Dan Chang is currently the Area Executive for National Security, responsible for JPL’s national security portfolio, and managing the infrastructure that hosts JPL’s approximately 600 TS/SCI-cleared personnel. Prior to this assignment, Dan has held roles as project manager, deputy project manager, project chief engineer, and payload system engineer on multiple government programs performed by JPL.

Dan’s previous roles at JPL also include Assistant Director for Astronomy/Physics, manager of the Artemis/Human Landing System (HLS) Support Office, Project Element Manager for laser metrology and large optics on the Advanced Mirror Development

(AMD) program, Principal Investigator for the Mars Technology Program (terminal- descent guidance LIDAR development), and Cognizant Engineer for multiple flight subsystems, including waveguide nonlinear-optic and fiber-optic subsystems on the Stellar Interferometer Mission (SIM), mid-IR laser source development for LIDAR applications as part of the NASA Instrument Incubator Program, and the Deep-Space One (DS-1) attitude control system, leading that team from mission conception through subsystem delivery and launch. Dan joined JPL in 1991 working at first on control of the High Precision Scan Platform for the CRAF/Cassini spacecraft(s), then subsequently delivering the Image Emulation Unit (IEU) for Cassini.

Dan holds a PhD in electrical engineering (photonics) from UCLA, and B.S. and M.S. degrees in Aeronautics/Astronautics (dynamics and control) from MIT.