As the Commission's Chief Economist, Michelle Connolly makes her home in OSP but, on economic issues, reports directly to the Chairman. She joined the FCC in August 2008 on leave from Duke University, where she is an Associate Professor of Economics and Director of EcoTeach.

This is Dr. Connolly's second one-year appointment as the Commission's Chief Economist. Her first was during the academic year 2006-07. She has been teaching at Duke University since 1997. Before that, she spent a year as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Dr. Connolly’s research interests include innovation, intellectual property rights, international trade, economic growth and development, and telecommunications policy, with particular attention to media issues. She has published in the Journal of Economic Growth, the Journal of Development and Economics, the Journal of Economic History, the American Economic Review, and the Review of Industrial Organization.

At Duke University, she has taught advanced graduate macroeconomics and international trade, intermediate undergraduate macroeconomics, and an honors research workshop for seniors.
 
Dr. Connolly holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University. She also received her B.A. in Economics, with Distinction in the Major, from Yale. When earning that degree, she graduated Summa Cum Laude, was made a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and was awarded the William Massee Prize for Excellence in Economics.