NRC Report Recommends Expansion of Professional Science Masters Programs

(7/16/08) Professional Science Master's (PSM) degree programs merit further support and expansion, according to a recent National Research Council (NRC) report by the Committee on Enhancing the Master's Degree in the Natural Sciences. The report drew in part upon the experiences of the California State University System (CSU), which has engaged in a systemwide effort to develop PSM programs, and previous research by CCST.

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California Board of Education Adopts Higher Math Standards

(7/10/08) On July 9, the California State Board of Education voted 8-1 to test all eighth graders in algebra, replacing the General Mathematics Test and making California the first state to require algebra at such an early level. CCST was one of the organizations called upon to comment at the Board meeting.

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Press Release: Proposed Algebra Standard the Right Measure to Meet

(7/9/08) Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed a landmark shift in California's middle school mathematics testing, asking the State Board of Education to test every eighth grader in the state in Algebra I and dispensing with the General Mathematics Test. "The state has been moving towards a goal of preparing every eighth grade student in Algebra for some time," said CCST Executive Director Susan Hackwood. "Acknowledging that this is the standard to which California's students should be held is the right thing to do."

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Retiring CCST Sacramento Director Honored at Meeting

(5/29/08) CCST honored retiring Sacramento Director Annzell Loufas at its May 2008 meeting, where she received commendations from both the Legislature and Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi as well. "It is a great pleasure to honor and commend Ms. Loufas," said Garamendi. "On behalf of the people of the State of California, I applaud her for her distinguished achievements as Director of the CCST Sacramento Office."

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NAE Identifies Engineering Challenges for 21st Century

(2/25/08) The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has identified fourteen priority areas awaiting engineering solutions in the 21st century. "California's scientific community is arguably at the forefront of most if not all of these issues, which concern serious challenges to our citizens' standard of living in the future," said CCST Board Member Lawrence Papay.

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New Fellow Continues 20-year Relationship with CCST

(2/12/08) David Goodstein, a founding member of the CCST Board in 1988, has been appointed a CCST fellow, and offers some perspectives on how CCST has changed in the past twenty years.

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WIB Toolkit Nears Completion

(2/12/08) An innovative website designed to make a wide range of materials available to Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) is nearing completion, and represents a significant resource in an accessible format, according to early reviews.

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Interview with Jean-Louis Gassée: Are We Prepared for the Future?

(2/12/08) Council member Jean-Louis Gassée discusses some of the principal science and technology related policy challenges facing California.

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CCST Names New Council Chair and Vice Chair

(2/12/08) CCST has also appointed five new Council members, five new Board members, ten new Fellows, and two new members of the California Teacher Advisory Council.

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California HIT gets Boost with FCC Grant to UC

(2/12/08) In November, the University of California, in partnership with a coalition of government agencies, health care providers and others, received a three-year, $22 million award from the Federal Communications Commission to help develop a new California Telehealth Network.

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Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity Pose Challenge for California

(2/12/08) Biodiversity issues on land and in the ocean involve many layers of state and federal policy. CCST's February Council meeting will focus on state and federal cooperation on the oceans and climate change related issues.

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CCST Offers Comments on Ocean Health Agreement

(2/12/08) "We commend the Governors of California, Oregon and Washington for moving forward aggressively on the important challenges of our ocean's health through the development of this plan," said CCST Council Chair Charles Kennel.

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CCST Marks 20th Anniversary

(2/12/08) Congressman Sam Farr and Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi will both address the Council at its February 2008 meeting, when CCST will mark its 20th anniversary.

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CCST Board Member Bruce Alberts Named Editor-in-Chief of Science

(12/17/07) Bruce Alberts, who has served on the CCST Board of Directors since 2006, has been selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to serve as editor-in-chief of its journal Science. The appointment takes effect in March 2008.

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Arthur Kornberg, Nobel Laureate and CCST Fellow, Dies at 89

(11/05/07) CCST Fellow Arthur Kornberg, MD, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1959, died on October 26 of respiratory failure at Stanford Hospital. He was 89. Dr. Kornberg shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Severo Ochoa, MD for discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of DNA. He was also instrumental in building the Stanford Department of Biochemistry into a world-class department.

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CCST Board Chair Karl Pister Receives Kerr Award

(10/29/07) CCST Board Chair Karl Pister was presented with the Clark Kerr Award for Distinguished Leadership in Higher Education by the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, in a campus ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 25. The award recognizes extraordinary and distinguished contributions to the advancement of higher education.

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CCST Testifies at Congressional Hearing on Education

(9/28/07) On Friday, September 21, CCST Board Member Warren Baker, President of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and CCST Executive Director Susan Hackwood testified before the U.S. House Education and Labor Sub-Committee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness at a hearing held as part of the Competitiveness Crisis Council Summit at Cal Poly Pomona. The two-day summit focused on California's continuing need for a workforce trained in science and math, and the economic consequences of failing to meet this demand.

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NSB Draft Report Offers National Roadmap to Address STEM Education Woes

(9/05/07) The National Science Board (NSB) has released a draft report of a long-awaited plan to address challenges with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The report's findings resonate strongly with CCST's recent work on science and math teacher preparation in California and with its recommendations for a California response to similar issues raised in the National Academies report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm."

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National Academies, CCST to Partner on State S&T Advice Convocation

(7/24/07) The National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, the National Association of Academies of Science, and the California Council on Science and Technology are co-sponsoring a convocation on science and technology policy at the state level. The convocation, State S&T Policy Advice: Issues, Assets, and Opportunities, will be held at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center, Irvine, CA on October 15-16, 2007.

