The Intellectual Property (IP) study group assembled by CCST at the request of the Legislature has a major challenge: that of helping to streamline IP policy in the state, and recommending ways for California to implement the first set of consistent, statewide IP guidelines in the country. Co-chair Stephen Rockwood, executive vice president of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), thinks the group of 17 leaders from academia, industry, national laboratories, and venture capital is the right group for the job.

"I am hopeful that we will be able to help the state develop a coherent set of policies governing the use of IP," Rockwood said. "We must recognize that California may not be the most cost effective location to do business. Hence our policies on IP must be simple, user friendly, and conducive to timely action. These are challenges for any state, but perhaps more so for a state of our size and complexity."

Rockwood has been executive vice president at SAIC, a national defense contractor based in San Diego, since 1986 and a member of the Board of Directors since 1996. He is also the former associate director for Defense Research Programs, Los Alamos National Laboratory. Rockwood co-chairs the IP study group with Alan Bennett, associate vice chancellor for research at UC Davis, ensuring that the group is led with the joint perspective of industry and academia.

"It is important to have the voice of industry represented within CCST as a partner to the research understanding presented by the university members," said Rockwood. "Many problems facing California today are technically complex. There is a diversity of technologies and interested research institutions that need to be considered and balanced to arrive at the most effective, integrated solution."

Rockwood received a M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the California Institute of Technology. His awards and honors include the Air Force Scientific Achievement Award, 1971, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory Distinguished Performance Award, 1979. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Physical Society, the New York Academy of Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He sits on the Board of Trustees of Sharp Memorial Hospital and has been a CCST Fellow since 1999.

"I would hope that CCST can become recognized as the objective 'technical body of choice' for helping the state analyze difficult problems where science and technology are critical to the solution," said Rockwood. "For the IP study, as well as other CCST projects, we must always strive to find the best technical solution, best in meeting the needs of the customers and residents of the state."