security, cybersecurity and more — surfaced early for the State of California, providing this Sandia campus with a special opportunity to contribute to the first wave of science and technology solutions serving the United States.

Sandia California boosts the state’s regional and statewide economy, with contracts totaling more than $92 million directed to small businesses and $146 million total in contracts across all California businesses.

Sandia California is located in the Livermore Valley Open Campus, a 110-acre campus that brings academia and businesses together with researchers from Sandia and its Department of Energy sibling, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Success Story: Hydrogen Ferry

Sandia is partnering with the San Francisco-based Red and White Fleet to develop a hydrogen-fueled ferry, called the San Francisco Bay Renewable Energy Electric Vessel with Zero Emissions (SF-BREEZE). A feasibility study, initiated two years ago, looked at the possibility of a large, fast vessel that would meet maritime regulations and be economically competitive. With the recent success of the initial proof of concept, this public-private partnership is moving forward with optimization of design studies and is one step closer to creating large, high-speed, environmentally friendly transport vessels.

Success Story: Aliso Canyon Response

In October of 2015, Southern California Gas informed the State of a natural gas leak at its Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility. In January, after several months of regulatory and oversight action, Governor Brown declared a state of emergency. In coordination with the state’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Sandia California provided independent monitoring and technical expertise and reviewed Southern California Gas Company data and information.

Resources and Expertise for California Governance

Sandia California researchers pursue a variety of security and resource management research.

Teams of researchers on the Sandia California campus are engaged in work that will advance climate change security, which Labs Director James S. Peery has described as an existential threat. Sandia California researchers work on a host of other projects to tackle the scientific and engineering challenges of the 21st century.

Sandia’s famed Combustion Research Facility focuses on improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions. The Labs’ robust solar, wind, and geothermal research and development programs have contributed to widespread deployment of renewable energy technologies. Sandia’s energy storage and grid integration programs also help California’s efforts to meet requirements for its renewable energy portfolio.

The SUMMIT tool, developed at Sandia California, aids in preparing for human-caused or natural disasters by improving the cycle of activities that emergency response teams undertake. SUMMIT was included as part of a memorandum of agreement with the California Fire and Rescue Training Authority to deliver an emergency response framework to the California Exercise Simulation Center. The enhanced, 3-D virtual view of hazard damage creates a new level of realism and a common operating picture for members in exercises at national, regional, and local levels.

Recent Headlines

“How the U.S. is Planning to Boost Floating Wind Power” – Scientific American, February 23, 2023

"The people who imagine disasters” – BBC, 7th July 2020

“HPE, AMD win deal for U.S. supercomputer to model nuclear weapons” – Reuters, March 4, 2020

Legislators Say...

“Sandia has been an integral part of the East Bay for over 60 years. It engineers solutions for our country’s national security challenges, advances low-carbon energy technologies, and develops clean transportation systems. Sandia’s contributions are felt across California and the country.” — Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda)

“For more than 60 years in California, Sandia National Laboratories has built on its reputation for delivering results to address our nation’s most complex national security challenges and developing innovative energy solutions to advance next generation energy technologies.” — Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda)

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

www.slac.stanford.edu

Menlo Park, San Mateo County
(AD-23, SD-13)

Stephen Streiffer, PhD, Interim Director

Erika Bustamante, State Government Relations
[email protected]

Melinda Lee, Communications
[email protected]

ACCELERATING PARTICLES AND THE FUTURE

The people, expertise and facilities at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) offer potential to transform nearly every sector of our economy.

These include studies of the very small, fundamental processes of chemistry, to the very large exploration and understanding of the cosmos, dark matter, and dark energy. SLAC experts have a long record of developing novel instruments and technologies to provide unparalleled insight into the natural world — and they lead and participate in many large-scale national and international scientific collaborations.

Stanford University operates SLAC for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science. Located in Menlo Park, SLAC is home to the world’s premier ultrafast X-ray science center. Extremely bright and fast X-ray pulses are used to create movies of atomic and molecular structures and interactions with unprecedented precision — driving advances in energy science, human health, industrial chemistry, novel materials, information technology, and more.

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Impact to the Region and State

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) contributes to California’s global reputation as a hub of innovation. SLAC invents, develops, and operates sophisticated particle accelerator and X-ray technology and other scientific tools, including sensors, detectors, controllers, lasers, and systems for working with torrents of data and images. SLAC also develops novel laser architectures for our own research and work with local laser firms, further securing California as a hub of the optical laser industry. Through CalCharge, SLAC supports California energy storage firms.

Each year, SLAC hosts thousands of researchers who come here to use its sophisticated X-ray facilities for a wide range of basic and applied science — including California companies developing new pharmaceuticals, improving chip manufacturing and developing sensor technology for self-driving cars.

SLAC has deep ties to a major university — their employees are Stanford University employees, and the SLAC director is a dean of Stanford. SLAC’s expertise and ties with Stanford are a powerful combination, and allow them to provide unique educational experiences and serve as a vital training ground for the nation’s future scientific workforce. SLAC educates the public through tours, lectures, and outreach programs, and it also provides internships and fellowships to students and early career professionals.

Success Story: Guiding Lights

SLAC has initiated construction on a major upgrade to the world’s brightest X-ray laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The LCLS-II will add a second X-ray laser beam that is 10,000 times brighter and fires 8,000 times faster, up to a million times per second. This will greatly increase the power and capacity of the X-ray laser for experiments that sharpen our view of how nature works on the atomic level and on ultrafast timescales. SLAC is also leading construction of a 3.2-gigapixel digital camera — the largest digital camera ever built for ground-based optical astronomy — for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) in Chile. The LSST will provide a definitive wide-field, ultradeep survey of galaxies for precision measurement of dark energy properties.

Success Story: Electric Dreams

SLAC’s new Grid Integration, Systems and Mobility lab (GISMo) is developing ways to collect data from power systems and grid-connected devices — and help managers use that data to better manage the electrical grid as we incorporate more sources of renewable energy. GISMo works closely with California utilities and the California Energy Commission to develop and test new tools for managing a renewable grid, and planning for future electric vehicle charging loads. As an unbiased, highly technical partner, GISMo can test, benchmark, and evaluate emerging technologies that await the 21st Century power grid.

Resources and Expertise for California Governance

SLAC has world-leading expertise in the design, engineering, and fabrication of advanced electronics, sensors, detectors, instrumentation — in addition to largescale data handling and computing systems, and associated facilities that help advance real-world applications. These include:

Structural biology research aimed at understanding disease and developing and improving treatment.
Next-generation batteries, improved manufacturing techniques for semiconductors, solar cells and other products.
Scientific computing, AI/machine learning and control system hardware and software.
Electric grid modernization and more efficient catalysts for energy and industry.
Fusion energy science.
Next-generation particle accelerator technology for medicine, industry and discovery.
Quantum information science.

On the ground, SLAC has the ability and knowledge to manage major, complex scientific infrastructure projects that require the development of entirely new technologies. And at the edge of human exploration, SLAC’s experts can guide us in understanding the context and importance of dark matter, dark energy, particle physics — and the evolution of the cosmos itself.

Recent Headlines

“New charging technique puts crumbling batteries back together” – Scientific American, Feb. 4, 2022

“Can a particle accelerator trace the origins of printing?” – Wired, Aug 29, 2022

“Scientists make nanodiamonds out of plastic bottles” – BBC Science Focus, September 2, 2022

Legislators Say...

