_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
CITIZENSHIP: United States; France | ADDRESS: 817 East End Ave. 1R, Pittsburgh PA 15221 | CELLPHONE: (724) 759-4575
EMAIL: christophecombemale@gmail.com | WEBSITE: christophecombemale.com | LINKEDIN: Profile
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
EDUCATION Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) August 2016 – May 2022
M.S. in Public Policy and Management (PPM) August 2015 – May 2016
First in Class – Heinz College MSPPM
MSPPM Accelerated Master’s Program
B.S. Ethics, History and Public Policy (EHPP) August 2012 – May 2015
First in Class – Ethics, History and Public Policy
University and College Honors
Science and Humanities Scholars Program
Honor Societies: Phi Kappa Phi; Phi Beta Kappa; Phi Alpha Theta
CURRENT ROLES
Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA March 2023 - Present
Assistant Research Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, College of Engineering
Research Associate, Block Center for Technology and Society, Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy
I develop empirically supported theoretical and applied models and frameworks to anticipate implications of technology change for organizational and process structure and workforce skill needs. My research helps identify points of leverage for optimal technology implementation and provides insights for the future of work. In my faculty capacity, I currently advise six doctoral students and three master’s students.
Valdos Consulting | Pittsburgh, PA September 2022 - Present
CEO and Principal Consultant
I am the owner and principal of Valdos Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in operations management, engineering and economic methods to deliver scalable technoeconomic solutions for government and private sector clients. Our team includes experts on workforce needs, systems and industrial engineering, risk and supply chain management, survey design, process optimization and strategy for emerging and critical technologies such as robotics and AI. I have supported and advised technology adoption, operations improvement, organizational adaptation, and workforce strategy for multiple $1B+ firms, local and federal government entities, national nonprofit organizations and R1 academic institutions.
National Network for Critical Technology Assessment | Pittsburgh, PA September 2022-Present
Research Lead: Workforce
I serve as an expert contributor on labor and technology issues for an NSF-funded pilot program seeking to develop a National Network for Critical Technology Assessment. My work touches labor and equity outcomes for developments in EVs and Biopharmaceuticals. Objectives of the program include development of assessment capabilities for critical technologies for U.S. competitiveness and presenting insights to U.S. legislators.
JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS
Combemale, Whitefoot, Ales, and Fuchs. August 2021. “Not all Technological Change is Equal: How the Separability of Tasks Mediates the Effect of Technological Change on Skill Demand.” Industrial and Corporate Change.
Jung, Laureijs, Combemale and Whitefoot. April 2021. “Design for Nonassembly: Current Status and Future Directions.” Journal of Mechanical Design 143(4): 040801.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Fuchs, Combemale, Whitefoot, and Glennon. Forthcoming 2021. “The ‘Weighty’ Manufacturing Sector: Transforming Raw Materials Into Physical Goods.” in National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, edited by Andrews, Chatterji, Lerner, and Stern. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
WORKING PAPERS
Ales, Combemale, Fuchs, Whitefoot. “How It’s Made: A General Theory of the Labor Implications of Technological Change.”
Combemale. “New Technology, New Hierarchy? Implications of Product and Process Innovations for the Division of Problem Solving.”
Combemale and Fuchs. “Sorcery on the Production Line: How Embedded Knowledge at the Technical Frontier can Give Workers a Role in Innovation.”
SKILLS AND EXPERTISE
Economics and Statistics
Innovation, organization, labor economics; structural economic modeling and theory development; econometrics; statistical programming and data analytics (R, Stata, Python); survey design and implementation; risk analysis
Engineering and Technology
Systems and industrial engineering; process modeling; operations and supply chain management; automation; semiconductor and automotive design and manufacturing; workflow integration and distributed systems management for manufacturing, design and software development
General Skills
Convex and linear optimization; formal mathematics (real analysis, topology); team and project management; organizational design; historical and qualitative research methods; policy analysis; interdisciplinary communication; public speaking; French (native); Spanish (fluent)
PROJECT AND ADVISORY EXPERIENCE
Communicating Findings and Recommendations
Briefed U.S. Trade Envoy on production reshoring during official visit to CMU\
Developed and presented strategic report to senior leadership of American Institute of Manufacturing Photonics and liaisons to Air Force Research Laboratory on workforce needs and production reshoring
Developed and presented internal strategic reports for advanced manufacturing research partners
Partnership Development
Initiated and led novel research partnerships with nine major firms in optoelectronic semiconductor manufacturing across U.S., U.K., E.U., China, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea
Negotiated confidential data use agreements and analytical deliverables with each partner. Each partner provided dozens to hundreds of person-hours of data collection and other research collaboration
Strategic Decision Support and Model Development
Developed custom engineering process cost models for industry partners with personalized analysis.
