Month: June 2020

New policy memos tackle facial recognition and EV charging

Posted on by sciencepolicy
Image source: Pixabay

We’re excited to announce the release of two new policy memos that our group has been working on! You can find both, along with other publications from SPG members, on our eScholarship page.

Establishing Privacy Advisory Commissions for the Regulation of Facial Recognition Systems at the Municipal Level

Chris, Vetri, Morgan, Eric, Kim, and Regina tackle an issue that has taken on newfound importance amid recent calls to reform police departments: local regulation of facial recognition systems. They focus on the development of privacy advisory commissions and identify best practices to ensure their effectiveness, including: a clear mandate and responsibilities; cooperation, financial support, and regulatory authority with and over counterparts such as law enforcement; and representation from technology experts and community members. Read more here.

Expanding access to EV fast chargers in California’s low-income communities

Chris explores a growing challenge that local governments are facing – despite decreasing costs of electric vehicles, their widespread adoption is inhibited by poor charging infrastructure. He lays out several following policy recommendations to ensure that California’s marginalized communities have access to electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, centered on building codes, curbside charging stations, and an EV charger rebate program. Read more here.

Our Statement of Solidarity: Science Policy Group at Berkeley

Posted on by sciencepolicy

To members of the Science Policy Group at Berkeley and others in the UC Berkeley community:

Like many of you, we are heartbroken by the tragedies of the last week, all of which have taken place against the background of a long-standing and continued crisis in our country: systemic police brutality and racial violence inflicted upon Black Americans. George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery are the latest victims in a centuries-long assault against the Black community.

As early career scientists, we recognize that science is political. Chemistry is weaponized into tear gas. Machine learning and facial recognition software are leveraged to surveil and control communities. Advances in medical science are rooted in the unethical treatment of Black Americans, such as the use of HeLa cells and the Tuskegee syphilis study. To ignore the role that science plays in exacerbating racial inequity is an act of re-writing scientific history.

This reality is not new. We recognize SPG’s previous failure to explicitly connect our role as scientists with our responsibility to dismantle racist structures in our community. We acknowledge that we do not have all the answers and wish to use our privilege as researchers at UC Berkeley to address these systemic issues. As an organization, we commit to the following steps and encourage our peers to do likewise:

  • Work on and advocate for issues relating to policing and race at UC Berkeley and in the Berkeley community
  • Approach the question of whom science and science policy are meant to benefit and serve, and whom they have historically served and marginalized
  • Focus on issues of marginalization of under-represented groups, particularly Black Americans, in our advocacy efforts, and build networks with groups across campus led by graduate students of color

These efforts require all of SPG working together to succeed. So, we urge you to keep us accountable as we refocus SPG’s priorities, and we welcome the input of our community members, particularly those who have been disproportionately harmed by police brutality and racial violence. We encourage members to join the #urm-advocacy channel in our Slack as we continue to work on these issues as a group.

Please stay safe and take care of each other. We are here to support you in any way that we can.


Executive Board, Science Policy Group at Berkeley