“SLAC has long been in the forefront of innovation, pushing the merely imaginable into the realm of reality. SLAC continues to break new ground across its research portfolio. Ranging from preparation and early action solutions to real-time monitoring and response, as well as recovery, the work of SLAC scientists today in disaster resilience research resonates particularly strongly.” — Senator Josh Becker (D-San Mateo)

“SLAC National Accelerator Lab continues to push the frontiers of our fundamental scientific knowledge. Their unique capabilities play a key role in establishing our scientific leadership and laying the groundwork for our progress toward a clean, sustainable energy future.” — Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto)

Related Publications

May 23, 2024

CCST Annual Report 2023

Jun 26, 2023

Key Challenges for California’s Energy Future

May 23, 2023

CCST Annual Report 2022

Front cover of the 2022 Annual Report featuring an aerial view of the California State Capitol.

Apr 13, 2023

California’s Federal Labs and Research Centers: 2023 Impact Report

The cover of the 2023 federal labs impact report featuring photos from each lab and their logos

Our Mission

To engage leading experts in science and technology to advise State policymakers - ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.

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2023 Impact Report

California's Federal Labs & Research Centers

Overview

Six federal laboratories and science centers in California have formal partnerships with CCST – the State’s premier resource to connect decision makers with leading scientists in California and beyond – as Federal Laboratory Partners. This Impact Report offers a glimpse of the resources and expertise that each lab can offer to California’s decision makers.

Each federal entity boasts a government relations team able to assist local, state, and federal offices. Together with CCST, these liaisons serve as a resource for community members and officials who want to learn more about federal labs and their broader impact for California. CCST helps facilitate links across the capabilities and talents of these labs and centers, and can help Members and Capitol staff navigate the tremendous resources spread across federal labs and science centers in California.

With this report, we invite you to learn how our federal labs and research centers help make California stronger with science and technology.

Download (PDF)

Introduction

Dear Fellow Californians:

As the California Council on Science and Technology enters its 35th year of providing science and technology advice to the State, we celebrate the world class ecosystem of education and research institutions that sets us apart. Alongside academic powerhouses such as the University of California, California State University, California Community Colleges, Stanford, Caltech, and the University of Southern California, we also take pride in our unrivalled collection of federal laboratories and research centers.

Federal labs and research centers are set apart from other institutions by bringing to bear large-scale, mission-based projects and facilities on some of humanity’s most pressing and difficult scientific questions. They represent billions of dollars of federal research investment, providing a wealth of knowledge and expertise that California can draw on. These labs take us deep inside the genetic code, support the foundations of our energy and national security, and even launch us toward the stars.

Today, California is at a crossroads. As the State continues to rebuild in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, complex and intersecting disasters—including wildfires, climate change, floods and drought—are radically disrupting the ways in which Californians live and work, and threatening catastrophic loss of life and economic impacts. California’s federal labs and research centers are leveraging their world class expertise and technologies—as well as passionate researchers, students, and support staff—to invest in our resilience to disasters.

The unique nature of our federal labs and research centers puts them in an ideal position to pursue research and development in service of the public good. Whether it is developing tools to make our energy grid more resistant to external threats, using satellites to monitor emerging disasters to aid first responders, or deploying new technologies to decarbonize the transportation sector, the breakthroughs developed in these labs continue to benefit millions of Californians every year.

As California continues to move forward and confront big challenges, these labs and centers are ready to help. Here, we invite you to learn about just a few of the many ways that our federal labs and research centers are helping to make California—and the whole nation—more resilient.

Sincerely,

Amber Mace, PhD
CCST
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Peter Cowhey, PhD
CCST Board Chair
UC San Diego

Accessing California’s Federal Labs

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Benefiting Governance and Livelihoods

California is home to a diverse range of federal labs, science centers, and field stations, spanning several U.S. agencies, departments, and bureaus. Six of these are founding members of CCST’s Federal Laboratory Partners:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Field Centers

• NASA's Ames Research Center

• NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

• Sandia National Laboratories-California

• SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Why Tap into Federal Science?

Uniquely Positioned

Federal agencies such as DOE and NASA are uniquely positioned to contribute to California’s scientific conversation. They leverage the might of federally directed research resources and facilities — bringing mission-oriented research and scientific facilities that complement the wealth of expertise at University of California, California State University, Caltech, Stanford, and other campuses.

Trusted Research Partners

Federal research includes many focal areas that can directly inform policy questions at the state level. Federal labs can partner with state agencies and campuses to conduct studies vital for our understanding of natural and physical processes. These federal-state-university partnerships require time for planning and implementation, but they yield collaborations and important knowledge for lifetimes.

Service to Policymakers

A map of California's Federal Laboratories.

CCST Federal Laboratory Affiliates

Why CCST?

The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established via Assembly Concurrent Resolution 162 in 1988. The resolution directed CCST “to respond to the Governor, the Legislature, and other entities on public policy issues related to science and technology.” To deliver independent advice to state policymakers, CCST engages science and technology (S&T) experts across California’s research enterprise, including through formal partnerships with the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), California Community Colleges (CCC), Stanford, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Southern California (USC) and the six federal laboratory partners described above.

By connecting policymakers with leading scientists in California and beyond, CCST increases policymaker access to S&T advice that is informed by diverse expert perspectives. Over the past three decades, state leaders have requested CCST reports and expert briefings on many issues of policy importance, from natural gas storage safety to sustainable water futures. The connections we facilitate between policymakers and scientists also enhance the ability of our 11 Partner Institutions to transmit S&T information for the public good, including by expanding opportunities for experts to participate in the policy arena and by identifying questions that will drive future research and innovation.

About the CCST Partnership with Federal Laboratories

In 2005, there was growing interest by state leaders to improve access to expertise found at federal laboratories and science centers across California and engage them on issues affecting the Golden State.

The call for advice coincided with conversations and coordination already ongoing between CCST and several federal research institutions in California. CCST welcomed six new Partner Institutions.

Of the six institutions, four came from the U.S. Department of Energy: the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; and two came from NASA: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Ames Research Center.

CCST Disaster Resilience Initiative

In 2020, in recognition of a need for more agile science and technology advisory frameworks for the state and the increasing threat of natural disasters in California, CCST launched a Disaster Resilience Initiative, focused on increasing the delivery and responsiveness of the science advisory support provided by CCST’s science and technology experts to California policymakers. This five-year public-private partnership convenes diverse, interdisciplinary experts from throughout CCST’s network to address the State’s most urgent disaster resilience advisory needs through a series of needs-finding workshops, briefings to policymakers, advisory meetings, and other engagements.

How CCST Can Help

California’s leadership in technology, environmental stewardship, clean energy, and other critical fields relies on its policymakers having access to clearly communicated, scientifically informed advice. CCST can help Legislators, appointed officials, and Capitol and executive branch staff navigate the tremendous resources spread across federal labs and science centers in California.

CCST’s partnership with its Federal Laboratory Partners has resulted in several high-impact reports, briefings, convenings, and workshops that have delivered timely, nonpartisan, scientific analysis on complex issues. Examples include:

When to Contact CCST?

Policymakers should contact CCST:

During policy development, to obtain data and advice from subject area experts.
During the legislative process, to find experts for testimony at policy, fiscal, select committee, and other hearings.
During implementation and regulatory enforcement, accessing current science to review standards, technologies, efficacy, and relevance.
When analyzing natural disasters and human-engineered catastrophes and planning for prevention, preparation, response to, and recovery from these events.

