Abstract: How will manufacturing, recycling and disposal of nanotechnologies potentially impact the environment, the health of workers and communities' health? The CNS Speaker Series welcomes Sheila Davis, Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, to discuss lessons learned from the environmental crisis caused by the electronics industry and how these lessons can be applied to the regulation of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies.

Over the past 10 years, Sheila Davis has played a valuable role at SVTC and in shaping environmental policy in the high-tech industry. She is one of the co-founders of the Computer TakeBack Campaign and sits on its steering committee. In 1996 she researched and developed the first electronic recycling legislation to reach the California Governor’s desk and in 1999 spearheaded the first pilot programs in the country to collect and recycle electronic waste from the residential curbside. Sheila’s research, advocacy, and policy development led to a successful ban on hazardous electronic waste from the California municipal landfills and the subsequent passage of the first electronic recycling legislation in the nation. Sheila holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California and served as a journalist, state legislative aide and community development specialist before joining the staff of SVTC.