Sichen (Shawn) Chao is a technical analyst at RAND whose research sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, technology policy, economics, and national security. His work examines U.S.-China technology competition, the adoption and governance of emerging technologies, innovation ecosystems, and the economic and workforce implications of AI. He uses quantitative analysis, machine learning, optimization, large-scale data analysis, and AI-enabled research methods across projects in national security, health, and public policy.
Before joining RAND, he was an NSF-funded Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses’ Science and Technology Policy Institute, where he supported research for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and other federal agencies. He has also worked in quantitative finance, aerospace, venture capital, health technology, and AI startups. Chao holds S.B. degrees in mathematics and business analytics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a minor in political science. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
B.S. in mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; B.S. in business analytics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mandarin; Chinese; English