If your office is considering legislation, regulations, or other work products that you believe would benefit from science and technology expertise, or if you are seeking data and advice to strengthen your decisions with science, contact CCST — and we will help you navigate the incredible network of top scientific minds available to California.

Federal Labs Research Benefiting California

In Service to the Nation and Its States

California has a long history of facing a wide variety of disasters and threats, from wildfires and earthquakes to pandemics and bioterrorism. Because of their state-of-the-art facilities, longstanding collaborations, and cross-disciplinary organization, the federal labs in California are uniquely positioned to coordinate the large research projects needed to develop technologies and inform strategies to improve the state’s resilience.

Below is a small sample of the labs’ recent and ongoing research with major implications for how California prevents, prepares for, responds to, and recovers from disasters. Beyond these important contributions, the labs are vital members of their local communities, employing thousands of Californians, supporting State businesses, and investing directly in these communities. Among the highlights of cutting-edge science and technology are stories of the many ways that the labs use their unique assets to provide tangible benefits to communities within California.

This overview is not an exhaustive list of all projects and research areas at these institutions, nor does it represent all federal labs and science centers located here in California. However, these highlights do illustrate the amazing breadth of federal research and applications available to policymakers in Sacramento.

NASA's Ames Research Center (NASA Ames)
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)
Sandia National Laboratories-California (Sandia California)
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC)

Preparing for Disasters

A black and white microscopy photo of microbes with a bar for a 2 micrometer scale.

A team of LLNL researchers have successfully produced fully synthetic versions of antibacterial minerals, while controlling the purity and reactivity of the compounds (LLNL).

Combatting antibiotic resistance (LLNL)

Exacerbated by the overuse of antibiotics in human and livestock, antibiotic resistant bacteria have resulted in increased mortality and financial strain on society. Certain naturally occurring clays have been shown to have antimicrobial properties and kill antibiotic resistant bacteria. Harnessing the activity of compounds within these clays that harbor antibiotic properties offers new therapeutic opportunities for fighting the potentially devastating effects of the post antibiotic era. A team of LLNL researchers have successfully produced fully synthetic versions of antibacterial minerals, while controlling the purity and reactivity of the compounds. Utilizing hydrothermal reactors, the team has developed protocols to synthesize chemically pure materials that mimic the physical and chemical properties of natural samples.

Drought-proofing California’s water supplies (Berkeley Lab)

A Berkeley Lab study projects that the Sierra Nevada could face persistent low-to-no snow years by the late 2050’s. The Lab’s Surface Atmospheric Laboratory (SAIL) has installed instruments along the headwaters of the Colorado River to provide researchers and water managers with better predictions of usable runoff to inform future reservoir operations. In response to the loss of snowpack, the region will need new strategies to ensure our water supplies. As one solution, Berkeley Lab research is supporting nature-based and engineered solutions to store more runoff through managed aquifer recharge. Further, through its leadership of the National Alliance for Water Innovation, the U.S. Department of Energy’s “‘Manhattan Project’ for water desalination,” the Lab is developing new low-cost, low-energy technologies aimed at enabling use of impaired waters and broader water re-use.

Climate effects on landslides (NASA JPL)

Slow-moving landslides, in which earth moves very slowly over a long period of time, can unexpectedly destabilize, causing catastrophic loss of life and property damage. A team of researchers at NASA JPL analyzing these events in California found that landslides in both wetter and drier regions in the State showed similar sensitivity to sudden extremes in precipitation. The study team used data obtained by the European Space Agency in conjunction with the JPL-Caltech Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) Center for Natural Hazards to gain new insights into the effects of a changing climate on landslides in California.

Fuel-Cell Materials (Sandia)

A team of Sandia materials scientists and computer scientists, along with their international collaborators, has spent more than a year creating 12 new hydrogen storage alloys and modeling hundreds more. This effort demonstrates how machine learning can help accelerate the future of hydrogen energy by making it easier to create hydrogen infrastructure for consumers. By developing a database of hydrogen storage research and thermodynamic values describing hydrogen interactions with different materials, Sandia and its partners demonstrated that machine-learning techniques can model the physics and chemistry of complex phenomena that occur when hydrogen interacts with metals.

NASA Earth Exchange (NASA Ames)

The NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) is a Big Data initiative using NASA Ames’ supercomputers to help scientists work with huge data sets from Earth-observing satellites. Among the many projects of NEX have been initiatives to resolve fine-scale climate and wildfire impacts and to study how they might affect a single town or region, like the Bay Area, today and into the future. The data from NEX projects becomes available in a NASA archive, helping inform policymaker, agency, and other stakeholder decisions about our climate future.

Designed to make the first-ever global survey of Earth’s surface water, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite will collect detailed measurements of how water bodies on Earth change over time (NASA JPL).

Measuring Earth’s waters (NASA JPL)

NASA JPL, as part of an international collaboration, recently launched a satellite that will help scientists around the world better understand Earth’s water resources. Designed to make the first-ever global survey of Earth’s surface water, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite will collect detailed measurements of how water bodies on Earth change over time. The satellite will survey at least 90% of the globe, studying Earth’s lakes, river, reservoirs, and oceans at least once every 21 days to improve ocean circulation models and climate predictions, and to aid in freshwater management around the world.

Science to Reduce Explosive Wildfire Risks; Advance a Circular Economy (Berkeley Lab)

While increased vegetation helped the land and oceans double CO₂ uptake over the last 50 years, historically crowded tree densities and higher temperatures are increasingly producing destructive mega-fires. Berkeley Lab researchers have partnered with UC Berkeley and others to develop a mobile biomass processing unit designed to gasify forest thinnings onsite, aimed at significantly reducing the cost of forest treatment and producing usable gas or liquid fuels. Researchers have also led development of the Functionally-Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES), to model how climate change will affect the regeneration of burned lands and inform reforestation and carbon management strategies. And the Lab’s shared biomanufacturing process demonstration unit is being used by researchers and industry to advance the circular economy by pioneering the conversion of waste CO₂–from forest thinnings, farm and industrial wastes, as well as the atmosphere – back into low-carbon biofuels and commercially valuable, long-lived materials.

Modeling Extreme Weather Events (LLNL)

Numerical models are critical tools in predicting Earth’s climate conditions due to the complex and interrelated processes controlling the weather. Though developing simulations depicting the entire planet’s weather is challenging, global coverage continues to be necessary as local behavior spreads rapidly to distant areas of the globe. Using the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) as the template, an LLNL-led research team has developed a powerful high-resolution new global atmosphere model: the Simple Cloud-Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model (SCREAM). This high-resolution model is 30 times finer than the typical resolution for global climate models. The new model also captures the structure of important weather events, such as tropical and extratropical cyclones, atmospheric rivers, and cold air outbreaks which are poorly captured by typical climate models.

Measuring Sea level rise (NASA JPL)

Home to a suite of sea level height satellites and modeling tools since 1978, NASA JPL measures and predicts sea level rise. A recently published study from a team of NASA's JPL researchers offers new insights into the rate of sea level rise in the U.S., with results showing an average rise of approximately one foot for most coastlines by 2050. The report utilized data from the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite, launched in 2020, the latest in a series of satellite-based ocean height measurement missions conducted in partnership with France’s space program.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Smart Mobility (NASA Ames)

Innovation and diverse aircraft are key to NASA Ames’ response to climate change and wildfires. A small, uncrewed vehicle carrying instruments for wildfire and volcano science observations – developed through a small-business partnership with NASA – is one example. To help researchers devise more such uses for drones, aeronautics staff on the Smart Mobility team are creating a test environment at Ames. Technology they’re developing and integrating can increase pilots’ situational awareness in complex settings such as when fighting wildfires.

