From California Council on Science and Technology
CCST Launches California AI Science Residency Program on Frontier AI Safety with Appointment of First AI Science Advisors to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and Department of Technology
The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) announced the launch of its AI Science Residency Program, a new initiative that places highly qualified AI experts directly within California state government agencies. The two inaugural AI Science Advisors were placed at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the California Department of Technology (CDT) to advise on frontier AI safety.
The placements come as California and other states work to govern the most advanced AI systems responsibly to reduce risks to public health or safety. By embedding independent AI experts within Cal OES and CDT, CCST is helping state leaders apply rigorous scientific expertise to evaluate emerging AI risks, analyze safety incidents, support implementation of new AI safety laws and improve frontier AI risk management. The advisors began their residencies in June 2026...
As AI Science Advisor to the California Department of Technology (CDT), Justin Norman, PhD, will advise senior leadership on how developments in frontier AI development and governance impact key definitions and thresholds in California frontier AI safety legislation. He will contribute to recommendations on frontier AI safety to the California Legislature and coordinate with a wide range of stakeholders, including government agencies, the academic research community, federal labs, the private sector, and community and nonprofit organizations, among others.
Justin is an AI/ML engineer who brings 20+ years of applied technical and executive leadership experience across both the government and the private sector. He previously served as acting Portfolio Director and Technical Director for Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning at the Defense Innovation Unit. He was also the CTO/Deputy Director of the United States Indo-Pacific Command Joint Mission Accelerator Directorate, appointed as a member of the Department of the Navy’s Science and Technology Board federal advisory committee, and continues to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps reserve. In his senior leadership roles in industry, he led more than 100 scientists, machine learning engineers, and product managers as CTO and Head of AI at Vera AI, Vice President of Data Science, Analytics and Data Products at Yelp, Director of Research and ML/AI Cloudera Fast Forward Labs, and Global Head of Cisco’s Enterprise Data Science Office, among others...
Justin Norman graduated with his doctorate from the I School in 2026 and he served on the Digital Security, Safety, and Trust Search Committee and as Technical Director of the Public Interest Technology Clinic.
