Walter Copan is an American chemist and government official who served as the

under secretary of commerce for standards and technology The Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, or USC(ST), is a high-ranking official in the United States Department of Commerce and the principal advisor to the United States Secretary of Commerce on the technological development. ...

from 2017 to 2021. Prior to assuming that role, he worked as president and CEO of IP Engineering Group Corporation and as a board member of Rocky Mountain Innovation Partners.

Early life and education

Copan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry from Western Reserve College in 1975 and a his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Res ...

in 1982.

Career

Copan previously served as managing director of technology commercialization and partnerships at

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...

and as technology transfer at the

National Renewable Energy Laboratory The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and ...

. During his time at Brookhaven, he led a pilot program across the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

called Agreements for Commercializing Technology. The program was praised for making intellectual property agreements between businesses and government more flexible and for promoting an entrepreneurial culture. He led

Clean Diesel Technologies CDTI Advanced Materials, Inc. (formerly Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc.) is an American company that focuses on providing vehicle emissions control systems for heavy duty and light duty diesel pollution control. The company has two divisions, incl ...

onto

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

while serving as CTO and executive vice president. Copan also had a 28-year career with

Lubrizol The Lubrizol Corporation is an American provider of specialty chemicals for the transportation, industrial and consumer markets. These products include additives for engine oils and other transportation-related fluids, additives for industrial lu ...

, where he was active in research, development, and business unit management. At Lubrizol, Copan led the company's European

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including working with countries that had recently broken away from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Under secretary of commerce for standards and technology

In September 2017, Copan was nominated by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

to become

. Copan's nomination was supported by the

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) is a US nonprofit consortium of more than 100 colleges and universities providing research and training in the atmospheric and related sciences. UCAR manages the National Center for Atmosphe ...

. He was confirmed unanimously by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

in October 2017. At that time, Copan said his top priority in the role would be to implement the Cybersecurity Framework, a

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

effort to improve network security across federal agencies and industry.

Post-government career

As a political appointee, he left office on January 20, 2021. In July 2021, Copan joined

Colorado School of Mines The Colorado School of Mines, informally called Mines, is a public research university in Golden, Colorado, founded in 1874. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, and mathematics, with a focus on ene ...

as the Vice President of Research and Technology Transfer. In 2022, Copan contributed to a letter to the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

signed by former federal officials of both parties that criticized the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat from Delaw ...

's proposed policy changes for

standard-essential patents An essential patent or standard-essential patent (SEP) is a patent that claims an invention that must be used to comply with a technical standard. Standards organizations, therefore, often require members disclose and grant licenses to their paten ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copan, Walter Living people Under Secretaries of Commerce for Standards and Technology Case Western Reserve University alumni 20th-century American chemists 21st-century American chemists Trump administration personnel Year of birth missing (living people)