Building Resilient Infrastructure

Advancing Hydrogen (Electric Fuel Cell) for a Resilient Grid, Strong Economy (Berkeley Lab)

Use of hydrogen fuel cells can help industries decarbonize and keep the electric grid resilient during periods of low renewable energy production. Berkeley Lab co-leads the U.S. Department of Energy's Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck Consortium, aimed at developing rugged fuel cells that can power long-haul trucks a million miles, and is a leading lab in developing technologies to lower the cost of electrolysis. Berkeley Lab’s geosciences division is also assessing options for underground storage of hydrogen. Through support for California’s ARCHES consortium, the Lab is working with the Governor’s Office and the University of California to compete for a $1.25 billion federal grant to accelerate the use of green hydrogen for heavy-duty transportation and other hard-to-electrify sectors.

Improving Hydrogen Storage Materials (LLNL)

Hydrogen can store surplus renewable power, decarbonize transportation, and serve as a zero-emission energy carrier for sustainable energy use, but storing hydrogen poses great technical challenges. To overcome the challenges of conventional high-pressure or cryogenic storage, LLNL and collaborators have turned to metal hydrides. They provide exceptional energy densities and can reversibly release and take up hydrogen under relatively mild conditions. The scientists found a new way to ease the thermodynamic limitations on hydrogen uptake after initial release using a novel form of a material called alane—or aluminum hydride.

Water desalination (SLAC)

SLAC will collaborate with Stanford University in a research project led by the National Alliance for Water Innovation aimed at developing energy-efficient technologies to decontaminate nontraditional water sources for diverse uses including agriculture and drinking water. The lab will lend its powerful X-rays to studies that could, for example, reveal the physical processes underlying reverse osmosis, which could in turn suggest new materials for clean water technologies.

Tracking methane gas emissions (NASA JPL)

Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases contributing to climate change, resulting from human activity. NASA is independently surveying methane emissions with EMIT and airborne instruments and is also contributing to this via partnership with nonprofit Carbon Mapper. Using these instruments, scientists can use observations of methane plumes to detect leaks in infrastructure from agriculture, landfills, and oil and gas utilities, aiding facilities operators in repairing these leaks.

Reducing Reliance on Diesel Fuels with Hydrogen Ferry (Sandia)

Scripps Institution of Oceanography partnered with Sandia to develop a concept for hydrogen hybrid research vessels that can replace current research vessels powered by diesel engines. In addition to polluting the air and ocean, diesel engines can also corrupt samples and degrade the sensitivity of underwater hydrophones. This collaboration led to $35 million of funding from the California Legislature to build the first hydrogen hybrid research vessel.

Energy Storage, Flexible Demand for an Affordable, Resilient Grid (Berkeley Lab)

As California works to triple the capacity of its electricity grid, Berkeley Lab is leading work to ensure this transition is both resilient and affordable. Berkeley Lab’s Energy Storage Center engages over 200 researchers to support discoveries both in next-generation batteries and in lower-cost long duration energy storage, in support of DOE’s Long Duration Storage Earthshot and the Energy Storage Grand Challenge. This includes storage technology demonstrations and deployments in microgrids to fully utilize renewable sources. The Lab-led CalFlexHub, funded by the Energy Commission, is developing, testing and demonstrating novel software and automation controls to move electric load into non-peak times, making better use of existing generation resources and reducing ratepayer costs.

Improving Energy Resilience Through Longer-Lasting Batteries (SLAC)

Researchers at SLAC and Stanford University may have found a way to revitalize rechargeable lithium batteries, bringing “dead” lithium back to life. The study is one of many aiming to boost the range of electric vehicles and battery life in electronic devices. The new SLAC-Stanford Battery Center will spur collaborative R&D between the lab, the university and industry to bridge the gap between discovering and deploying sustainable energy storage solutions.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory partners with city of Livermore to reduce carbon emissions

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the city of Livermore to collaborate on advancing climate action in Livermore and build community-wide resilience to climate change impacts. The city’s Climate Action Plan (CAP), anticipated to be adopted by the Livermore City Council this summer, will create a roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality (also known as net-zero emissions) by 2045. The CAP also will include adaptation and resiliency strategies to prepare Livermore for a changing climate.

The city is developing strategies to be consistent with state climate mitigation targets and new legislation that requires cities to plan for the impacts of climate change. The goal of the MOU is to present opportunities for collaboration toward advancing climate action in the community of Livermore and beyond. Last year, city officials met with LLNL representatives to discuss cooperating to demonstrate climate technologies at various sites and explore other potential collaborations and funding sources.

LLNL researchers proposed three climate technologies that could be demonstrated at several locations within the city. The first, biogas utilization, focuses on carbon removal from biomass and could be piloted at the sewage plant on the north side of Livermore. The second technology, known as “carbon farming,” functions by increasing decomposing plant material and microbes in soil; in urbanized areas like Livermore, improving the soil in this way can improve carbon uptake. Finally, creating localized, autonomous power microgrids can help assure electricity remains online during wider outages.

Breaking down energy storage barriers (LLNL)

LLNL scientists and collaborators have developed a broad suite of multiscale simulation capabilities to help identify, assess, and overcome microstructural impacts on ion transport in solid electrolytes. Through new research, the team gained a better understanding of the detailed relationship between microstructure and ionic transport properties. Exploring ion transport can help resolve long-standing debates about the importance of microstructure in solid electrolytes. This knowledge is critical to create viable solid electrolyte materials that retain high ionic conductivity.

Net-Zero Planning (Sandia)

Climate change is an urgent and growing threat to national and global security. Sandia is committed to addressing this threat through science, technology, and action. Modeling the way forward in site sustainability, Sandia is developing a plan to achieve net-zero emissions at its Livermore campus, as well as three other related goals: net-zero energy consumption, increased energy resilience, and demonstration of new net-zero technologies. From advancing building efficiency to investing in on-site renewable energy like solar and wind, this effort will incorporate a variety of approaches that not only reduce emissions but also improve laboratory safety and efficiency, while enabling greater resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Environmentally friendly mineral extraction (LLNL)

A new method developed at LLNL improves the extraction and separation of rare-earth elements—a group of 17 chemical elements critical for technologies such as smart phones and electric car batteries—from unconventional sources. Current methods for extracting and separating rare earths from such sources as industrial and electronic waste rely on harsh chemicals, are labor intensive, and are high cost. New research led by scientists at Pennsylvania State University and Livermore demonstrates how a protein isolated from bacteria can provide a more environmentally friendly way to extract these metals and to separate them from other metals and from each other. The method could eventually be scaled up to help develop a domestic supply of rare-earth metals from industrial waste and electronics due to be recycled.

Microgrid Development (Sandia)

Sandia is well known for designing reliable and resilient microgrids for military bases and vital city services. Researchers at the Labs are now working with NASA to design a microgrid for an American moon base. The research underway is also relevant to creating resiliency for communities on Earth, designing systems that are self-sustaining and can continue operating even if a solar panel array is damaged. Sandia’s Distributed Energy Technologies Laboratory is used to study the integration of renewable energy resources, such as wind turbines and solar panels, into larger energy systems.

