CCST Senior Fellows have taken an increasingly active role in the council's activities. They serve as principal investigators for major studies, members of state review and advisory panels and councils, and speakers at legislative briefings and hearings. Senior Fellows also serve a vital role as peer reviewers for CCST studies and reports, ensuring that CCST's research is as accurate and representative of current scientific knowledge and expertise as possible. The CCST Senior Fellows continue to be a valuable and unique resource to the state and the nation.

Senior Fellows involvement in CCST research, studies, panels, hearings, projects and other activities include:

Briefings for the Legislature, Legislative Staff and State Agency Leaders

Prompted by the state's energy crisis, CCST recognized the importance of assuming a proactive role in understanding the state's lifeline resource issues. During a legislative briefing in May 2001, CCST Council Member and Senior Fellow Charles Kennel, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, UC San Diego and Former Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, addressed the issue of climate change and its potential impact on California's water resources. In subsequent briefings, CCST Senior Fellows continue to play a significant proactive role in addressing California's lifeline infrastructure and other issues of importance to policymakers such as the energy-water nexus and climate change adaptation.

In October of 2005, CCST focused its council meeting on the topic of health information technology (HIT) and its implications for the state and policymakers. CCST Senior Fellow Molly Coye, M.D., founder and CEO of the Health Technology Center, served as a keynote speaker to address this topic.

CCST Senior Fellows are currently involved in an initiative on Personalized Medicine/Health. This initiative is working with the state's Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, that has convened key stakeholders from the public and private sectors to solicit input, to study the risks and opportunities afforded by personalized medicine (PM) and to determine the implications for the state.

Professional Science Master's Project

In 2004, the California State University Chancellor Charles Reed requested that CCST help a coalition of 17 CSU campuses that were seeking to establish or enhance a Professional Science Masters (PSM) program with the assistance of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation by conducting a qualitative study of interest in the PSM with a select group of California's high-tech business leaders. Under of the guidance of the CCST Education Committee and with considerable assistance in shaping and review, CCST Senior Fellows played a significant role in the producing of the report, An Industry Perspective of the Professional Science Master's Degree in California. (January 2005)

Intellectual Property Study Group

In 2004, California took the nation's lead in stem cell research with the approval of Proposition 71 and the creation of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). At the request of the Governor's Office and the Legislature, CCST assembled an intellectual property study group to design and recommend a comprehensive set of intellectual property policies for the state. Two reports, Policy Framework for Intellectual Property Derived from Stem Cell Research in California, August 2005, and Policy Framework for Intellectual Property Derived from State-Funded Research, January 2006, were the result of the study group's work. CCST Senior Fellows served as co-chairs and members of the intellectual property study group.

Nanotechnology Project

Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology are having major societal implications. In 2004, CCST completed a report, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology: Opportunities and Challenges in California, the culmination of a request by the Joint Committee on Preparing California for the Twenty-first Century, the California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency, and the Semiconductor Industry Association to identify the opportunities and challenges afforded to California in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The project included in its team Senior Fellows Arthur N. Chester and Robert Spinrad, co-chairs of the nanotechnology oversight team, Michael Darby, Warren C. Cordner Professor of Money and Financial Markets, UC Los Angeles; Paul Jennings, emeritus professor of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Caltech; William Lee, chairman, LinkAir Communications; Kumar Patel, professor of Physics at UC Los Angeles, and Lynne Zucker, professor of Sociology and Policy Studies, UC Los Angeles.

Critical Path Analysis of California's Science and Technology Education System

CCST Senior Fellows served as principal investigators and members of the Critical Path Analysis Committee that analyzed the strengths and weaknesses in California's science and technology educational system and provided recommendations for policy strategies to help increase participation by Californians in the science and technology workforce in order to maintain California's position as a global leader in high-technology. The study resulted in a 2002 report, Critical Path Analysis of California's Science and Technology Education System.

Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Reviews

The electric industry restructuring legislation enacted in 1996 and 1997, Public Resources Code Section 25620.9(a), required the California Energy Commission (CEC) to designate an independent Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) review panel. In November 1998, the CEC requested that CCST create an independent panel to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the PIER program. Per legislation, the evaluation included a review of the public value of the PIER program. Seven CCST Senior Fellows served as members of the PIER Program Independent Review Panel. The Panel completed two reports, a preliminary report in March 2000 and a final report in March 2001. These reports served to provide guidance to PIER program management.

In September 2002, Senate Bill 1038 required that the CEC convene a second panel to further review and critique the PIER program. The CEC requested that CCST again create an independent review panel to report to the California Legislature and the Governor. California Public Interest Energy Research Independent PIER Review Panel Report was released in March 2004, and California Public Interest Energy Research Independent PIER Review Panel Final Report was submitted in June 2005. CCST Senior Fellows served as members of the second PIER Independent Review Panel.

Counter Terrorism Advice

In 2002, the Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the Senate Office of Research requested that CCST identify expertise and resources to help the state address the issues involved in counter terrorism preparedness. In its ongoing effort to be a rich source for providing linkages and technical support, CCST developed a partnership with the National Academies that is strengthening and broadening the expertise that will be made available to the state.

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