Supervisory Economist

As part of the requirements for the DOC-SES Candidate Development Program, Connie has taken a developmental assignment at the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration as Director for the Office of Technology Policy. Her assignment begins May 9, 2005, and will end September 30, 2005.  Prior to this assignment, Connie served as Supervisory Economist to a staff of six professionals assigned to the Policy Research & Analysis group of the Economic Assessment Office. This group is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data and statistics on the program; tracking and reporting on annual performance measures and results for the Advanced Technology Program; developing, managing, and supervising economic contract studies and policy reports; collecting, writing, and disseminating project success stories; developing technology, policy, and private finance subject area expertise including fuel cell research, nanotechnology, homeland security, angel investing, and venture capital; and determining the eligibility of foreign-owned companies to participate in the program.

Connie has led major program evaluation studies and policy reports for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) to advance the understanding of technology-based innovation, including most recently A Toolkit for Evaluating Public R&D Investment: Models, Methods, and Findings from ATP’s First Decade (NIST GCR 03-857). The Toolkit provides a comprehensive overview of evaluation methods and how to apply these methods, using findings from 45 evaluation studies commissioned by ATP as examples, and can be a useful resource to practitioners responsible for the evaluation of the impact of their publicly-sponsored R&D programs.

For many years Connie has tracked developments in counterpart programs in foreign countries, and established longstanding national and international relationships with embassy and foreign officials. Based on this work, she was nominated and selected into the European Union Visitors Program and visited Brussels in December 2003 to investigate the possibility of collaborative efforts between ATP and the European Union to co-fund early stage technology development projects between American and European firms and organizations.

Connie was presented with the U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award in 2000, the highest honorary recognition at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, for implementing a streamlined process for determining the eligibility of U.S. subsidiaries of foreign-owned companies to receive ATP awards. Connie has served as a voting member of several Source Evaluation Boards to recommend qualified R&D projects for ATP funding and is a Business Specialist for funded projects mainly in the areas of materials processing and advanced chemistry.

Connie actively participates in ATP and NIST-wide activities. Currently, she is leading the effort by ATP senior managers to formalize ATP Succession Planning. She was a key member of the ATP Proposal Kit team to improve the content and flow of the February 2004 Kit and led the Organizational Efficiency Strategic Planning Team for the 2003 ATP Strategic Retreat. Connie also served as Special Assistant to the Director of ATP (1995-1996). She is an active member of the NIST People Council (2004-present), the NIST Committee for Women (President 1999-2004), and the Association of NIST Asian Pacific Americans. She is a Coach for a member of the NIST New Leader Program (2003-present), and also served on the NIST Institutional Review Board on Human Subjects (1999-2001). She has co-authored articles for the Civil Rights Office’s News Notes publication, served on the editorial review board of ATP’s newsletter publication, and has been invited to speak at several NIST-sponsored employee events.

Connie has a master’s degree in International Management and Comparative Politics from the University of California, San Diego’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics, with honors, from Wellesley College. She completed doctoral studies in Political Economy and Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Political Science. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked for three years at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), formerly known as The First Boston Corporation, a premier Wall Street investment banking firm. As a Financial Analyst for the Federal Finance and Mortgage Finance Groups for CSFB, she structured, valued, and analyzed a variety of financing options for Federal agencies, foreign governments, commercial banks, and thrift savings banks.

Publications

• Chang, ATP Eligibility Criteria of Foreign-Owned, U.S.-Incorporated or U.S.-Organized Companies: Legislation, Implementation, and Results (NISTIR 6099A), March 2004.
• Campbell, Chang, and Wang, University Participation in the Advanced Technology Program, and Effect on R&D Project Outputs, in 2003 ASA Proceedings.
• Chang, Shipp, and Wang, The Advanced Technology Program: A Public-Private Partnership for Early Stage Technology Development, in Venture Capital Journal, Fall 2002.
• Chang, ATP Eligibility Criteria for U.S. Subsidiaries of Foreign-owned Companies: Legislation, Implementation, and Results, Connie Chang, ATP/NIST, January 1998
• Chang, A New Lexicon and Framework for Analyzing the Internal Structures of the U.S. Advanced Technology Program and its Analogues Around the World , Journal of Technology Transfer, VOL. 23 (2): 67-73.
• Chang, “The Advanced Technology Program Compared with Technology Development Programs Abroad,” ATP Staff Report, August 1993.

Date Created: July 1996
Last Updated: June 13, 2005

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