Graduate student Andrew Dawson (Tolbert group) has been named a 2022 CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellow, serving on the Senate Housing Committee.
Dawson, a native Californian, studies materials that increase the energy stored in lithium-ion batteries in Professor Sarah Tolbert’s group. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2016 and his master’s degree in chemistry from UCLA in 2018.
Now celebrating its 13th year, the California Council on Science and Technology (CSST) Science & Technology Policy Fellows program places Ph.D. level scientists, engineers, and social scientists in Legislative and Executive Branch offices, training them for careers in public policy while helping to equip California’s decision makers with science-savvy staff.
The sixteen Ph.D. scientists arrived in Sacramento in November 2021, where they participated in the CCST annual policy training program — a crash course on the process, history, and landscape of California policymaking, as well as skills development and communications workshops to prepare them for the intense, dynamic pace of the Capitol policy world.
Fellows placed in the California State Legislature work on policy committees and in member offices in the California State Senate and Assembly. Fellows placed in the Executive Branch work in California State Agencies and in offices of the Governor. The program is made possible by the State of California as well as continued philanthropic support.
About the California Council on Science and Technology
CCST is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established via the California State Legislature in 1988. They 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. Discover how CCST makes California’s policies stronger with science at www.ccst.us.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penny@chem.ucla.edu.
