CSPO News

CSPO Winter 2025 Newsletter

The CSPO Team is embracing a vibrant winter season filled with engaging talks, workshops, and exciting ongoing research projects. Stay tuned!

Featured Update

Join us for the New Tools for Science Policy seminar on February 11th, 2025 where experts will open up ways for researchers and policy practitioners to engage with the full variety of technological and social processes for managing genetically engineered (GE) organisms. Speakers include Emma Frow (Associate Professor at ASU, and Dalton George (Postdoctoral Research Scholar at ASU), both jointly appointed in School for the Future of Innovation in Society (SFIS) and the School of Biological & Health Systems Engineering (SBHSE). Explore how they make the case for a broader lens – social containment – to be included in discussions about the deployment of GE organisms. We look forward to seeing you there!

In Person Registration

Virtual Registration

CSPO Team Updates

CSPOS’s 25th Anniversary

On December 10, 2024, S&T policymakers, academic leaders, and emerging policy professionals gathered to envision future outcomes. They met amid enthusiasm for policies advancing translational research, regional innovation, and domestic manufacturing, while addressing urgent domestic and global challenges. Discussions focused on new models of use-inspired, community-led research and the evolving roles of government, philanthropy, academia, and industry over the next 25 years. Key questions included what problems S&T policy should address, for whom, and with whom.

CSPO in the (policy) News

The CSPO participatory Technology Assessment team, notably Nich WellerMichelle Govani, and Mahmud Farooque authored a “Day One” memo with the Federation of American Scientists. Read here: Supporting Federal Decision-Making Through Participatory Technology Assessment

Participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) Activities

AGU Fall Meeting Listening Sessions and Townhall

In December, Amanda BorthMara Karageozian, and Emily Hostetler hosted three interactive listening sessions at the 2024 American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual meeting in Washington, DC, to inform CSPO’s NSF-funded public engagement initiatives on carbon dioxide removal (CDR). These include a Workshop Series for building community capacity for Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal and planning for a future Research Center for Participatory Governance of Climate Intervention Technologies. The sessions saw participation from a diverse cross-section of research, education, engagement, and policy experts from NOAA, NREL, PNNL, ASU, Duke University, USAID, DOE, NCAR/UCAR, Museum of Life and Science, International Rice Research Institute, and COMPASS. Building on CSPO’s growing portfolio of projects on climate intervention research, Mahmud Farooque was invited to participate in a town hall on the recent National Academies Report, A Research Agenda Toward Atmospheric Methane Removal. Following the presentation of the key findings from the report, Mahmud joined experts from OSTP, DOE, and American University to discuss reactions to the report and share updates on research and policy efforts in this area.

The Climate Conundrum: A Public Discussion on the Role of Carbon Dioxide Removal

On September 28, 2024, 54 community members gathered for a public forum at the Museum of Science, Boston to share their perspectives on climate mitigation through Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies. Participants were placed in small groups and guided through multiple sessions where they watched informative videos, discussed technologies, scenarios, and stakeholders, and made a plan for climate mitigation. The event was co-presented by ASU’s Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, the University of Calgary, and the Museum of Science, Boston, with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The team plans to host the forum again in Vancouver, BC with local partners early this Spring.

More information on the project can be found here: https://cspo.org/research/cdr/ and more information on the forum can be found here: https://www.mos.org/events/climate-conundrum

Community Dialogue on Shared Principles in Vinton, Louisiana

Amanda Borth, Emily HostetlerMara Karageozian, and Vishrudh Sriramprasad traveled back to Vinton, LA on October 19, 2024 to host the last of three community dialogues for co-developing shared principles for community collaboration for Project Cypress, a department of energy funded demonstration hub for direct air capture of carbon dioxide. The day-long dialogue was held at the Vinton RV Park Recreation Building with diverse members of the local community, DOE and Project Cypress representatives.  Participants shared their hopes and concerns about the project and discussed how the various partners should engage with the community as it is being developed. The team will use the perspectives collected during all three dialogues to inform the development of a larger public forum on the same topic later this Spring.

Newest CSPO Team Members

CSPO is growing! We’re excited to welcome our newest additions to the team.

Molly Maher

Molly Maher is an undergraduate History and Psychology double-major from University of California, Santa Cruz currently living and working in Washington, DC through the Winter 2025 UCDC Program. This quarter, she is interning with CSPO to further the data organization and analysis for the Participatory Technology Assessments on Carbon Dioxide Removal technologies.

Connect with us!

Future newsletters will provide updates on these and numerous other S&T policy-oriented projects underway at CSPO.

For more on CSPO’s programs and projects, visit to our website and connect with us on LinkedIn.