California Council on Science and Technology
Dr. Susan Hackwood
Executive Director
Susan Hackwood is currently Executive Director of the California Council on Science and Technology, and Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. CCST is a not-for-profit corporation comprised of 150 science and technology leaders sponsored by the key academic and federal research institutions in the California, which advises the state on all aspects of science and technology including stem cell research, intellectual property, climate change, energy, information technology, biotechnology and education.
Dr. Hackwood received a Ph.D. in Solid State Ionics in 1979 from DeMontfort University, UK. Before joining academia, she was Department Head of Device Robotics Technology Research at AT&T Bell Labs. In 1984 she joined the University of California, Santa Barbara as Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and was founder and Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Robotic Systems in Microelectronics.
In 1990, Dr. Hackwood became the founding Dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. At UCR, she oversaw the development of all research and teaching aspects of five degree programs to the Ph.D. level. Dr. Hackwood's current research interests include science and technology policy, distributed asynchronous signal processing and cellular robot systems. Dr. Hackwood has published over 140 technical publications and holds seven patents. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and the AAAS and holds honorary degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and DeMontfort University, UK. From 2003-5 she was a Visiting Scholar at the Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles. In the fall of 2005 she was a visiting scholar at the California Institute of Technology.
Dr. Hackwood has worked extensively with industry, academic and government partnerships to identify policy issues of importance to the country's citizens. She is also an active participant in regional and state economic development. With a strong interest in science and technology policy, Dr. Hackwood is currently involved with science and technology development in California, the U.S., Mexico, Ireland, Taiwan and Costa Rica. She has been appointed as an Honorary Member of the Comision Asesora en Alta Tecnologia for Costa Rica and the California-Mexico Commission on Education, Science and Technology. In 2003 she was appointed a member of the AAAS Committee on Science Engineering and Public Policy and is the 2007 Chair. From 2000-2 she was a member of the AAAS Engineering Delegate and is currently Chair of the Section on Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering. She is a member of the IEEE Spectrum Editorial Board. She has also served on the Board of Directors and consults on new product development for several electronics companies.
As Executive Director, she holds a non-voting seat on the Board and Council.