Advised and supported CEOs and other senior leaders of industry partners in major corporate decisions: Deciding where to locate new production (U.S. or China); Reorganizing design teams for new product architecture; Evaluating cost competitiveness of alternative designs; Setting level of production automation
AWARDS
Inaugural Freeman & Nelson Prize | Industrial and Corporate Change, for “Not All Technological Change is Equal” 2023
Best Papers TIM Division| Academy of Management, for “Not All Technological Change is Equal” 2022
Editor’s Choice | Industrial and Corporate Change, for “Not All Technological Change is Equal” 2021
Best Paper Award | Industry Studies Association, for “Not All Technological Change is Equal” 2019
Honorable Mention | NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program 2017
Dean’s Fellowship | Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering 2016
Academic Merit Scholarship | Carnegie Mellon Heinz College 2015
National Prize | NASPAA Student Simulation Competition 2015
Edwin Fenton-Preston Covey Award for Outstanding Achievement | EHPP 2015
Senior Honors Fellow | Carnegie Mellon University Dietrich College 2014
PRESENTATIONS & PROCEEDINGS
Combemale. “Measuring Skill Availability and Anticipating Skill Demand”
Boston University Questrom School of Business (October 2023)
Yale School of Management (September 2023)
US Department of Labor Future of Work Policy Group (August 2023)
US Interagency Group on Automotive Communities: Data and Analytics Subgroup (August 2023)
2023 Industry Studies Association Conference. Columbus, OH.
Combemale. “New Technology, New Hierarchy? Implications of Product and Process Innovations for the Division of Problem Solving.”
2022 Industry Studies Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA.
2022 Labor and Employment Relations Association Annual Meeting. Virtual.
Session Organizer: “What Makes the Jobs of Tomorrow? The “What” and “Why” of Labor Outcomes from Technological Change.” Allied Social Science Association Annual Meeting (ASSA) (January 2022).
Combemale. “U.S. Technology Leadership Can Bring Back Production Jobs.”
Presentation to U.S. Trade Envoy Katherine Tai During Official Visit to Carnegie Mellon University. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (September 2021).
Session Organizer: “What Makes the Jobs of Tomorrow? The “What” and “Why” of Labor Outcomes from Technological Change.” Academy of Management Annual Meeting (August 2021).
Combemale, Ales, Fuchs and Whitefoot. “How It’s Made: A General Theory of the Labor Implications of Technological Change.”
2022 Academy of Management Annual Meeting. Seattle, WA.
2022 Industry Studies Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA.
2022 Allied Social Science Association Annual Meeting. Virtual.
2021 Invited Presentation to Boston University Technology Policy Research Institute. Virtual.
2021 Academy of Management Annual Meeting. Virtual.
2021 Consortium on Competitiveness and Cooperation (CCC) Doctoral Conference. Virtual.
2021 Industry Studies Association Conference. Virtual.
2021 Labor and Employment Relations Association Annual Meeting. Virtual.
Combemale. “Transformation, Participation and Dislocation: Labor Outcomes of Technology Change in Optoelectronic Manufacturing.”
Presentation to Session Organized by Keystone Research. Industry Studies Association Annual Conference. Virtual. (June 2021).
Combemale, Whitefoot, Ales, Fuchs. “Not all Technological Change is Equal: How the Separability of Tasks Mediates the Effect of Technological Change on Skill Demand.”
Invited Presentation with Erica Fuchs to Freeman Friday Seminar Series, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex. Virtual. (October 2021).
Wharton Innovation Conference. Virtual. (April 2021).
Combemale, Whitefoot, Ales, Fuchs. “Accelerating U.S. Competitiveness in Integrated Photonics: Quantifying Workforce Training Needs.”
Invited Presentation to American Institute of Manufacturing Photonics (January 2021).
Combemale, Whitefoot, Ales, Fuchs. “Not all Technological Change is Equal: Disentangling labor demand effects of automation and parts consolidation.”
2019 Atlanta Conference on Science & Innovation Policy. Atlanta, GA
2019 Academy of Management Annual Conference. Boston, MA
2019 Labor and Employment Relations Association Annual Meeting. Cleveland, OH
2019 Best Paper Presentation | Industry Studies Association Conference. Nashville, TN
2018 Industry Studies Association Conference. Seattle, WA.
2018 Technology Management Policy Consortium Annual Meeting. Delft, Netherlands
Ales, Combemale, Fuchs, Kovak, Ozdenoren, Whitefoot. “The Sources of Capital-Labor Substitutability.”
Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Dynamics, Mexico City (June 2018). Laurence Ales Presenting.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teaching Assistant, “Global Competitiveness: Firms, Nations & Technological Change” 2022
Carnegie Mellon University
Proctored exams and provided grading and feedback on graduate and undergraduate student essays and exams for course providing students with an overview of academic literature on the origins and dynamics of innovation, firm and national comparative advantage and institutional and organizational structures for innovation management. Provided supplemental tutoring on analytical approaches for written assignments and proper academic writing style.