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Annual Report 2006-2007: A Climate for Change

(7/17/07) There has been a crucial shift in the public sphere, a new willingness to look beyond easy fixes. We have reached consensus on the existence and the seriousness of the shortcomings in our science and math education system, on the challenges facing our water supply and on the need for a long-term energy strategy that meets our growing needs and is less harmful to the environment. There is not yet consensus on how to address these problems, but the recognition that they must be addressed now is a major and encouraging step forward.

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Senator Feinstein Cites CCST Report in Support of Innovation Legislation

(4/26/07) Senator Dianne Feinstein cited CCST's Critical Path Analysis of California's Science and Mathematics Teacher Preparation System yesterday in a statement of support for a bipartisan measure to strengthen federal investments in educational opportunities for math, science, engineering and technology.

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California Faces Critical Shortage of Math and Science Teachers

(3/5/07) California faces a persistent and critical shortage of fully prepared math and science teachers and lacks the capacity to produce enough math and science teachers to meet future needs, according to a new report released today by the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) and the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning. It concludes that the shortage of fully prepared math and science teachers is undermining the quality of the state's education system and hampering the ability to produce college graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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CCST Fellow Duane McRuer Dies at 81; Chairman of Systems Technology, Inc.

(2/2/07) CCST Fellow Duane McRuer died of prostate cancer January 24, 2007 at his home in Manhattan Beach, California. He was 81. McRuer was Chairman of Systems Technology, Inc. (STI), from 1993 until his death, and was President and Technical Director, STI, 1957-1993. He has also been a Regent's Lecturer at the University of CA Santa Barbara (UCSB) and the 1992-93 Hunsaker Professor at MIT.

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Cal TAC Member Gives Teacher Advice in UCLA Magazine

(1/25/07) A member of the California Teacher Advisory Council (Cal TAC) was recently given a prominent feature in the UCLA Magazine. Juliana Jones, a mathematics teacher at Montera Middle School in Oakland and member of Cal TAC since 2005, was invited to contribute a feature on how students, new teachers and working professionals in other fields with comparable skills can carve out a career teaching math and science.

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CCST Director of Programs Named AAAS Fellow

(1/23/07) Donna Gerardi Riordan, Director of Programs at the California Council on Science and Technology, has been awarded the distinction of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). As part of the General Interest in Science and Engineering section, Riordan was elected as an AAAS Fellow for leadership in and significant contributions to science policy, public understanding of science, and science education at the state, national and international levels.

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CCST Urges Reconsideration of Federal Innovation Legislation

(1/19/07) In 2006 several Congressional bills were proposed to improve the United States' science and technology competitiveness, which ultimately converged in the bipartisan National Competitiveness Investment Act (S 3936). However, despite considerable bipartisan momentum, the bill was not acted upon before the end of the congressional session. CCST has sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the California congressional delegation urging Congress to take up the important issues addressed in the NCIA.

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State Needs to Initiate Aggressive Campaign for Science and Technology Talent, Say Task Forces

(1/9/07) The California Council on Science and Technology, at the Governor's request, convened four task forces chaired by corporate leaders to respond to the major recommendations in the National Academies' report Rising Above the Gathering Storm. In response, CCST has prepared a list of "actionable" items with both short-term and long-term components to reassert California's unique attributes as the premier S&T leader in the nation.

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CCST Welcomes 10 New Council Members

(1/2/07) In January 2007, CCST welcomed ten new Council members. The Council is an independent assembly of corporate CEOs, academicians, scientists and scholars of the highest distinction. The purpose of the Council is to provide independent and objective findings on public policy issues involving science and technology that affect the State of California.

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CCST Report Helps CSU Launch New Graduate Science Programs

(12/15/06) The Professional Science Master's (PSM) Degree is an innovative two-year graduate program created to meet industry needs by providing math, science and engineering graduates the skills essential to excel in today's high-growth technical industries. PSM programs also feature internships, which provide essential industry-based experience and exposure. In 2005, CCST released a study, "An Industry Perspective of the Professional Science Master's Degree in California," which explored potential interest in the new degree programs among key high-tech industries throughout the state.

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Bringing the National Labs into Focus: "Focal Point" Series to Highlight Lab Contributions

(12/10/06) CCST has launched the first of a new publication series designed to highlight important technological contributions from California's federal laboratories.

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CCST Board Member To Advise Stanford University on Federal Research Policy

(11/1/06) CCST Board Member Arthur Bienenstock has stepped down from his post as vice provost and dean of research at Stanford University to assume the newly created position of special assistant to the president for federal research policy.

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CCST Launches Redesigned Website

(10/7/06) CCST has largely completed a comprehensive overhaul of its website, making its content more readily accessible to readers. At present most of our content (including all our publications) has been transferred to the new site; over the coming weeks, we will complete the process and move all content from the old website to the new.

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Governor Signs National Laboratory Contract Bill

(9/1/06) SB 1629, enacting the Federal Laboratory Contracting Act, modifies the existing state's contracting procedures and policies to enable California to contract with Department of Energy and NASA federal funded laboratories.

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Council Member Max Weiss Dies, 83

(8/8/06) Max Tibor Weiss, CCST Council member since 2001, died June 10 at age 83. He was Retired Vice President and General Manager of the Electronic Systems Division of the Northrop Grumman Corporation.

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Governor Asks CCST to Develop S&T Strategy

(7/27/06) CCST received a request from the Governor asking us to help California respond to the National Academies report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm. The report contains a strong message that the nation's science and math education and economic environment need serious attention in order to safeguard the future prosperity of the nation.

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