A person in a Gismo t-shirt standing on a farm in front of cows.

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory building resilient—and cool—farms in Central California

Four years ago, Gustavo Cezar’s team with SLAC’s GISMo lab—which stands for Grid Integration, Systems and Mobility—installed smart fans, solar panels, batteries, electricity meters, and weather sensors at a Central California farm. Together they help to keep the animals cool inside the barn and minimize the farm owner’s electricity costs, specifically by collecting real-time data, such as from the temperature sensors and the local electricity rates. The system then optimizes the operation of the fans and batteries to ensure the fans run when needed and at the lowest possible cost—an approach that has saved the farmer thousands of dollars each month.

$An award recipient shakes hands with the person granting them the award on stage.$

Sandia National Laboratories Celebrating Young Women in STEM

The Sandia Women’s Connection hosted the 30th annual Math and Science Awards. The Labs honored 38 female students from high schools in and around the Livermore Valley. Honorees are nominated by their teachers and awarded for their achievements in either math or science. The transition between high school and college is a critical point for young women as they decide whether to pursue STEM careers. One contributing factor for girls who turn away from STEM is thought to be a lack of female mentors in scientific fields. SWC hopes the awards will inspire juniors to both study STEM majors in college and connect with women at Sandia who can advise and encourage them in those fields.

Responding to Ongoing Disasters

Assessing and Responding to Energy Grid Threats with GISMo (SLAC)

SLAC’s Grid Integration, Systems, and Mobility (GISMo) lab explores the intersection of the power grid, building and ambient intelligence, and human mobility. Building upon the lab’s efforts to integrate and utilize large amounts of energy data, the Grid Resilience and Intelligence Project uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify vulnerabilities in the grid and build capabilities to anticipate and recover from grid events.

Swift HALE (NASA Ames)

Through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, California’s Swift Engineering, with support from NASA Ames, developed a high-altitude, long-endurance uncrewed aircraft to carry scientific instruments and other small payloads. It is designed to stay aloft for 30 days at 65,000 feet, and its first flight provided critical data to prove that design requirements were met. Such aircraft can complement satellites with data on regional scales, and NASA is exploring their use for Earth system science and disaster response. Ames is partnering with the U.S. Forest Service to fly this vehicle in 2023 to demonstrate applications for fire science and management. These platforms have the potential to provide imagery similar to a geostationary satellite. During or after a natural disaster, they could gather real-time data or provide a communications relay.

Observing the SARS-CoV-2 virus (SLAC)

Over the past two years, scientists have studied the SARS-CoV-2 virus in great detail, laying the foundation for developing COVID-19 vaccines and antiviral treatments. Researchers recently used powerful X-rays at SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource to catch the virus severing a critical immunity pathway at the molecular level. Another study using SLAC’s cryogenic electron microscopy technology, or cryo-EM, produced 3D images of RNA from the virus, revealing tiny pockets that play a key role in its ability to replicate. These novel views deepen our understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 operates and could potentially inspire new therapeutic approaches.

Effects of Extreme Heat in a Changing Climate (NASA JPL)

Scientists at NASA JPL are measuring the impacts of drought and rising temperatures using an instrument on the International Space Station called ECOSTRESS, which measures the temperature of plants as they heat up when they run out of water. One recent study that utilized ECOSTRESS data has provided insights into the relationship between California wildfire intensity and water stress in plants measured in the months prior to the fires. Other studies (Las Vegas Heat Stress, Heat Islands Indian Heat Wave) use ECOSTRESS data to explore how built and natural surfaces respond differently to extreme heat in cities such as Las Vegas or Delhi.

A heat map of northern California counties with colories from dark red to light yellow indicating average maximum temperature.

Berkeley Lab Protecting Vulnerable Fresno Neighborhoods from Extreme Heat

Disadvantaged communities bear a great climate and pollution burden, with extreme heat in particular growing in severity, duration, and frequency. Residents of these communities are often among the least prepared to cope with heat waves. A team of Berkeley Lab researchers worked closely with two local community-based organizations in the Fresno area (West Fresno Family Resource Center and Every Neighborhood Partnership) as well as several other local stakeholders to complete two projects focused on advancing climate equity and heat and resilience in several disadvantaged neighborhoods in Fresno, a city with poor air quality that is historically underserved and with most homes built prior to 1980.

Berkeley Lab performed (1) neighborhood-scale modeling results for 17 active and cooling measures to better cope with extreme heat in Fresno; and (2) modeling of integrated packages including energy efficiency measures, electrified space and water heating, solar PV, and electric vehicles in residential sector single family homes. Both projects employed extensive community outreach to better focus research modeling and prioritize measures. Both projects also utilize the CityBES modeling platform for community-scale modeling of residential sector upgrades to improve resilience to extreme heat and to lower CO₂ emissions, and the methodology from these two studies can be applied to other disadvantaged communities. For the heat resilience project ("Cal-THRIVES"), performed for the Strategic Growth Council, Berkeley Lab developed a cooling toolkit that comprised community cooling guides, technology fact sheets, a heat vulnerability index tool, and policy and program recommendations. The toolkit is available online at Cal-THRIVES.lbl.gov.

Collecting and responding to community feedback was a key part of both projects to help understand how residents cope with extreme heat; to better understand resident needs, preferences, barriers to proposed cooling strategies and how they view community cooling centers; and to inform our modeling assumptions on baseline equipment. Outreach methods included community meetings; focus groups, in-home interviews, and phone interviews. Lab researchers found that most residents (60-70%) are not comfortable in their homes in hot or cold weather very often. This is an area to improve equity and provide better indoor comfort and safety during the summer and winter without increasing energy bills. Residents that lack air conditioning units (about 15% of homes) are especially vulnerable to extreme heat.

Among passive cooling measures, window films, roof/ceiling insulation, and cool walls are the among the most effective passive measures overall. Natural ventilation on top floors is very helpful as well (opening windows at night to admit cooler air) but may be limited if outdoor air quality is poor. For active cooling measures, fans improve comfort and can reduce electricity bills; while homes with evaporative coolers only (aka swamp coolers) greatly benefit from getting air conditioners.

Rebuilding with Resilience

Combatting Climate Change by Transforming CO2 (SLAC)

SLAC scientists and their collaborators at Stanford and around the world are developing ways to transform carbon dioxide into something more useful. In one project, scientists at SLAC and Stanford made a new catalyst that works with either heat or electricity. Their work aims to bridge these two approaches to spur chemical reactions with the goal of discovering more efficient and sustainable ways to convert carbon dioxide into useful products. Meanwhile, an international team of scientists used advanced X-ray sources at SLAC and Argonne National Laboratory to discover how a soil microbe could rev up artificial photosynthesis. Their results, which showed a bacterial enzyme converts carbon dioxide into other compounds 20 times faster than plant counterparts, could further efforts to turn carbon dioxide into fuels, fertilizers, antibiotics and more.

E-Nose (NASA Ames)

A rapid and non-invasive screening tool could “sniff out” COVID-19 in patients’ breath with a spaceflight-proven, re-usable electronic nose (E-Nose) technology from NASA Ames. Originally developed for trace chemical detection in space, its sensors are being tuned to detect COVID-19 through breath analysis. Using an instrument attached to a smartphone – and NASA expertise in advanced machine-learning methods – the results from the E-Nose will combine with body temperature and other non-invasive symptom screening to provide more accurate on-the-spot answers. The screening results can then be transmitted via cellphone or WiFi networks.

