Her research group works at the interface of enzymology and synthetic biology and studies biological fluorine chemistry, formation of mixed-valent nanomaterials by directional-sensing bacteria, and processes involved in developing synthetic biofuel pathways. She has received many awards, including the Dreyfus New Faculty Award, TR35 Award, Beckman Young Investigator Award, NSF CAREER Award, Agilent Early Career Award, NIH New Innovator Award, DARPA Young Faculty Award, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 3M Young Faculty Award, Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, and Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry. Dr. Chang received her PhD in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and did postdoctoral training in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at University of California, Berkeley.