California's State Legislature is looking for a few good scientists and engineers
to trade their lab coats for business suits, and swap molecules and equations for committee hearings and bill analyses!
Applications for the
2017 Class of our CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellowship open on
Tuesday, December 1st -- and
we'd like you to help us get the word out.
CCST
plays a unique role in Sacramento: connecting the Executive Branch and
the State Legislature with clearly communicated science from a trusted,
impartial
network of scientists and engineers. Unique to CCST is our Science & Technology Policy Fellowship
program,which enlists scientists and engineers for
a year of public service and government leadership training working as staff in the California State Legislature.
The Fellowship trains scientific thinkers to be policy-savvy -- and helps equip California's lawmakers with science-savvy staff.
Each year, our Fellows make a difference within California's State Capitol,
while developing their skills in one of the most dynamic policy arenas in the world:
- Our departing 2015 Fellows staffed 30 pieces of legislation, analyzed 69 bills and resolutions, and organized 10 informational hearings. And five of these Fellows have since been hired as staff in the Legislature or state agencies.
- Read our blogposts to hear about the Fellowship experience from the Fellows themselves. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and learn how the Fellowship has shaped the careers of newly minted scientists as well as tenured professors.
- The Fellowship is open to scientists holding a PhD degree, professional engineers, medical doctors, and those holding equivalent degrees in veterinary medicine, dentistry, and certain social sciences. About 10 fellows are accepted each year from around the country, with degrees from more than 30 institutions including Stanford, Cornell, Duke, Emory, and University of California campuses.
California has one of the largest economies in the world,
and so many
critical issues facing our state today - water, energy, and public
health, just to name a few - require a deep understanding of science.
That's why
California's policies are stronger with science, and that's why
CCST created the Fellows program with the support of the
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and many others -- to help the California State Legislature access some of the talent and staff they need to make informed decisions.