Earthquake Recovery (Berkeley Lab)

Major earthquakes in California can destroy or damage thousands of buildings and critical energy and water infrastructure. To prepare for future large earthquakes, Berkeley Lab is using its advanced supercomputers to run regional-scale, fault-to-structure simulations of earthquakes and associated infrastructure response to assess the earthquake risk to buildings and energy system infrastructure across the entire Bay Area. The Lab is a partner in the Large-Scale Laminar Soil Box System, the largest facility in the U.S. for assessing how soil around a structure will influence its performance during an earthquake. After a major earthquake, safety assessments and repairs can take many months, disrupting critical operations and delaying economic recovery. To speed up recovery, Berkeley Lab has developed, extensively tested and deployed an optical sensor system that building managers can use to quickly pinpoint the location and extent of damage in critical infrastructure systems.

COVID-19 Assessment Tools (NASA Ames)

A simple-to-use COVID-19 exposure assessment tool (CEAT) was developed by members of the COVID-19 International Research Team, including researchers at NASA Ames. People tasked with making safety recommendations for their organizations, such as businesses, schools, and civic groups, can use the tool to inform their approaches to reducing viral exposure. The tool applies to groups of up to 250 people, both indoors and out, and relies on information users would have available or could reasonably estimate. CEAT addresses mechanisms that are within the organization’s control and communicates a clear and easily interpretable result. Demonstration of the tool, from published studies of COVID-19 transmission events, shows it accurately predicts transmission, outperforming older and more established models. CEAT has been implemented by multiple institutions to improve their safety decision making, including NASA Ames.

A drone flies above a wildfire landscape with the drone operator visible in the foreground.

NASA Ames – Fighting Fire with Drones

The Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations, or STEReO, team at NASA Ames, led by principal investigator Joey Mercer, is designing software and communication tools to help disaster responders work more safely and efficiently. Part of their approach is to scale up the use of unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, also called drones.

Drones are good for capturing thermal images of the landscape below. The heat signatures obtained can help determine where firefighters should establish fire-containment lines dug either by bulldozer or by hand. “The smarter we are about their operations, the smarter capabilities we can create,” said Mercer. “They’re running operations at night. They don’t know what terrain they’ll encounter, or where they can launch their aircraft from. There are so many details about their working environment that are hard to capture in conversation or get lost in translation.”

To help make their tools as useful as possible, Mercer and members of his team join wildland firefighters in the real-world setting of active wildfires. Between the Dixie, Caldor, McCash, and Windy fires, scattered across the state, but concentrated in Northern California, they shadowed drone pilots and incident personnel from three different agencies: CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service.

On the frontlines of the Dixie fire, a drone was sent to look for any traces of fire down a steep gully. The thermal data it collected helped decide whether crews could safely attempt to hold the fire there, or if they should work from the next ridgeline, even if it meant losing more acres to the flames.

The location of nearby piloted aircraft is one example of essential information the STEReO team is working to provide to drone pilots. The challenge of tracking those aircraft is the focus of STEReO’s prototype tool kit for drone pilots.

At the McCash fire, the team deployed the pilot kit for the first time during an active incident. This was an important opportunity, both for the team to test their technology in a true operational setting, and for the firefighters to see it at work. That context easily and efficiently revealed how the tools could be improved in the next round with certain tweaks.

Drone pilots remain fairly rare at wildfire response operations, while the fire community works with partners like STEReO to find the safest, most efficient ways to take advantage of their unique contributions. As California’s fire season burns on, the NASA team will continue its observations in the field, learning from the firefighting experts how STEReO’s tools could help them most.

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Learn more about the economic impacts of each of California's federal labs and research centers, as well as their collective impact to the state. Discover impacts to their region and California, as well as resources, expertise, and success stories from each lab.

Impact by Lab

Our Mission

To engage leading experts in science and technology to advise State policymakers - ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.

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CCST Project

Pandemic Action Plan

Publications

CCST’s Pandemic Action Plan was designed to be responsive. As the Steering Committee and staff convene California policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to understand the challenges faced in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, find their recommendations in ongoing proceedings, white papers, and other publications here.

White Paper | May 2022

California Policy Actions for Pandemic Preparation, Response, and Recovery

Full Report:

Download

Workshop Proceedings | Held June 2022

Reimagining a 21st Century Public Health System: Workshop Proceedings

Full Report:

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Workshop Proceedings | Held October 2022

Designing Operable Privacy Standards for Data Sharing during Public Health Emergencies: Workshop Proceedings

Full Report:

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COVID-19 Workstream News

Aug 18, 2022

(Update: Call Closed) Call for Experts: Designing Privacy Standards to Enable Data Sharing during Public Health Emergencies

Aug 1, 2022

(Update: Call Closed) Exploring Alternative Venues for Services Delivery Such as CBOs During a Pandemic Cycle

Jun 23, 2022

CCST Workshop Envisions a More Holistic and Inclusive Public Health System Informed by COVID-19 Response

Mar 10, 2022

(Update: Call Closed) CCST Seeks Expert Participants for Workshop on “Reimagining a 21st Century Public Health System”

Our Mission

To engage leading experts in science and technology to advise State policymakers - ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.

Projects

Web Search

Social Media Links

CCST Project

Pandemic Action Plan

Overview

CCST’s Pandemic Action Plan is part of a broad effort to bring California’s Science and Technology expertise to bear on some of the state’s most critical challenges—and advise on how California can emerge from disasters more resilient. Over the last year, CCST staff have convened California policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to understand the challenges faced in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

More recently, CCST has invited a subset of the experts who were part of these early conversations to join the CCST COVID-19 Steering Committee. These 6 experts from across diverse fields including the behavioral, epidemiological, and medical sciences help drive the direction and scope of the Pandemic Action Plan of CCST’s Disaster Resilience Initiative.

Goals

Produce actionable policy recommendations for supporting pandemic preparedness, response, and recovery
Connect and facilitate discussions between policymakers and science experts who are thinking about California’s approach to public health
Test multiple models for convening experts across a broad range of scientific disciplines—including the social and behavioral sciences—to rapidly generate novel, cross-disciplinary insights.

Steering Committee:

Michael Kleeman
Steering Committee Chair
UC San Diego
Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PhD
UC Davis
Jesus G. Alvelo Maurosa, PhD
National Science Foundation
Arleen Brown, MD, PhD
UCLA
Richard M. Carpiano, PhD
UC Riverside
Michael Kurilla, MD, PhD
NIH

CCST Staff:

Brie Lindsey, PhD
Project Director
Puneet Bhullar
Project Manager
Rhianna Hohbein, PhD
Project Manager
John Thompson, PhD
Project Consultant
Garbhita Shah
Project Assistant

See Steering Committee Member bios below.

Steering Committee Members

The steering committee oversees the project team, reaches conclusions based on the findings of the project team and writes an executive summary in the case of a study.

Committee Selection and Approval

Selection of appropriate committee members, individually and collectively, is essential for the success of a project team. All committee members serve as individual experts, not as representatives of organizations or interest groups. Each member is expected to contribute to the project on the basis of his or her own expertise and good judgment. A committee is not finally approved until a thorough balance and conflict-of-interest discussion is held, and any issues raised in that discussion are investigated and addressed. Members of a committee will not be publicized until this process is completed.

