Month: March 2020

During a Science Policy Group meeting last fall, Deborah Moore (Western States Senior Campaign Manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists) led a workshop on science advocacy and communication. Goals of the meeting included:

• learning the key elements of a good policy brief
• highlighting considerations that go into the style, tone, and audience of writing a policy memo
• practicing how to write a policy brief
• pointing out resources for understanding the current policy situation

You may download a .PDF of her slides below.

Save the date for the Big Give! For twenty-four hours starting on Wednesday, March 11th at 9 PM PST, you can join the Science Policy Group’s fundraising blitz! Your donation will help us advocate for science funding, execute science communication workshops, and run more speaker events.

Donate here!

Donor Contests

Make your donation go further by donating strategically during a Big Give Contest. Each $10 donation counts as an entry to help us win even more funding!*

• 9 AM – 11 AM, 3/12: Random non-alum donor ($3,000)
• 10 AM – 12 PM, 3/12: Random alumni donor ($3,000)
• 11 AM – 1 PM, 3/12: Random faculty/staff donor ($3,000)
• 3 PM – 4 PM, 3/12: Random graduate student donor ($3,000)
• 6 PM – 7 PM, 3/12: Random alumni donor ($3,000)

Social Media Contest
2 PM – 3 PM, 3/12: Random post on Twitter or Instagram that fills in the blank, “Thank you Cal for _____________________” (must include #CalBigGive and #CalSciPol)

*If you’re interested in donating >$10, consider making separate $10 donations to boost our chances of winning!

Much thanks,
The Science Policy Group at Berkeley Exec Team

In the third event of our Science Meets Science series, we organized a panel discussing the scientific ethics of balancing public safety and personal privacy when using AI and facial recognition technology.

We explored questions such as:

• San Francisco, Oakland, and other cities have banned police use of facial recognition software. What is the trade-off this creates between public safety and personal privacy?
• What rights should be codified in law to protect our digital identities? Is there existing legislation that can be modified to address privacy issues in this technology-focused era?
• What responsibility do developers of AI software, such as facial recognition, have to ensure that their products do no harm?

Our distinguished panelists were:

• Brian Hofer, Chair and Executive Director of Secure Justice and Chair of Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission
• Hany Farid, Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and the School of Information at UC Berkeley

The conversation was moderated by Sarah Dean, a PhD student in EECS at UC Berkeley.

Listen to a recording of the full public discussion:

(Edit on 3/20/2020) You can also watch the full public discussion here: