What does the science say? Students learn to translate research

Graduate student Paige Kouba discussed her research with California legislators as part of a program to train scientists to better communicate with policy-makers.

Kouba met with Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar Curry (D-Winters) and other legislative leaders at the state Capitol recently. Her goal is to inform science policy coming out of Sacramento.

“It was so exciting to share about my work and the importance of tree responses to climate change,” Kouba said. “Learning about how the smallest trees will handle water stress in the future helps us to support, maintain and manage California forests.”

Kouba, a doctoral candidate in the lab of Andrew Latimer in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, made her pitch as part of the California Science Translators Showcase. The event was part of this year’s Science & Technology Week at the Capitol, hosted by the California Council on Science and Technology. Kouba was among 13 grad students and postdoctoral researchers from across California selected for the program.

For five weeks leading up to the event, communications experts with CCST worked with Kouba and other students, coaching them on how to share their work with policymakers and other diverse audiences. Their goal was to provide general background and the latest updates in scientific knowledge as a critical component of decision-making.

"We were all honored to meet the policymakers at the Showcase,” Kouba said. “I learned how much they really value our help in creating policies for healthy ecosystems and healthy communities across the state."

About the California Council on Science and Technology

Assemblymember Mike Fong, D-San Gabriel Valley, sponsored the Translators’ Showcase portion of the event.

Since 2018, the California Council on Science and Technology has been training early-career scientists to communicate “impartial, nonpartisan advice to decision makers, to meet other amazing researchers and to proudly represent their home institutions.” It is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization established by the legislature in 1988 to provide objective advice from California's scientists and research institutions. The council reports to the governor, legislature and other state entities when asked for independent assessment of public policy involving science and technology.

CCST also offers a one-year fellowship program for Ph.D. graduates. Scientists work for one year in Sacramento, directly serving decision-makers in the state legislature and executive branch. More here. Deadline to apply for this year’s program is March 1.