History of ComSci

The U.S. Department of Commerce Science and Technology Fellowship (ComSci) Program was established in 1964 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The program provides career, senior level employees of the Executive Branch with an opportunity to study national and international issues relating to the development, application, and management of science and technology policy.

The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, which mandates the ComSci Program, gave management responsibility to the Secretary of Commerce. After being managed, for many years, at the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, program management returned to NIST in 2006.

Since 1964, more than 500 individuals have graduated from the program.

USC TITLE 15 CHAPTER 40 § 1533
§ 1533. Commerce, Science, and Technology Fellowship Program

There is established within the Department of Commerce a Commerce, Science, and Technology Fellowship Program with the stated purpose of providing a select group of employees of the executive branch of the Government with the opportunity of learning how the legislative branch and other parts of the executive branch function through work experiences of up to one year. The Secretary of Commerce shall report to the Congress within six months after August 23, 1988, on the Department of Commerce's plans for implementing such Program by March 31, 1989.

Pub. L. 100-418, title V, § 5163(d), Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1451.

 

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