Dr. Chang received the B.S.E.E. degree from National Taiwan University in 1965. He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1967 and 1969, respectively. He was a research scientist at IBM Watson Research Center from 1969 to 1975. From 1975 to 1982 he was Associate Professor and then Professor at the Department of Information Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago. From 1982 to 1986 he was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology. From 1986 to 1991 he was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh. He is currently Professor and Director of the Center for Parallel, Distributed and Intelligent Systems, University of Pittsburgh. He was consultant for IBM, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Standard Oil, Honeywell, Naval Research Laboratory and Siemens. Dr. Chang is also a Fellow of IEEE.
Dr. Chang has published over two hundred papers and written and/or edited fourteen books. Dr. Chang's research on image reconstruction from projections provided a theoretical foundation for subsequent research in computerized tomography. He developed the theory of symbolic projection which stimulated research in image information systems. He conceived the theory of icons to serve as the foundation for visual languages. He wrote the pioneering advanced textbook on Principles of Pictorial Information Systems Design (Prentice-Hall 1989). His recent book on Symbolic Projection for Image Information Retrieval and Spatial Reasoning was published by Academic Press in 1996. His most recent book, Multimedia Software Engineering, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in January 2000, is the first advanced textbook in this emerging new field. He served as distinguished guest lecturer of IEEE Computer Society, and guest editor of 1981 IEEE Computer Special Issue on Pictorial Information Systems. He is the founder and editor of the international journal, Visual Languages and Computing, published by Academic Press, and the editor-in-chief of the international journal, Software Engineering & Knowledge Engineering, published by World Scientific Press.
Dr. Chang also pioneered the development of Chinese language computers, and was the first to develop a picture grammar for Chinese ideographs, and invented the phonetic phrase Chinese input method. He organized the First International Symposium on Computers and Chinese Input/Output Systems. He was the co-founder of the Chinese Language Computer Society, and has been a leader in Chinese language computer research for many years.
Dr. Chang's literary activities include the writing of twenty six novels, collections of short stories and essays. He is an acclaimed novelist in Taiwan. His novel, The Chess King, was translated into English and German, made into a stage musical, then a TV mini-series and a movie. It was adopted as textbook for foreign students studying Chinese at the Stanford Center (Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies administered by Stanford University), Taipei, Taiwan. The German translation of the Chess King was published in October 1992. The short story, "Banana Boat", was included in a textbook for advanced study of Chinese edited by Neal Robbins and published by Yale University Press. Dr. Chang is also regarded as the "father of science fiction" in Taiwan.
In 1978, Dr. Chang founded Knowledge Systems Institute, which is a graduate school dedicated to advanced education of computer and information sciences. The Institute was accredited in 1991 by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. It now has about one hundred graduate students. Knowledge Systems Institute has become a model institute of higher learning, realizing Dr. Chang's vision to revive the tradition of Chinese Shu-Yuan as an educational paradigm.
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: 22 February 2002