Eberly Center Future Faculty Program 2019-2022
Carnegie Mellon University
CMU program for future faculty development through teaching observations and evaluations, teaching workshops and seminars.
Doctoral Seminar: “The Peer Review Process” 2021
Carnegie Mellon University
Designed and delivered seminar to doctoral students on peer review process, paper revision strategies and norms across engineering, management, and economics literatures.
Course Design Assistant, “Technology and the Future of Work” 2020
Professor Laurence Ales, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business
Designed lectures and supplemental course materials to introduce MBA students to engineering process-based cost modeling and applications of engineering process models to measuring cost and skill demand implications of technological change. Provided additional support linking MBA lecture topics to technological changes in industry.
Teaching Assistant, “Research In Training” 2020
Professor Laurence Ales, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business
Provided supplemental historical and technical expertise to students working with historical operations data in undergraduate research course. Developed training protocols, led onboarding procedures, and provided analytical support.
Teaching assistant, “Quantitative Entrepreneurship” 2019
Professor Erica Fuchs and Professor Jeremy Michalek, Carnegie Mellon University
Provided supplemental instruction (lectures, office hours) as well as tutorial writing and grading for a course providing engineers with a multidisciplinary mathematical foundation for integrated modeling of engineering design and enterprise planning decisions in an uncertain, competitive market. Topics include economics in product design, manufacturing and operations modeling and accounting, consumer choice modeling, survey design, conjoint analysis, optimization, model integration and interpretation, and professional communication skills. Working with a real-world sponsor, students apply course principles to a term-long team project for a new product or emerging technology, developing a business plan to defend technical and economic competitiveness.
Guest Lecturer, “Global Competitiveness: Firms, Nations & Technological Change” 2019
Professor Erica Fuchs, Carnegie Mellon University
Designed and delivered guest lecture on technology change and labor skill demand.
Guest Lecturer, “Special Topics: Statistical Models for Engineering Analysis & Design” 2018
Professor Mitchell Small, Carnegie Mellon University
Two guest lectures for undergraduate-level engineering students on probability density functions, cumulative distribution functions and Bernoulli and Poisson distributions.
Teaching assistant, “Policy and Politics: International Perspective” 2016
Professor Silvia Borzutzky, Carnegie Mellon University
Provided supplemental instruction (lectures, recitations) as well as grading and feedback on policy memos to graduate students.
FORMER ROLES
Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA May -August 2022
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Engineering and Public Policy
Conduct independent empirical and theoretical research funded by NSF Sci-SIP at intersection of economics and engineering. Focus on implications of technology change for skill demand and organizational and industry structure, with attention to the relationship between technical features and labor and organizational outcomes.
Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA January 2020 - August 2022
Research Assistant Manager
Trained and managed fourteen undergraduate and graduate RAs across multiple semesters to perform digitization work on historical dataset. Worked with undergraduate students in research training course and paid research assistants.
Allegheny County Department of Human Services | Pittsburgh, PA May-August 2015
Analytics Intern
Improved criminal recidivism risk screening tool at Allegheny County Jail. Developed model of student cumulative absence within Pittsburgh Public Schools. Produced internal report on social worker turnover and compensation, leading to department-wide revisions in overtime policy.
Vesuvius USA | Pittsburgh, PA May-August 2013
Commodities Purchasing Intern
Developed leading indicator models for price, supply of primary materials in refractory production, informing material purchasing strategy.
COURSEWORK
Economics and Strategy:
Technology, Capital, and Labor (Laurence Ales, Brian Kovak)
Global Competitiveness: Firms, Nations and Technological Change (Erica Fuchs)
Macroeconomics (Ali Shourideh)
Mathematics for Economists (Bertan Turhan)
Economics of Technology Change (Ashish Arora, Sharon Belenzon, Wes Cohen)
Structural Models and Quantitative Methods (Hui Li)
Advanced Econometrics (Robert Miller)
Introduction to Econometric Theory (Edson Severnini)
Perspectives on Industrial R&D (David Hounshell)
Ph.D. Microeconomics (Brian Kovak)
Organizational Design and Implementation (David Krackhardt)
Operations, Engineering and Other Technical:
Foundations of Operations Management (Sridhar Tayur)
Topics in Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (Danial Davarnia)
Special Topics: Additive Manufacturing for Engineers (Jack Beuth)
Quantitative Entrepreneurship: Analysis for New Technology Commercialization (Erica Fuchs and Jeremy Michalek)
Independent Study in Semiconductor Principles (Jian-Gang Zhu)
Programming R for Analytics (Alexandra Chouldechova)
Policy:
Applied Policy Analysis (Granger Morgan)
Quantitative Methods of Policy Analysis (Ines Azevedo)
Introduction to Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis (Granger Morgan)
Policy Topics: Federal Budget Policy (George Krumbhaar)
Policy in a Global Economy (Brian Kovak)
Policy and Politics: International Perspective (Silvia Borzutzky)