Local governments need leaders with STEM training as they increasingly face challenges from new tools like artificial intelligence and try to address issues such as climate resilience and election security. However, there is often a gap between policymakers, who understand the unique needs of their communities, and STEM professionals, who are not trained in how […]

STEM professionals of all career stages, whether well-established or just starting out, have a tremendous opportunity to engage with their communities. From public health to affordable housing, environmental conservation to arts and culture, scientists bring a unique insight valuable to local policy issues both within and outside of the scientific arena. However, the pathway to […]

Read more about California's recent landmark proposal SB 1047 for ensuring safe and responsible development of large-scale artificial intelligence systems (AI) discussed in a recent virtual event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Carnegie).

This year marks the 40th anniversary of California Coastal Cleanup Day! This annual tradition has successfully diverted millions of pounds of plastic debris and waste from the ocean. ESAL volunteer Cynthia Prieto-Diaz is hosting a Cleanup Day event in San Leandro, CA. Register here to join. Event Highlights: ESAL is a fiscal sponsor of a grant […]

ESAL chats with Karen Gardner, economist, researcher, and policy analyst for better healthy retail public health policy.

ESAL hosted a panel discussion titled “Evidence-Driven Solutions to the Opioid Epidemic”.  The panelists provided a deeply informative and multi-faceted view of one of the most serious public health challenges in the United States.

“Policy entrepreneurs” often fly under the radar, developing policy ideas to solve problems over decades and surfacing with solutions at just the right moment. Researchers, engineers, consumer advocates, clinicians, civil servants, or community organizers—policy entrepreneurs are innovators who pull together ideas and supporters to accomplish what they could not on their own: a system for […]

Local Fish & Wildlife Commission member Kendra Zamzow shares how her care for the local habitat led her to testify to the National Marine Fisheries Service about double fishing time.

ESAL chatted with Cindy Hua, board member of Downwinders at Risk and chair of the Particulate Matter Education Committee, about her work on empowering residents to engage with the civic process and her journey into local activism.