Careful steps are taken to convene committees that meet the following criteria:

Expertise

The committee must include experts with the specific expertise and experience needed to address the project team's statement of task. A major strength of CCST is the ability to bring together recognized experts from diverse disciplines and backgrounds who might not otherwise collaborate. These diverse groups are encouraged to conceive new ways of thinking about a problem.

Perspectives

Having the right expertise is not sufficient for success. It is also essential to evaluate the overall composition of the committee in terms of different experiences and perspectives. The goal is to ensure that the relevant points of view are, in CCST's judgment, reasonably balanced so that the committee can carry out its charge objectively and credibly.

Screening

All provisional committee members are screened in writing and in a confidential group discussion about possible conflicts of interest. For this purpose, a "conflict of interest" means any financial or other interest which conflicts with the service of the individual because it could significantly impair the individual's objectivity or could create an unfair competitive advantage for any person or organization. The term "conflict of interest" means something more than individual bias. There must be an interest, ordinarily financial, that could be directly affected by the work of the committee. Except for those rare situations in which CCST determines that a conflict of interest is unavoidable and promptly and publicly discloses the conflict of interest, no individual can be appointed to serve (or continue to serve) on a committee used in the development of reports if the individual has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the functions to be performed.

Point of View

A point of view or bias is not necessarily a conflict of interest. Committee members are expected to have points of view, and CCST attempts to balance these points of view in a way deemed appropriate for the task. Committee members are asked to consider respectfully the viewpoints of other members, to reflect their own views rather than be a representative of any organization, and to base their scientific findings and conclusions on the evidence. Each committee member has the right to issue a dissenting opinion to the report if he or she disagrees with the consensus of the other members.

Considerations

Membership in CCST and previous involvement in CCST studies are taken into account in committee selection. The inclusion of women, minorities, and young professionals are additional considerations.

Committee Selection

Specific steps in the committee selection and approval process are as follows:

Step 1: Nominees

Step 2: Provisional Committee

A provisional slate is then approved by CCST's Board. The provisional committee members complete background information and conflict-of-interest disclosure forms. The committee balance and conflict-of-interest discussion is held at the first committee meeting. Any conflicts of interest or issues of committee balance and expertise are investigated; changes to the committee are proposed and finalized.

Step 3: Board Approval

CCST's Board formally approves the committee. Committee members continue to be screened for conflict of interest throughout the life of the committee.

Committee Members' Bios

Michael Kleeman

Steering Committee Chair

Senior Fellow

UC San Diego

Michael Kleeman is a senior fellow at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) working with the School of International Relations and its affiliated Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC), and he is a member of the research faculty at the University of Southern California (USC). In addition, he undertakes selective external consulting efforts with industry and government. His work has historically had a technological focus but in the last ten years he has moved more into the area of private/public partnerships as a means to address societal concerns. These concerns range from environmental and sustainability issues to media (he has worked extensively with public media on critical infrastructure protection, pandemic and disaster preparedness/response). The common thread uniting these is the need for effective engagement of the private sector with support from the public sector to address large-scale issues.

In the last few years, he has worked to compliment his technical and managerial experience with program activities bringing large and diverse constituencies together to explore emerging and transitional issues. He has applied this experience in the areas of disaster preparedness and response with the American Red Cross, pandemic and biological/nuclear threats planning, information sharing across intelligence agencies and working with private, public and academic communities in the area of public media in the 21st century.

His strategy work focuses on bridging specific technologies and their related capabilities and economics with emerging user needs to complex human issues. In the academic environment he serves as the Science and Technology Advisor to the UC Center in Sacramento and the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University. He also serves in other advisory roles to government and industry, including in the areas of ecosystem services and preparedness.

His Board roles include work in the corporate sector with the International Business Leaders Forum/NA and with organizations in the social development world ranging from CGAP to Equal Access and The American Red Cross. He also works with environmental organizations such as The Marine Mammal Center in California.

Formerly a Vice President at The Boston Consulting Group, Director at Arthur D. Little, and a founding executive at Sprint International, Mr. Kleeman has been involved with numerous technology companies in North America as advisor and executive.

Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola MD, PhD

Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine

School of Medicine, UC Davis

Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PhD, is Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities at UC Davis Health and the Director of the Community Engagement Program of the UCD Clinical Translational Science Center (CTSC). He is a past member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council (NAMHC), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Past Chair of the Board of Directors of Mental Health America. He is a member of the National Advisory Council of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) - Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), and board member of the California Health Care Foundation, Physicians for a Health California, and the Public Health Institute. He was appointed to the California COVID-19 Vaccine Drafting Guidelines Workgroup with the charge of drafting guidelines for the prioritization of supplies of available COVID-19 vaccines. Over the last 25 years, he has held several World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) advisory board and consulting appointments and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of WHO’s World Mental Health Survey Consortium (WMH) and its Coordinator for Latin America overseeing population-based national surveys of Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Argentina a regional survey of Brazil, and two surveys of the Medellín, Colombia.

Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola is the author of over 190 scientific publications. He is the recipient of multiple international, national, state, and local awards, including a distinguished member of the Top 10 U.S. Latino Physicians in the May 2016 issue of Latino Leaders Magazine. More recently, he received the Ohtli Award, the highest honor granted by the Mexican government to individuals who have dedicated their lives to improving the well-being of Mexicans, Mexican Americans and other Latinos in the US and abroad and In September 2020, he received the Ohtli Award, the highest honor granted by the Mexican government to individuals who have dedicated their lives to improving the well-being of Mexicans, Mexican Americans and other Latinos in the US and abroad. On September, he received the 2021 Lifetime Award for the Advancement of Latino Behavioral Health from the National Latino Behavioral Health Association (NLBHA), the 2021 National Award of Excellent in Research by a Senior Investigator from the National Hispanic Science Network. Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola is currently serving as co-chair of the Steering Committee of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Assessing Meaningful Community Engagement in Health and Health Care.

Jesús G. Alvelo Maurosa PhD

Engineer/Science Analyst

Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation,
Directorate of Engineering, National Science Foundation

Jesús G. Alvelo Maurosa, PhD, is an Engineer/Science Analyst for the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation in the Directorate for Engineering at the National Science Foundation where he provides data and scientific analysis across the division. He also works in various research solicitations such as the Disaster Resilience Research Grants, an initiative with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Navigating the New Arctic, an NSF 10 Big Idea Initiative. Jesús also serves as the division partnership liaison where he supports federal, international, and industrial collaboration within the division. He also worked in the Directorate for Engineering COVID-19 RAPID Proposal Working Group

Prior to his current position, he was an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow (2017-2019) in the division of Engineering Education and Centers where he worked on standardizing and visualizing the Engineering Research and Centers portfolio. Jesús also served as a science advisor for two gubernatorial candidates in Puerto Rico in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Currently, he is a National Academy of Science and Engineering New Voices Fellow. In addition to his policy experience, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering researching how viruses and bacteria spread through sneezes and cough. In 2016, Jesús obtained his Ph.D. in microbiology from University of Massachusetts Amherst where he investigated how bacteria convert non-edible food crops into biofuels. He received his B.S. from Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras in 2008. In 2020 he received the Special Act Award for Coordinating the Data for the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation COVID-19 RAPID proposals, for 2021 the Special Act Award for the development of the Science Analyst Manual and in 2021 he was the recipient of the National Science Foundation Director’s Award for Superior Accomplishment (Group) for exceptional achievement in broadening engagement between indigenous communities and researchers, achieving inclusive and meritorious Arctic science through the Navigating the New Arctic Program.

Arleen Brown MD, PhD

Professor of Medicine

Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research,
UCLA

Arleen Brown, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research (GIM and HSR) at the University of California, Los Angeles. She serves as Chief of GIM and HSR at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Brown’s research focuses on improving health outcomes, enhancing health care quality, and reducing disparities for adults with chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. She has been a Principal Investigator on studies to improve diabetes care for older adults and minority patients and research to understand clinical, socioeconomic, and health system influences on chronic disease management in under-resourced communities. She is currently a Principal Investigator on several projects, including a study to improve cardiovascular outcomes among persons with a history of trauma who are living with HIV and AIDS, research to reduce disparities in blood pressure control for patients in the Los Angeles County safety net system, and studies to mitigate disparities in COVID-19.

Dr. Brown also co-directs the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the CTSI’s Community Engagement and Research Program (CERP). In these roles, she works with teams of community and university partners to ensure that community and research priorities align, promote research in community settings, and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise between all stakeholders.

In 2020, Dr. Brown was selected to lead the California site of the national Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID Disparities. The statewide Share, Trust, Organize, Partner: the COVID-19 California Alliance (STOP COVID-19 CA) effort includes 11 universities and their networks of community partners. In this role, she is working to ensure the integrity of COVID-19 clinical trial studies and standards for protection of voluntary participants while enhancing diversity and inclusive participation in COVID-19 vaccine, prevention, and therapeutic studies. Dr. Brown also co-leads the state of California Get Out the Vaccine (GOTV) campaign, which uses canvassing, telephone calls, and texting to promote vaccine registration in Los Angeles County and the Central Valley.

Richard M. Carpiano PhD

Professor of Public Policy and Sociology

UC Riverside

Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Riverside.

Carpiano is a public and population health scientist and medical sociologist who studies how social factors, such as socioeconomic status, race-ethnicity, social connections, and community conditions, contribute to the physical and mental health of adults and children. His research focuses on an extensive range of health issues and populations, spanning the life course and US and international contexts. Some of his current and past projects examine social determinants of child undernutrition, childhood asthma, early child development, HPV vaccination, smoking and alcohol use among adults, women's health-related behaviors, substance use and sexual risk among gay men, suicide ideation among immigrants, and life expectancy/mortality risk among high status individuals.

The most recent arm of Carpiano’s research program investigates social, behavioral, attitudinal, and policy factors underlying vaccination uptake and coverage (and refusal or delay) in the US, Canada, and Denmark. As part of this work, Carpiano presently serves as a member of the Lancet's Commission on Vaccine Refusal, Acceptance, and Demand in the United States.

Dr. Carpiano's solo- and co-authored publications have appeared in forums such as the American Journal of Public Health, American Sociological Review, Health & Place, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science & Medicine, and Sociology of Health & Illness. He is a former editor (with Brian Kelly of Purdue University) of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, the leading journal for medical sociology scholarship, and serves as an elected board member of the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science.

In addition to his academic research and teaching and mentoring activities, Carpiano believes strongly in the importance of public outreach to help inform non-academic audiences regarding research findings and pressing public issues. As such, he engages extensively with national and international news media (print, radio, television, podcasts) on a wide range of public health and sociological topics. Most recently, he has provided commentary on a variety of issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including health disparities in cases and deaths, anti-COVID-19 activism and misinformation, public communication, uptake of vaccines (including potential barriers), sociological impacts, and response policies.

Carpiano received his Ph.D. (2004) and M.Phil. (2003) in Sociomedical Sciences (with concentration in Sociology) from Columbia University, his M.P.H. (2001) from Case Western Reserve University, and M.A. (1998) and B.A. (1997) in Sociology from Baylor University. From 2004-2006, he was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to arriving at UCR, he was a faculty member at the University of British Columbia (2006-2017).

Michael Kurilla MD, PhD

Director of Clinical Innovation

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Michael Kurilla MD, PhD is the director of the Division of Clinical Innovation at NCATS. In this capacity, he oversees the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program, which supports innovative solutions to advance the efficiency, quality and impact of translational science, with the ultimate goal of getting more treatments to more patients more quickly. Prior to joining NCATS, Kurilla served as the director of the Office of Biodefense Research Resources and Translational Research within the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), where he focused on translational efforts toward infectious disease product development, including vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, with emphasis on biodefense and emerging infectious disease threats. Prior to joining NIAID in 2003, Kurilla was an associate director for infectious diseases at Wyeth. He also worked in antimicrobials at DuPont and on clinical microbiology and molecular pathology at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center.

Kurilla received his M.D. and his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Duke University. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School and completed a residency in pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He received a B.S. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

Meetings

Workshop — Reimagining a 21st Century Public Health System

June 14 and 17, 2022

CCST's workshop where we will synthesize some of the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and collectively build a vision for a 21st Century Public Health System.

Who do we now understand should be considered part of the public health system?
What capabilities do we want to build into this system to ensure that we are more resilient during the next pandemic?

Learn More

Our Mission

To engage leading experts in science and technology to advise State policymakers - ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.

Projects

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CCST Project

Pandemic Action Plan

Overview

Pandemic Action Plan News

Jun 23, 2022

CCST Workshop Envisions a More Holistic and Inclusive Public Health System Informed by COVID-19 Response

Calls for Expertise

Aug 18, 2022

(Update: Call Closed) Call for Experts: Designing Privacy Standards to Enable Data Sharing during Public Health Emergencies

Nominate

Aug 1, 2022

(Update: Call Closed) Exploring Alternative Venues for Services Delivery Such as CBOs During a Pandemic Cycle

Nominate

Mar 10, 2022

(Update: Call Closed) CCST Seeks Expert Participants for Workshop on “Reimagining a 21st Century Public Health System”

Nominate

Our Mission

To engage leading experts in science and technology to advise State policymakers - ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.

CCST Project

Fumigant Use in California and an Assessment of Available Alternatives

Process

Study Team

Steering Committee

Authors

Steering Committee Members

Committee Selection and Approval

Expertise

Perspectives

Screening

Point of View

Considerations

Committee Selection

Step 1: Nominees

Step 2: Provisional Committee

Step 3: Board Approval

Committee Members' Bios

Gerald Holmes Chair

Director

Alan Kolok Co-Chair

Professor Emeritus, Ecotoxicology

Christine Carroll PhD

Associate Professor, College of Agriculture

Julie Guthman PhD

Professor, Community Studies and Sociology

Author Bios

Christopher Simmons PhD

Professor and Chair of Food Science and Technology

Jenny Broome PhD

Independent Consultant

Peer Review

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CCST Project

Fumigant Use in California and an Assessment of Available Alternatives

Overview

Calls for Expertise

Related News Stories

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People

Our Mission

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CCST Project

The Human Health Benefits of Improving Forest Health in California

Overview

Updates and Notes

Sept. 20, 2023

Calls for Expertise

Related News Stories

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Peer-Reviewed Primer

Key Challenges for California's Energy Future

Process

Project Team

Authors

Steering Committee

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People

Our Mission

Projects

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Peer-Reviewed Primer

Key Challenges for California's Energy Future

Overview

Overview of California’s Energy Transition

1. Electrification and Grid Development

2. Utility-Scale Solar and Wind Development